easie Pronunciation hath melted it into Brograve which represents the Etymologie of the Name to have been in its Original perfectly Saxon. In the year 1479 there was a License granted as appears by the Records of Rochester to William Brograve by the then Bishop of that Diocess to erect an Oratory or Chapple at his Mannor-house of Kelseys the Vestigia or Reliques of which are yet obvious to an inquisitive Eye and from this William did the Title and possession in an even Current come down to Mr. Thomas Brograve who being not many years since deceased his Widow Mrs. Martha Brograve now in respect of Jointure enjoys the present Possession of it Foxgrove is the last place of Account in this Parish it had in elder times Proprietaries of this Sirname for I find John de Foxgrove paid respective Aid for it in the twentieth year of Edward the third at making the Black Prince Knight After this Family succeeded Bartholomew Lord Burwash and he held it at his Decease which was in the twenty ninth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 44. and from him it descended to his Son Bartholomew Lord Burwash who in the forty third year of the abovesaid Prince passed it away to Sir Walter de Paveley and in his Family it remained untill the latter End of Richard the second and then it was conveyed to Vaux of the County of North-Hampton and there made its abode untill the latter End of Henry the sixth and then it was alienated to John Grene Esquire and he died possest of it in fourth year of Edward the fourth and in this Family did the Title reside untill the Beginning of Henry the eighth and then it was demised to Beversea and Humphrey Beversea I find held it in the eighteenth year of Henry the eighth and his Descendant passed it away to Luke Hollingworth and he about the Beginning of K. Edward the sixth sold his Interest in it to Alderman Sir Jo. Oliff of London and he dying without Issue Male Joan matched to John Leigh of Addington Esquire was his sole Heir and in Right of this Alliance did it come down to Sir Francis Leigh late of East-Wickham whose Widow Dowager the Lady Christian Leigh is now in Possession of it Bexley and in ancient Deeds written Bekesley lies in the Hundred of Rokesley and did in Times of elder Inscription belong to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury for Anno 805. K. Kenulfus gave Bexley to Arch-Bishop Vefred ad opus Ecclesiae Christi and his Successor to improve his Interest in this Mannor obtained a Market to be held weekly at this place upon the Tuesday and a Fair upon Holy-Rood-Day yearly in the ninth year of Edward the second as appears Pat. 9. Edw. 2. Num. 49. and here the Title it lodged untill it came to the Crown in the twenty ninth year of Henry the eighth by Exchange with Tho. Cranmer then Arch-Bishop as appears by the Records of Christ Church and was passed away by King Iames to Sir Io. Spilman his Majesties Jeweller originally extracted out of Germany and he suddenly after conveyed it to that resplendent Luminary of Englands Antiquities Mr. William Camden Clarenceux King of Arms and he upon his Decease gave it to Brasennose Colledge in Oxford from whom the Lady Christian Leigh of East-Wickham holds it now as Lessee Blinden Court in old Deeds written Bladindon is the next object of our observation It was in elder Times the Possession of Jordanus de Bladindon or Blindon who about the first year of Richard the first passed it away to Walsingham in which Family it was resident untill the latter end of Henry the fourth and then it was carryed over by Sale to Ferbie of Pauls Crey and one of this Family about the Beginning of Henry the sixth transported it by the same Alteration to William Marshall and he not long after conveyed it to Rawlins but it setled longer here for it remained linked to the Demeasne of this Name almost untill our Grandfathers Remembrance and then it was by Purchase made the Inheritance of May who not many yeers since alienated his Concernment in it to Wroth and is at present part of the Demeasne of John Wroth Esquire descended from the ancient Family of the Wroths of Durants in Essex Hall Place in this Parish is the last place which summons our Remembrance It was in times of a more ancient Character the Inheritance of a Family called Athall the last of which was Thomas Athall who in the fourty first year of Edward the third conveyed it to Thomas Shelley of Gaysam in Westerham and in this Name after the Title like a fixed Inmate had for many Generations dwelt it came down to William Shelley Son of John Shelley Esquire who in the tweny ninth year of Henry the eighth passed it away to Sir John Champneys of London from whom it descended to his Grandchild Mr. Richard Champneys Esquire who some few yeers since alienated his Interest here to Mr. Robert Austin of London Brasted in the Hundred of Codsheath was a Mannor which anciently related to the Family of Clare who were Earls of Glocester and Hertford and held is in grand Serjeanty of the Arch-Bishops of Canterbury as they were originally and de Jure Stewards to the Lord Arch-Bishop at the Time of his Installment and Inthronization Ric. de Clare dyed possest of it in the forty seventh year of Henry the third and so did Gilbert de Clare in the twenty fourth year of Edward the first Rot. Esc Num. 107. From whom it came down to Richard de Clare who in the nineteenth year of Edward the second ended in Margaret his sole Heir matched to Hugh de Audley who in her Right was not only Earl of Glocester but likewise Lord of this Mannor and enjoyed it in the twenty first year of Edward the third but he likewise going out in a Female Heir stiled Margaret She by matching with Ralph Stafford Earl of Stafford wedded the Title to his Inheritance nor did it dislodge or depart from it until it escheated to the Crown upon the Attainder of Edward Stafford Duke of Buckingham who was convicted of high Treason in the thirteenth year of Henry the eighth where it had not long rested but the abovesaid Prince by Patent setled the Right of it on Sir Henry Isley who being interessed past recovery in the Design of Sir Tho. Wiat forfeited both Life and Estate to the Crown and then Queen Mary upon his Conviction granted it to John Lennard Esquire from whom it is now transported by Descent to his Successor Francis Lennard Lord Dacres who is the instant Lord of the Fee There is another Mannor and Seat in Brasted venerable enough for its Antiquity anciently called Stockets but now Crow-place it was so denominated from the Stockets which first held it Walter de Stocket and sometimes in old Deeds written Stock and Stoke possest it by the fourth part of a Knights Fee in the Time of Edward the
first and after this Name began to languish into Decay it was by a Daughter and Heir brought over to Crow extracted from the Crows of Norfolk who from the Reign of Richard the second held it in a continued Track of Succession even untill our Time and then it was passed away from Sir Sackville Crow by Sale to Sir Robert Heath who dyed Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench made so by the late King at Oxford whose Son and Heir Mr. ........ Heath Esquire is now entituled to the Signorie of it Bredge gives name to the whole Hundred wherein it is placed and in Times of a more ancient Date was clasped up within that Revenue which did augment the paternal Inheritance of Cheyney Sir Alexander de Cheyney as appears by ancient Muniments was possest of this place in the reign of Edward the first and is in the Register of those eminent persons who accompanied that Prince into Scotland and was for his important Service against that Nation made Bannerent by that King at Carlaverock in the twenty eighth year of his Government and from him did it by the links of severall Descents after a large Efflux of Time devolve to Henry Lord Cheyney who about the Beginning of Queen Elizabeth passed it away to Mr. William Partrich Esquire whose Grandchild Sir Edward Partrich not many yeers since conveyed it to Mr. Arnold Brame of Dover descended from one of this Name who was Secretary to Charles the fifth Blackmanbury is a noted Seat in this Parish and had still the same Owners in Times of a more ancient Character with Garwinton in Bekesbourn as namely the Garwintons the last of which was Tho. Garwinton who held it at his Death which happened in the eleventh year of Henry the fourth and by the Heir Generall of this Family it devolved to Haut issued out from the Hauts of Hautsborne and when this Family determined the Female Heir brought this Seat to Isaac after Isaac was worn out of a great part of this Mannor of Blackmanbury it became the Possession of Henry Lawrence Esquire descended from the Lawrences of Dorsetshire and he held it as appears by a Court Roll in the thirty sixth year of Henry the eighth and in both these Families was the joynt Propriety of this Mannor resident untill about the middle of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and then the whole Demise was by mutuall Consent passed away from Isaac and Lawrence to William Partrich Esquire Grandfather to Sir Edward Partrich who not many yeers since conveyed it to Mr. Arnold Brame of Dover and he upon the Foundation of the ancient Fabrick hath erected that magnificent Pile which obliges the Eye of the passenger both to Admiration and Delight and which like a Phaenix seems to have arose more glorious out of its Ruines Bereacre is a third Mannor in Bredge which in the twenty first year of Edward the first acknowledged it self to be under the Signorie of Walter de Kancia as appears by an Inquisition taken at the same time after his Death Rot. Esc Num. 7. But before the twentieth year of Edward the third this Family was extinguished and then it became the Propriety of Bereacre who assumed his Name from this Mannor and John de Bereacre paid a respective Supply for it as appears by the Book of Aid at making the Black Prince Knight in the twentieth year of Edward the third After Bereacre was gone out the Family of Lichfield was concerned in the Possession who likewise were Lords of much Land about Eastry Tilmanston and Betshanger and in this Name was the Title placed untill the twenty second year of Edward the fourth and then Roger Lichfield by Sale conveyed it to William Haut and he had Issue Richard Haut who left only Margery who by matching with William Isaac resigned up this Mannor to the Possession of that Family but long it was not planted in this Name for before the latter end of Henry the eighth it was alienated to Petit and Weeks and they again not many yeers after transmitted it by Sale to Nailor of Renvill from whom by the same Devolution it was almost in our Fathers Memory carryed down to Smith and Watkins Beauville alià s Bewâ—field or Whitfield lyes in the Hundred of Bewisborough is a small Parish mounted aloft on those Hills that run from Barham down to Dover Castle The Lord Giles Badelesmer anciently held it and gave it in Frank Marriage with his Daughter Elizabeth whom Jo. Northwood of Milton took to Wife and here it continued with the Interest of this Family severall Descents untill at last it devolved to John Northwood of Northwood in Milton abovesaid from which Name and Family the Fate of Sale took it off and brought it over about the latter end of Henry the eighth to Jo. Bois Esquire Ancestor to Mr. Io. Bois of Fredvill Esquire now living and in this Family the Possession is still resident The Mannor of Linacre is seated within the Circuit of this Parish and gave both Seat and Sirname to a Family so called and from whom Linacre that composed the Latin Grammar in the Reign of Henry the ninth was lineally extracted but this Name here was expired before the end of Henry the fourth and then by some Court Rolls I find that Iohn Monins was invested in the Fee and here for some Decursion of Time the Right and Interest of this Place did abide untill at length about the Beginning of Henry the eighth the Title by Sale fell under the Signory of Chelesford or Chelford from which Name the same Fate conveyed it to Mr. Io. Bois whose Successor Mr. Io. Bois of Fredville Esquire by descendant Right does now enjoy it East and West Berming in the Hundred of Twyford was in Times of a very high Ascent the Possession of a Family who derived their Sirname from this Place William de Bermeling dyed seised of it in the twenty second year of Edward the first Rot. Esc Num. 27. and had likewise the Advowson of the Church after him Robert de Bermelin held it in the thirty first year of Edward the first Rot. Esc Num. 123. When this Family was gone out the Freminghams came into the Possession Iohn Son of Ralph de Fremingham was in the enjoyment of them at his Death which was in the twenty third year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 145. and so was his Successor John Fremingham in the twelfth year of Henry the fourth Rot. Esc Num. 15. But after this I find no more of this Name interessed in the Possession the next Family which was invested in the Inheritance were the Pimpes a Name very eminent and no lesse ancient in this Track John Pimpe held them and Ledhock at his Decease which was in the ninth year of Henry the fifth Rot. Esc Num. 35. from whom the Title streamed down to Reginald Pimpe Esquire in whose Tenure they were at his Death which was in the sixteenth year of Henry the sixth from Pimpe
Burgherst of Plumsted Sir Fulk de Peyferer Sir William de Peyferer of Ottringden Sir Robert de Shurland of Shurland in Shepey Sir Alexander de Cheyney of Patrick bourn Cheyney Sir Thomas de Bicknor Sir John de Bicknor of Bicknor Sir Robert de Septuans of Milton Septuans Sir Henry Fitz-Aucher of Losenham in Newenden Sir John de Hadloe of Court at Street Sir VVilliam de Valoigus of Repton in Ashford Sir William de Basing of Kenardington Sir Simon de Crey Sir William de Crey of Pauls Crey Sir Stephen de Gravesend of Nutsted Sir John de Champneys of what place is not mentioned but it is probable of Champneys in Pauls Crey Sir Robert de Eastangrave of Eastangrave in Eden Bridge Sir John Abell of Hering Hill in Erith Sir Nicholas de Malmains of Malmains in Stoke Sir Richard de Rokesley of Rokesley in North Crey Sir Jeffrey de Camuill of Westerham Sir John Segrave of Folkston Sir VVilliam Peche Sir Robort Peche of Lullingston Sir John de Newenham of Newenham Coldred in the Hundred of Eastrie was a Branch of that Estate which related to the Fraternity of the Maison de Dien in Dover to which in the fourteenth year of S. the first they obtained a Charter of Free warren which was looked upon in that Age as a priviledge of vast extent and circumference upon the Dissolution in the reign of Hen. the eighth it was by royal Concession from that Prince added to the Demeasn of Rich. Monins Esq great Grandfather to Sir Edw. Monins Baroner to whose Signory and Jurisdiction the propriety of this place at this instant submits it self Popshall in this Parish was anciently wrapt up in the Demeasn of Orlanston of Orlanston William de Orlanston held it as appears by an Escheat-roll marked with the number 86 in the reign of Hen. the third and transmitted it to his Son Will. de Orlanston who in the fifty first year of the above-mentioned Prince obtained a Charter of Free-warren to his Lands at Orlanston and Pophall from him it descended to Will. de Orlanston who had Issue Jo. de Orlarston who held it in possession at his Decease which was in the forty sixth year of Edw. the third and had Issue VVill. Orlanston who by Sale transplanted the Interest of this place into Rich. Berham in which Family after the Title had for some Generations been resident a Vicissitude of the same Resemblance with the former cast it into the possession of Horne branched out from the Hornes of Horns-place in Apuldore who after some years investiture in the propriety of Popshall determined in a Daughter and Heir who was espoused to John Diggs from whom in a direct Line Sir Dudley Diggs of Chilham-castle was extracted who alienated his right in this place to Sir Will. Monins Knight and Baronet whose Son Sir Edw. Monins Baronet enjoys the instant Fee-simple of it Coldham in the Hundred of Rockesley is in the Pages of Doomsday Book written Caudham which denotes the bleak and chil situation of it In the twentieth year of VVill. the Conquerour it was parcel of the Demeasn of Gilbert de Magninot being involved in those Knights Fees which were assigned to him to be assistant to Jo. de Fiennes in the defence of Dover-castle And in this Name after it had some three Descents been lodged this Mannor went away about the beginning of K. Stephen to VVill. de Say with the Daughter and Heir of this Family VVill. de Say this Mans Son is in the Front or Van of that register which comprehends the Names of those Kentish Gentlemen who were embarked in the holy Quarrel with Rich. the first at the Siege of Acon Geffrey de Say was one of the Recognitores magnae Assisae in the second year of K. Jo. the Nature of which office and the Latitude of its Authority I rust and Concernment I have before unsolded at Cobham * Will. de Say was with Henry the third in his expedition into Gascony in the thirty seseventh year of his Rule Geffrey de Say was with Edw. the first at the Siege of Carlaverock in the twenty eighth year of his reign and for his noted Actings there was honoured by that Prince with Knighthood and dyed possest of this Mannor in the fifteenth year of Edw. the second and had the repute of a Baron at his Decease as had all his Successors likewise holding Birling Couldham and other places by that Tenure which is styled per Baroniam Geffrey de Say had view of Frank-pledge here in the eighth year of Edw. the third and was engaged with that Prince in the thirteenth of his reign in his triumphant Designs upon France Sir VVill. Say was his Son and Heir who went out from his Tabernacle of humane frailty in the forty third year of Edw. the third Rot. Esc Num. 43. and bequeathed his Estate here at Coldham to Geffrey de Say his only Son surviving who going out in two Daughters and Coheirs Joan one of them was matched to Sir VVill. Fiennes from whom descended Ja. Fiennes his second Son who was summoned to Parliament at Bury as Baron Say and Seale the first of March in the twenty fifth year of the abovesaid Prince and * This Ric. Fiennes was created Baron Dacres in the seventh of Henry the sixth Rich. Fiennes eldest Son who matched with Joan Sole Heir of Tho. Dacres eldest Son of Tho. Lord Dacres of Hurstmonseaux who had this Mannor by Descent from his Father from whom in a continued Series it came down to Gregory Fiennes Lord Dacres who in the thirty sixth year of Q. Elizabeth dyed without Issue and so Sampson Lenard Esquire by marrying with Margaret his Sister and Heir became Heir to Coldham and a large Inheritance besides and his Son Hen. Lenard in the reign of K. James was created Baron Dacres from whom Francis Lenard now Lord Dacres and proprietary of this Mannor is lineally extracted The Mannor of Apulderfield by contraction now called Apurfield lies in the precincts of this Parish which was long time possest by Gentlemen that took their Sirname from thence and branched numerously into divers parts of this Shire Hen. de Apulderfield in the thirty eighth of Hen. the third obtained a grant of a Fair and Market to his Mannor of Apulderfield In the eleventh year of Edward the second Iohn de Insula had a Charter of Free-warren granted to his Mannor of Apulderfield which was renewed to Stephen de Ashway in the thirty eighth of Edward the third who had a free Chappel annexed to it and in this Family of Ashway did the Title of this place for many Generations settle till at last the common vicissitude of Purchase made it the Demeasn of Denny from whom it came over by the same Alienation to Fiennes and is now in right of Margaret Fiennes Sister to Gregory Lord Dacres matched to Sampson Lenard devolved to his great Grandchild Francis Lenard the present Lord Dacre The Hamlet of Bettred is
the last place considerable in Coldham or Coudham It was in elder times the Inheritance of Richard de Cherfholt who was discharged of Reveship by Jeffrey de Say in the fifteenth year of Edw. the second which Lord it seems bore a particular affection to this place for in the seventh year of Edw. the third he brings a pleading for a yearly Fair to be kept at this Hamlet on the day of St. Laurence that is on the tenth day of August which was allowed by Jo. de Stonar then one of the Justices Itinerant But to go on this above-mentioned Ric. dying without Issue-male his Daughter and Heir who was matched to William de Manning knit it to the possession of this Family he dyed the seventeenth year of Edw. the third and was Son of Stephen de Manning of whom there is mention in old Deeds which have an Aspect upon the third fourteenth eighteenth and twenty third years of Edward the first and he was descended of Simon de Manning to whom John Silvester of Westerham demises Land by Deed in the fourteenth year of Rich. the first and who as an old Pedigree which relates to this Family doth record was engaged in the Holy War in defence of the Cross and Sepulcher of our Saviour against the Saracens and Infidels under Rich. the first and from this Simon de Manning Mr. Sam. Manning now of London and Mr. Edw. Manning of Kevington are by successive Right derived to them by many Descents originally and lineally extracted Cosmus-Damianus-Bleane lies in the Hundred of Whitstaple and contains three places within the Boundaries of it which may fall under a Survey The first is Well-court which was anciently parcel of that Estate which did own the Family of at Leeze for its Possessors Sir Richard at Leeze dyed possest of it in the year 1394. but going out without Issue Marcellus at Leeze was his Brother and Heir who concluded in two Daughters and Coheirs Lucy first married to Jo. Norton and after to Will. Langley of Knolton in Kent by both which she had Issue and Cicily wedded to Valentine Barret of Perry-court but Norton and Langley as Heirs to the eldest Daughter shared the Estate here at Well-court and for many years did their Interest remain thus interwoven till is the eleventh year of H. the eighth Tho. Son of Jo. Langley releaseth all his right in this place to his Kinsman Sir Jo. Norton and he in the third year of Edw. the sixth passes away his Concernment in it by Sale to Tho. Green whose Successors George and Tho. Green in the seventh year of K. James alienated it by mutual Concurrence to Jo. Best in whose posterity the title and propriety is at this instant resident The second is Lambert Lands a Mannor which is couched partly within the Limits of Hernhill and partly within the Verge of this Parish It was in elder times an Appendage to the revenue of Feversham Abby but when the storm of Suppression which happened in the Government of the reign of H. the eighth had ravished it away from the patrimony of the Church and lodged it in the Crown it was by that Prince in the thirty sixth year of his reign granted to Tho. Arden but it seems it was but for Life for after he was Barbarously assassinated by his Wife and her inhumane Complices in the reign of Edw. the sixth and left no Issue that Prince granted it to Sir Henry Crispe of Quckes in whose posterity the title was permanent till that Age our Fathers lived in and then it was alienated to Sir Jo. Huett of the County of Darby who is yet the proprietary of it Hoad-court is and always was part of the Demeasn of East-bridge Hospital holding of the Master thereof East-bridge was formerly an Inn for poor devout Pilgrims who came to offer up their Visits and Orizons to the shrine of Tho. Becket after the demolishing of which in the reign of H. the eighth this Hospital sprang up out of its Luines and in the reign of Q. Eliz. Dr ...... Lawes being then Master of East-bridge Hospital it was granted for three lives to * He was Steward to five Arch-bs of Cant. Judge of the Chancery at Dover under 3 Lord Wardens and Recorder of Canterbury Sir Jo. Bois a person of an exemplary and regular life as appears by his diffusive Charity for he founded Jesus Hospital in the Subburbs of North-gate at Cant. which he furnished with eight Brothers four Sisters and a Warden all very plentifully provided for he died without issue and left his estate here to his Nephew Mr. Tho. Bois who erected for him a magnificent tomb in the Nave or body of Christ-church which the assaults of impious and savage hands have demolished and utterly defaced but though this Monument be thus crushed into uncomely ruines yet he hath transmitted his Fame to posterity which whenall the gandy and pompous Trophies of Art languish and shrink into their own Ashes shall stand both Brass to his Tomb and Marble to his Stone But to proceed from Mr. Thomas Bois abovementioned is the propriety of this Mannor devolved to his Grandchild Jo. Bois Esq a person who for his ingenious and candid Love to Literature may be justly said to be worthy of better times but fit for these that is though his Merit should have been calculated for the best of days yet it is made more eminent by his support of Learning in the worst Cowden in the Hundreds of Somerden and Westerham did anciently with its revenue support the Colledge of Lingfield in Surry till the publique dissolution came and tore it off and then it was by H. the eighth granted to H. Earl of Arundel from whom it suddenly after devolved by sale to Wiskenden whose Grandchild not many years since deceasing left it divided between his two Sons one of which hath lately alienated his Moiety to Ashdown though the other proportion still continues in the Name of Wickenden The Moat is an eminent Seat in Cowden which for many Generations confessed the Signory of a Family called Cosin or Cosins as is evident from several Deeds of certain parcels of Land which relate to this Mansion as the capital messuage which were conveyed some by Sale some by resignation from one Cosin to another Whence this Family was originally extracted I cannot collect because the evidences of this place from which I am to borrow my Intelligence extend no higher then this Family yet it is probable their first Cradle was in Norfolk where in elder times they were eminent for in the sixteenth year of E. the second I find one Jo. Cosin obtained License by parent to found a Chantry at Norwich as appears Pat. Anno 16. E. 2. Parte secunda Memb. 4. but whether this Family seated here were derived from him immediately or not is incertain Sure I am that after they had for many Descents been planted here about the latter end of Henry the sixth it began to
augmented the Revenue of that Priory Yet there is an ancient Seat in this Parish called Rumpsted which never was couched in the Spiritual Patrimony for it had anciently Owners of that Appellation Sir William de Rumpsted held this and a Castellated Mansion in Sevenoke of that Denomination in the Raign of Edward the first and he had Issue Sir John Rumpsted possest of this place and Rumpsted in Sevenoke and as the Tradition asserts educated Sir William Sevenoke Lord Mayor of London in the year of Grace 1418. In Ages of a nearer Descent to us that is in the third year of Henry the sixth I find Richard Peverell to have enjoyed it And in Times subsequent to these the Peckhams but their Possession was very frail for in the Raign of Queen Elizabeth I find it to be in Figge a Name of no despicable Character in this Parish but it was very transitory here likewise for about the Beginning of King James the Title was interwoven with the Interest of Thompson who in our Fathers Remembrance conveyed it by Sale to Mr. ...... Taylor Fruiterer to the abovesaid Prince and his Discendant not many years since alienated it to Mr. Stringer of Goudherst I. I. I. I. ICkham in the Hundred of Downehamford was given by King Offa to Christ-church and to the Monks of that Covent in the year 781. under the Notion of fifteen Plough-lands and was for a Supplement of Dyet This Donation in the year 958. was confirmed by Athelward Odo the Arch-bishop of Canterbury being then present and attesting the Ratification In the Time of Edward the Confessor when the first Design of Doomesday Book was started it was rated at four Sullings or Plough-lands nor did it fall in that Account when that generall Register was perfected which was in the twentieth year of the Conqueror defending it self at the same Estimate and upon the Appraisment was valued at thirty pound And here it was fastned until King Henry the eighth finding the Revenue of the Church was diffused into too wide a Latitude and Circumference contracted it by a general Dissolution into a narrower Orbe and having rent off this Mannor from the Ecclesiastical Demeasne like an Excrescence sprouting out from a luxuriant Stem he ingrafted it again by his Letters Patent on the Dean and Chapter of Christ-church and they settled it by Lease on Edward Isaack a Noble Confessor for the Protestant Religion in the Raign of Queen Mary when so many were sent to Heaven like so many Elias's Flammeis vecti Quadrigis in Chariots of fire who rather chose to desert his Country then abandon his Religion and to lose his Estate rather then to debauch or relinquish his Conscience as his Epitaph on an old Tablet affixed to a Pillar contiguous to his Grave-stone in the Nave of Christ-church at Canterbury does instruct us Upon his Recesse this was seized upon by the Crown and Queen Mary by Grant united it to the Revenue of George Lord Cobham whose infortunate Grand-child Henry Brooke being attainted in the Raign of King James that Monarch restored his Estate forfeited here to Robert Cecill Earl of Salisbury his Brother in Law whose Son Robert now Earl of Salisbury holds the instant Possession of it but hath lately alienated some part of it to Mr. Roger Lukin of London Apulton is a second Mannor in Ickham written in old Deeds Apylton as being the Inheritance of a Family of that Name for in an old Deed of Reginald de Cornehill that was owner of Lukedale in Littlebourne not far distant one William de Apylton of Ickham is a Witness but whether this Family was knit by any Relation to the Noble Family of the Apyltons of Essex and Suffolk I am incertain Afterwards the Denis's were possest of it and one John Denis of Apulton in Ickham who was Sheriff of London in the year of Grace 1360. Founded here a Chauntry in the Raign of Edward the third as appears by an old Manuscript in the Hands of Mr. Thomas Denne lately deceased and was called Denis Chauntry and the Lands which relate to it are at this Day styled Denis Lands After this Family was worn out I find one Adam Oldmeade by the private Deeds to be in the Raign of Henry the fifth and Henry the sixth owner of it from whom before the latter end of that Prince it came over by Sale to Bemboe and from him to Hunt in which Family it made no long stay For about the latter of Henry the seventh I find it alienated to Dormer a Branch of the Dormers of Buckinghamshire and from this Name not many years after it went away to Gason a Name very ancient in this Parish and here likewise was the Possession of as brief a Date for Dormer by Sale passed it away to Hodgekin whose Ancestors were formerly possest of Uffington in Gonston and transmitted it by Sale to Ashenden and here likewise was the Title very variable for within the Circle of fourscore years it acknowledged not only this Family but Rutland Winter and d ee to have been its Successive Proprietaries from the last of which not many years since it was by Sale carried off to Frostall in which name it is still resident The Mannor of Baa in this Parish had anciently Possessors of that Sirname as appears by an old Fragment of Glass in the Church Windows whereon is superscribed this incoherent Inscription Hic ...... Ba ..... and at the Pedestal of another antiquated Portraiture Thomas de Baa After the Baas the Wendertons of Wenderton in Wingham were possest of it for several Generations until William Wenderton about the Beginning of Henry the eighth passed it away by Sale to Hugh Warham Esquire Brother to the Arch-bishop and he gave it in Dower with Anne his Daughter matched to Sir Anthony St. Leger Lord President of Ireland whose Descendant Sir Warham St. Leger passed it away to Mr. ...... Denue of Denne Hill in Kingston whose Heir Mr. Thomas Denne late Recorder of Canterbury almost in our Memory alienated it to Curling Before I leave Ickham I must inform the Reader that Peter de Ickham was born in this Parish a man whom both Ball in his Centuries and Pitseus in his Track de Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis do highly magnifie for a man of eminent Literature whither I refer my Reader Ivie-church in the Hundred of St. Martins and Aloesbridge contains sundry Places within its Confines not to be entombed in silence The first is Capells-Court the Seat of a Family of that Sirname and were written frequently At Capell and in Latin de Capella and were a Family certainly of signall Account in Kent as appears by their Land which lay scattered in Linton and Boxley where John de Capell held Land called Tattellmell in that Parish in the thirty seventh year of H. the third as appears by a Charter of Inspection of that Prince wherein he confirms Land to the Abby of Boxley which bordered on the Land of John de Capell at Tattellmell
Life and Forfeiture of his Estate and then this Seat upon his unsuccessful Exit returning to the Crown it was by the abovesaid Princess granted to her Cousin Reginald Poole Cardinal for his Life and a year after as he should by Testament dispose After his Death it reverts again to the Crown and then Queen Elizabeth in the third year of her reign grants it to Robert Dudley Earl of Leiceister and he the same year resigning it back into the Hands of his Soveraign it was by Lease made over to John Lennard of Chevening Esquire but the Fee-simple was by Royal Concession invested in the seventh year of Queen Elizabeth in Thomas Sackvill Lord Buckhurst and his Grand-child Richard Sackvill Earl of Dorset almost in our Remembrance conveyed the Fee-simple reserving it yet still in Lease to himself and his Heirs paying such a Rent-charge as is there specified for ninety and nine years to Mr. Richard Smith vulgarly called Dog-Smith who upon his Decease not many years since setled the propriety of it for ever upon St. Thomas Hospital in Southwarke The Honour of Sevenoke was granted by Queen Elizabeth to her Kinsman Henry Carey Lord Hunsdon in the first year of her reign from whom it devolved to his Grand-child Henry Carey Earl of Dover he passed it away by Sale to Richard Sackvill Earl of Dorset who alienated his Interest in it to Mr. Richard Smith who upon his above-mentioned Decease gave it with Knoll which both were exchanged and so united to the Royal Demeasne by William Warham to the Hospital of St. Thomas in Southwarke Kepington is the last place considerable in this Parish which was wrapt up in that Demeasne which owned the Signory of the Lords Cobham of Cobham as appears by an Inquisition taken in the thirty fifth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 62. Parte secundâ and after a Decursion of several Descents came by the Heir General of this Family to be possest by Brook whose Descendant about the beginning of Queen Elizabeth conveyed it to Burges and by his Sister and Heir it came over to Hanger who alienated it to Cowper and he not long since to Mr. Thomas Farnaby Spelherst in the Hundreds of Somerden Codsheath and Watchling stone hath many places in it of Repute First Grome-bridge which is a Chappel of Ease belonging to Spelherst and is dedicated to St. John it is in old Registers written Gromen-bridge and Gormen-bridge from some Saxon who was anciently Owner of it as Godmanchester in Huntingtonshire upon the same Account in old Orthography bears the Name of Gormonchester a Saxon having been possessor of it of that Denomination This Mannor in elder Times confessed the Dominion and Title of the Noble Family of Cobham Henry de Cobham and Joan his Wife obtained a Market to be observed weekly on the Thursday and a Fair three Dayes yearly videlicet the Vigil the Day of St. John Port-latine and the Day after as is manifest from an old Charter which I have seen whose Date commences from the fourteenth year of Edward the first the Market and Fair were kept where now the new Chappel is erected by the piety and expence of that Worthy Patriot John Packer Esquire late one of the Clerks of the Privy Seal After the Cobhams were departed from the possession of this place the Lords Clinton became by purchase Proprietaries of it and John de Clinton who was often summoned to fit as Baron in Parliament in the Time of Richard the second died possest of it in the twenty second year of that Prince Rot. Esc Num. 16. from whom the Title flowed in this Family until the latter end of Henry the fourth and then it was passed away to Waller of Lamberherst where and in Sussex they were before Masters of very ample Possessions for Thomas Waller and Katharine his Wife granted to Thomas Waller of Lamberherst his Father Richard Brenchley and John Brook all his Lands Messuages and Tenements in the Villages and Parishes of Rotherfeild Witheham Wadhurst Lamberhurst Little Horsted Alfricheston and Bucksted together with the moiety of the Advouson of the Church of Little Horsted as appears Claus 11. Richardi secundi in Dorso Memb. 35. Richard Waller Esquire was Sheriff of Kent the sixteenth year of Henry the sixth and kept his Shrievalty at Grome-bridge and was before Sheriff of Surrey and Sussex in the twelfth year of that Prince This is that renowned Souldier that in the Time of Henry the fifth took Charles Duke of Orleans General of the French Army Prisoner at the Battle of Agin-court brought him over into England and held him in honorable Restraint or Custody at Grome-bridge which a Manuscript in the Heralds-Office notes to be twenty four years in the Time of which his Recess he newly erected the House at Grome-bridge upon the old Foundation and was a Benefactor to the repair of Spelherst Church where his Arms remain in Stone-work over the Church-porch but lest such a signal peece of Service might remain entombed in the Sepulchre of unthankful forgetfulness the Prince to convey the Memory of this glorious Action to Posterity assigned to this Richard Waller and his Heirs for ever an additional Crest videlicet the Arms or Escocheon of France hanging by a Labell on an Oake with this Motto affixed Hae Fructus Virtutis This Richard was great Grand-father to William VValler of Grome-bridge Esquire Sheriff of Kent the twenty second of Henry the eighth and he was Father to Sir VValter VValler who was Grand-father to Sir VVilliam VValler now possessor of Winchester-castle and Father of Sir Thomas Waller which Sir Thomas almost in our Fathers Memory passed away Grome-bridge to Thomas Sackville Earl of Donset whose Grand-child Edward Earl of Dorset not many years since conveyed it to John Packer Esquire Father to ...... Packer Esquire now possessor of this place There was a Chauntry founded at Grome-bridge in the thirty eighth year of Henry the third by VVilliam Russell and Hawis his Wife as appears by the first Book of Compositions in Registro Roffensi Hollands in this Parish next cals for a View It was in Ages of a very high Date the Patrimony of a Noble Family of that Sirname and are in the Chartularies of this Parish recorded to have been great Benefactors to the Church of Spelherst and were allied to Thomas Holland Earl of Kent who matched with Joan Daughter of Edmund of VVoodstock but before the beginning of Henry the sixth this Family was worn out and vanished and then the VVallers stepped into the possession in which Family the Right of it did many years reside until it was in our Fathers Memory alienated to Thomas Sackville Earl of Dorset from whose Successor it passed away by Sale to Lindsey and from him not many years since the like Revolution carried it off to Caldicot Ferbies is another Seat of no vulgar Consideration in Spelherst if we consider that it gave Sirname to a Family of important Account in this
by a Chain of Descent to his Grand-child Sir Charles Sydley Baronet the present Lord of the Fee Pole vulgarly called Poole is another Mannor in Southfleet And was in elder Times the Inheritance of a Family called Berese for I find by a fine levyed in the thirty seventh year of Henry the third that Richard de Berese fells this Mannor under the Notion of a Carucate of Land to Reginald de Cobham of Roundall in Shorne and from him did it by a continued Thread of Succession devolve to John Cobham Esquire in whom the Male-line of that Name ended and he dyed seised of it in the ninth year of Henry the fourth Rot. Esc Num. 10. And lett it to Joan his Sole Inheritrix who by Reginald Braybrook her third and last Husband had Issue Joan her only Daughter and Heir who brought this Mannor and a liberal Revenue besides to her Husband Thomas Brook of the County of Somerset Esquire Grand-father to Thomas Lord Brook who about the Beginning of Henry the seventh passed it away to Sir Henry Wiat one of the Privy Councel to that Monarch from whom it descended to his noble but infortunate Grandchild Sir Tho. Wiat who in the second year of Q. Mary forfeited this and his Life together so that from thenceforth it was clasped up in the Income of the Crown untill Queen Elizabeth in the twenty fifth year of her reign restored it to his Widow the Lady Joan Wiatt and George Wiat Esquire his Son and Heir father to Sir Francis Wiat who upon his Decease left it to his Widow Dowager the Lady ..... Wiatt who is now in possession of it Scadbery in Southfleet hath been for some Centuries of years the possession of the Family of Sidleys who were in Times of very high Ascent seated in Romney Mersh for there are some Lands there which at this Day they call by the Name of Sidleys and Sidleys Mersh In this Mansion there is a Room whose sides are covered with Wainscot and on one of the Plates or Pains which appears to be exceeding ancient the Arms of Sidley are carved in embost-work viz A Fesse wavee between three Goats heads erased and these Letters underneath W. and S. with the year of our Lord affixed in Figures whose Date commences from 1337. And although the Structure of this House hath like a Snail shifted its ancient Shell yet in all its Mutations and Vicissitudes which must certainly have very much disordered the Fabrick when it was cast into a new mould and frame and ravelled and discomposed the Materials yet this Panel of Wainscot hath been like a Relique religiously preserved to justifie not only the Antiquity of this Seat but of the Family of Sydley also which is presumed to have been resident at this place before the above-mentioned Calculation from whom Sir Charles Sidley Baronet claims the Original of his Title to this Mansion and his Extraction or pedigree likewise untwisted into many Descents and now at last wound up in him Shouldon in the Hundred of Deal hath two remarkable places which are situated within the Limits of it First Hull presents it self to our View it was formerly under the Signory of the illustrious-Family of Ratling or Retling in Nonington Thomas de Retling paid respective Aid for this and divers other Lands of ancient Inheritance in the twentieth year of Edward the third at the making the Black Prince Knight and left it to his Son Sir Richard de Retling whose Widow the Lady Sarah Retling and afterwards Wife of John de St. Laurence died possest of it in the tenth year of Richard the second and left it to John Spicer who had married Joan Daughter and Heir to her first Husband but he concluding in a Daughter and Heir by this his first Wife called Cicely who was Heir to her mother Joan Spicer shee by matching with Iohn Isaack knit it to the Propriety of that Family But before the twenty first of Henry the sixth he had fixed the Inheritance in Iohn Bresland in whom it was not long resident for he suddenly after altered his right and about the Beginning of Edward the fourth put it over by Sale to Phineux of Swink-field whose Successor Robert Phineux by as quick and early a Vicissitude placed the possession about the Beginning of Henry the eighth in George Monins Esquire whose Successor in that Age which was circumscribed within the Pale of our Fathers Remembrance passed it away to Crayford of Great Mongeham Secondly Cotmanton puts in its Claim for some memorial likewise even in this respect that it was the Demeasne of the noble Family of Crioll or Keriell who were of some considerable Repute in this Track as appearsby by the Book styled Testa de Nevill kept in the Exchequer where they are represented in the twentieth year of Henry the third to have held Land in this Skirt of the County and in Ages of a modern Aspect that is in the twentieth year of Edward the third I find Iohn de Criol gave a pecuniary supply at the making the Black Prince Knight but before the end of Edward the third he was departed from the possession of this place which by Sale was resigned up to Roger Digge and he dyed in the possession of it in the third year of Ric. the second Rot. Esc Num 19. And in this Family it continued untill the reign of Henry the seventh and then it was alienated to Barton descended from the ancient Family of Barton of Barton-hall in the County of Lancaster from whom the like Mutation about the latter end of H. the eighth carried it off to the Family of Brown and from them it passed away by Sale into the Possession of Richardson upon whose going out the Family of Smith by a Devolution like the former not many years since stept into the Inheritance of it Sundrich in the Hundred of Codsheath was the Possession as high as any Light collected from Antiquity can waft us to a Discovery of an Ancient Family called in Latine-Records de Insula and in English Isley Iohn de Insula obtained a Charter of Free-warren to his Lands at Sundrich in the eleventh year of Edward the second and he had Issue Iohn Isley who married Joan Daughter to Sir Ralph de Fremingham and by her had Issue Roger Isley Esquire who in Right of his mother became Heir to his Uncle Iohn Fremingham Esquire who deceased without Issue in the twelfth year of Henry the fourth and this Roger Isley had Issue William Isley Esquire who was Sheriff of Kent in the twenty fifth year of Henry the sixth and he had Issue John Isley Esquire who was Justice of the Peace and Sheriff of Kent in the fourteenth year of Edward the fourth and deceased in the year 1484 as appears by an Inscription affixed to his Monument yet extant notwithstanding the late general Shipwrack of the Remains of Antiquity in Sundrich-church and he had Issue Thomas Isley Esquire Father of Sir Henry Isley who was
here likewise they had Authority by Royall Concession to make By-Laws and Ordinances for the common good and profit of the Cinque Ports and for the better Regulating as the exigency of Affairs might seem to exact the Herring-fishing at Yarmouth and that this Court in the power of it might appear to be the Counterpane of that great Original of Power the high Court of Parliament all appeals from the inferior and subordinate Courts of the Cinque Ports were transmitted and transfer'd to this of Shepway Lastly the Barons of the Cinque Ports claim by inherent Custome and Prescription which is grown up and confirm'd by a tacite consent between them and the King to support the four Staves of the Canopy that covers the Kings Head at his Coronation and after to dine at the uppermost Table in the great Hall on his right hand There are other Franchises and priviledges circumscrib'd within the Verge and Circumference of the above-recite a Charter as the taking cognizance of the Assize of Bread and Beer and some others which because they are not of that importance or consideration as those which before were rehearsed and moreover finding that they are calculated for the Meridian of many other Corporations besides that of the Cinque Ports I have at present forbore any farther Recital of them Now if any one will enquire what the Cinque Ports were to act by way of recompence or retribution for these so solemn and signall Characters and Demonstrations of royal favour To this I answer That they were to find fifty and seven Ships at their own Charge for the space of fifteen days to attend the King whensoever he should pass the Seas whereof Hasting was to find one and twenty Sandwich five Hieth five Romney five and Dover one and twenty each of which was to be furnished with one and twenty men and a Garcion or Boy the Masters stipend was to amount to 6â— the Constables to a Sallary of the same value and each vulgar Mariner was to have three pence per diem and if the obligation of affairs so requir'd it that they attended the King beyond the extent of fifteen days then they were for the time following to be supported in their expences at the charge of the Crown Now because the wisdome of after-times thought this too vast and burdensome an expence to be solely and wholly sustain'd by the Cinque-Ports therefore there were several other Towns and Villges that lay scatter'd in the Body of this Nation that were made Members and Limbs of the Cinque-Ports and invested and fortified with the same Immunities and Liberties that they might by consequence be enwrapt and engag'd in the same common expence The Names of those which are situated in Kent are as followeth viz. Sandwich had the Addition of Fordwich Sarre Ramsgate Deal Walmer and Stonor Dover had Feversham Birchington St. Johns St. Peters Ridlingswould and Folkstone Hieth had West Hieth Romney had old Romney Lydde Promhill Dengemersh and Orwelston Hastings and Winchelsey had in Kent as their Appendages Bekesbourn Grench and Tenterden As a L'envoy to the Cinque-Ports I shall represent a Summary or Bedroll of all those Persons of esteem that have had the Honour to have been dignified with the Title of Lord Wardens of the Cinque-Ports which Scroll or Register I have collected out of an ancient Manuscript and are in their Series or Succession as followeth viz. 1 John de Fiennes 2 James de Fiennes 3 John de Fiennes 4 Walkelinus de Magninot 5 Allen de Fiennes 6 James de Fiennes 7 Matthew de Clere 8 William de Wrotham 9 Hubert de Burgo He that so stoutly asserted the Interest of King John and the Castle of Dover likewise against Lewis the Dolphin of France 10 Bertram de Criol 11 Richardle Grey 12 Henry de Braybrook 13 Edward then Prince but after King by the Name of Edward the first and Henry de Cobham was his Substitute 14 Henry de Monteford 15 Roger de Leybourn 16 Stephen de Penchester 17 Sr. Robert Ashton ibidem sepultus id est Dubri 18 Simon de Crey 19 Hugh le Spencer 20 Edmund de Woodstock 21 Reginald de Cobham 22 Bartholomew Ld. Burgherst or Burwash 23 John le Beauchamp 24 Sr. Ralph Spigurnel 25 Sr. Robert Herle 26 Robert Earle of Cambridge 27 Simon Burleigh 28 Henry le Cobham 29 Sr. John Enrosse and in some Copies le-Rosse 30 Sr. Thomas Beaumont 31 Edward Duke of Aumerle and York 32 Sr. Thomas Erpingham 33 Prince Henry after King Henry the fifth 34 Humphry Duke of Glocester 35 James Fiennes Lord Say whom Jack Cade beheaded 36 Edmund Duke of Somerset 37 Humphry Stafford Duke of Buckingham 38 Simon Montfort 39 Richard Nevil Earle of Warwick 30 Will. Earle of Arundell 31 Richard Duke of Glocester after Richard the third 32 Sr. William Scott 33 James Fiennes Lord Say Henry in his Fathers life time after Hen. the eight 34 Arthur Plantagenet Viscount Lisle Natural Son to Edward the fourth 35 Sr. Edward Poynings 36 Henry Earle of Richmond 37 Sr. Edward Guldeford 38 George Boleyn Viscount Rochfort 39 Sr. Thomas Cheyney 40 Sr. Wil. Brook Lord Cobham Hen. Brook Lord Cobham 41 Henry Howard Earle of Northampton 42 Edward Zouch Lord Haringworth 43 George Villiers Duke of Buckingham 44 Theophilus Howard Earl of Suffolk 45 James Duke of Lenox and Richmond Having discovered to the Reader a scale of those who were successively Lord Wardens of the Cinque-Ports I shall now from Authentick Records and Registers represent a Catalogue of those who were substituted Lieutenants of Dover-Castle alterna vice under them Hugh de Montfort Temp. Gulielmi Rufi Henrici primi Simon de Averenches Temp. Gulielmi Rufi Henrici primi John de Stoner Temp. Gulielmi Rufi Henrici primi Alan de Heyton Temp. Hen. 2 di Henry de Essex Temp. Hen. 2 di Mat. de Clere Temp. Ric. 1 mi. Will. de Albemarle Temp. Ric. 1 mi. Simon de Averenches Temp. Ric. 1 mi. Barthol de Crioll Temp. Ric. 1 mi. Tho. Bassett Temp. Regis Joannis Will. de Huntingfield Temp. Regis Joannis Will. de Wrotham Temp. Regis Joannis Will. de Brewer Temp. Regis Joannis Alan de Buckland Temp. Regis Joannis Sr. Richard D'angervill Temp. Reg. Joannis Regis Hen. 3 di Bertram de Hells Temp. Hen. 3 tii Rob. de Burgherst Temp. Hen. 3 tii Rob. Walleran Temp. Hen. 3 tii Henry de Cobham Temp. Hen. 3 tii Henry Montfort Temp. Hen. 3 tii Roger Leybourn Temp. Hen. 3 tii Reginald le Viscount Temp. Edw. 1 mi. Thomas de Insula Temp. Edw. 1 mi. Rob. de Burgherst Temp. Edw. 1 mi. Bertram de Crioll Temp. Edw. 1 mi. VVill. de Averenches Temp. Edw. 1 mi. Rob. de Hereford Temp. Edw. 1 mi. Joh. de VValde VValde wars chare Temp. Edw. 1 mi. VVilliam de Lea Temp. Edw. 2 di Peter de Hanekin Temp. Edw. 2 di John de VValde wars chare Temp. Edw. 2 di VVilliam de Scotten Temp. Edw.
of Huntingdon and Cambridge the 16th and 17th of King John and Sheriff of Lincoln six or seven years together The Earls of Warwick were often Sheriffs of Warwick and Leicester-shire under Edward the 3 d. and also of the County of Worcester most part of that Kings Reign indeed the office of Sheriff was so frequent in that Family that it almost appear'd to be Hereditary to the Beauchamps Ralph Earl of Chester was Sheriff of that County the first of Henry the third and of the County of Lancaster the second year of the same King Walter Lord Arch-Bishop of York was Sheriff of Nottingham the fifty fourth and fifty fifth of K. Henry the third and Hugo de Stapleford was his Shire-Clerk Hillarius Bishop of Lincoln was Sheriff of Lincolnshire the ninth tenth eleventh twelfth and thirteenth of Henry the third and Ralph Regnald was his Shire-Clerk Hillarius Bishop of Chichester was Sheriff of Sussex and Surry the eight of Henry the second Richard Bishop of Salisbury was often Sheriff of the County of Dorset under Henry the third and of Hampshire at the same time Joceline Bishop of Bath was Sheriff of Somerset under Henry the third and Peter Bishop of Winchester the first eigth years of Henry the third Walter Bishop of Carlisle was frequently Sheriff of Cumberland under Henry the third and Robert his successor was often Sheriff of the same County under Edward the first and both of them had their Shire-Clerks Walter Bishop of Coventry and Liechfield was often in this office under Richard the first in the County of Stafford Ralph Abbott of Michelen was Sheriff of the Counties of Somersett and Dorset the seventh of Henry the third Many more Presidents of this Nature could be unfolded but I think these are competent Testimonies enough to discover both the Dignity and Eminence of this ancient and illustrous office only this may be deduc'd from these examples That some Counties heretofore were joyned with their next Neighbors for ease of the service as Sussex and Surry Devon and Cornwall Somerset and Dorset Hampshire and Wilts Warwick and Leicester Cambridge and Huntingdon Norfolk and Suffolk Essex and Hartford c. most of which were separated by Queen Elizabeth and the rest taken in sunder by the late King Charles I shall now endevour to unravel the Catalogue of the Sheriffs of Kent as I find them Registred either in the Pipe-Rolls or other Evidences and I have as much as posibly I could Recorded the places where they inhabited which will much improve and inforce that light which I am to distribute to the world in Relation to those places I am in my subsequent discourse to treat upon And first I find Osward a Saxon held divers Lands in Kent as Herst Hagalei Norton Chert Stepedon with Tunsdal and Tong during the Reign of Edward the Confessor all which Lands were in the Conquerors Time possest by Hugo de Port This Osward also held Delce Hadon Alneiton and Har Sham. He was Sheriff of Kent under the Confessor as appears by the prime Record of the Nation Domes day Book where speaking of Tarentford in Axtan Hundred it is thus entred Homines de in Hundredo testificantur quod de isto Manerio Regis ablatum est unum Pratum unum Alnetum unum Molendinum XX. acrae Prati c. Dicunt etiam quod Osward tunc Vicecomes praestitit ea Alestano Praeposito London modo tenet Heltus Dapifer Nepos ejus Hamo and as frequently Hanno Lord of Marourd in the Hundred of Littlefield and of Blen in the Hundred of Whitstaple and Lavinton in the Hundred of Downhamford of Estursete Briested now I take Brasted Nettlested Ditton and divers other Lands in Kent was Sheriff at the Time of the General Survey entred by the Conqueror into his Domes day Book The Records of Christ Church and the Deeds of the Hospital of St. Lawrence near Canterbury prove that Hamo Son of Etardes de Crevequer did in the Reign of Richard the first and K. John hold divers of the Lands if not all above recited He continued Sheriff as then was very usual during life which was enlarged untill about the middle of Henry the first for in the year 10111 which is the 11th of Henry the first Hugh Abbot of St. Augustins granted Bodesham and Smethetum to this Hamo Quod ipse as sayes the Deed si opus fuerit Ecclesiae mihi vel successoribus meis de praedictis in Comitatu vel in Curia Regis contra aliquem Baronem consulat adjuvet succurrat exceptis Dominis suis quorum Homo manibus suis fuerit At the same time this Hamo restored to the same Abby in the Town of Fordwich in this Form Hamo Cantii Vicecomes Henrici Regis Anglorum Dapifer timore Dei ductus reddo Deo Sancto Petro Apostolorum Principi Sancto Augustino Anglorum Apostolo Abbati Hugoni Fratribus ejusdem loci Villam de Fordwich Hanc Donationem meam per Psalterium Sancti Augustini per cultellum meum super principale Altare ejusdem Ecclesiae manibus meis misi c. William de Aynsford was Sheriff of Kent after Hamo in the Reign of Henry the first for in the Chartularies of St. Augustin in Canterbury I find a Transcript of the Kings writ thus Henricus Rex Anglorum Willielmo de Aynsford salutem fac juste habere Abbati de Sancto Augustino consuetudinem suam de Niwentonâ in Denariis Averiis operationibus c. And the Deed from William Son to Henry the first is here entred and imports as much as the former Willielmus Filius Regis Willielmo Vice Comiti de Kent salutem Fac recognosci per Homines Hundredi de Middletuna quas consuetudines in Villâ de Niventonâ c. This Family of Ainsford ended about Edward the first and one of this Name was Sheriff of London Norman Fitz Dering was Sheriff of Kent under K. Stephen unto whom Queen Maud directed her Writ concerning some Land given by her to the Nun Helmida ad faciendam Domum suam in Elemosinam apud Fauresham post Mortem ejus Volo saith the Queen ut Ecclesia Sanctae Mariae de Fauresham pro salute Domini mei Regis Stephani meâ Filiorum nostrornm Statu Regni nostri habeat praefatam Terram in perpetuum He and his Brother Godred Fitz Dering are Teste to a Deed of their Brother Osbert de Morinis so called because his Brother was a Fleming which Deed is Registerd in the Chartularies of Saint Augustins wherein he to that Abby gives six Acres and an half of Land in Thanet for the supply of a Light in the Chapel of St. Mildred within the Abby aforesaid Pro salute Animae suae Animi Uxoris ejus Ermelinae in Honorem Sanctae Virginis Mildrethae This Norman Fitz Dering held Lands at Ashford East Farleigh Lese Bircholt and Bedesham Rualonus or Ruallo de Valoigns was Sheriff of Kent
in the first year of K. Henry the second in the year of our Lord 1154 as appears by the Records of the Pipe Office which I must now exactly trace where the Sheriffs Accounts are inrolled His Seat was at Swerdlin in Petham and sometime at Tremworth in Bocton Alulph Ralph Picot was Sheriff the second third fourth fifth sixth and seventh years of K. Henry the second Adam Picot supplied part of the last year and Hugh de Dover the rest Hugh de Dover descended from Fulbert de Dover to whom the Castle of Chilham with the Mannor of Kingston and other Knights Fees were granted by K. William the Conqueror in Defence of Dover Castle was Sheriff of Kent the eighth ninth tenth eleventh twelfth thirteenth and fourteenth years of Henry the second His Residence was sometimes at Chilham Castle and sometimes at Kingston Gervas de Cornhill was Sheriff of Kent the fifteenth sixteenth seventeenth eighteenth ninteenth and twentieth of Henry the second His Seat was Lukedale in Littlebourn Robert Fitz Bernard was joyned with Gervas de Cornhill in the twenty first of Henry the second and after that year was expired he exercised the Office alone till the thirtieth of the said Kings Reign His Capital Mansion was Kingsdown near Ferningham Arnoldus but of what Family is not yet discovered was Sheriff of Kent the twentieth second of Henry the second William Fitz Neal was Sheriff of Kent the thirtieth of Henry the second and Will. Fitz Philip was joyned with him Where his Residence was is incertain Allan de Valoigns was Sheriff of Kent the thirty first thirty second thirty third and thirty fourth of Henry the second His Seat was frequently at Swerdlin in Petham and often at Repton in Ashford Henry de Cornhill Son to Gervas de Cornhill above recited was Sheriff of Kent in the first second and third years of Richard the first His Seat was at Lukedale Reginald de Cornhill was Sheriff of Kent the fourth fifth sixth seventh eighth ninth and last year of K. Richard the first and during the whole Reign of K. John and in the twelfth year of his Reign John Fitz Vinon of Haring in Selling Juxta Hyth was joyned to him for Execution of the said Office in Kent His Seat was at that Mansion in Minster in Thanet Which at this instant from his being so constantly Sheriff preserves the Appellation of the Sheriffs Court Hubert de Burgo that great subject which was afterwards Earl of Kent Constable of the Castle of Dover and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports was Sheriff of Kent in the first second third fourth fifth sixth and seventh of K. Henry the third during which Time one Hugh de Windlesore whose Estate lay at Werehorn was joyned to him as his Assistant In the eight year of K. Henry the third Roger Grimstone was joyned with him as his Assistant and continued so the eighth ninth and tenth years of King Henry the third In the eleventh of the said Kings Reign William Brito was joyned unto Him and continued his Assistant in that Office till the seventeenth of King Hen. the third Bartholomew de Criol Lord of Ostenhanger was Sheriff of Kent from the seventeenth to the twenty fourth year of K. Henry the third Humphrey de Bohum Earl of Essex was Sheriff of Kent in the twenty fourth and twenty fifth of K. Henry the third He was at that Time possessed of the Mannour of Bilsington in this County as I find by a Fine levied by him of the said Mannour the twenty fourth of Henry the third Peter de Sabaudiae or Savoy being Earl of Savoy and Uncle by the Mothers side unto Eleanor the wife of K. Henry the third was made Earl of Richmond in York-shire and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports He dwelt in the House in the Strand from him named the Savoy He was Sheriff of Kent in the twenty sixth of K. Henry the third and Bertram de Criol was joyned with Him Bertram de Criol of Ostenhanger in Relation to that vast Estate which accrued to him by matching with Eleanor one of the Daughters and Coheirs of Hamon Crevequer Lord of Leeds Castle and of Matilda his wife Daughter and Heir of William de Averings Lord of Folkston was called the great Lord of Kent held the Office of Sheriff the twenty seventh of Henry the third and John de Cobham was joyned with him that year But the twenty eighth twenty ninth thirtieth thirty first and thirty second years of Henry the third he held the Place alone Reginald de Cobham was Sheriff of Kent from the beginning of the thirty third of Henry the third to the end of the fortieth of Henry the third and in the forty first of Henry the third one Walter de Bersted was joyned with him in the Execution of that Office he died the forty second of Henry the third and Roger de Northwood and his other Executors answered for the Remainder of that year This Walter de Bersted was Constable of the Castle of Dover the forty sixth of Henry the third Hugh de Monfort the Kings Nephew had the Custody of the County of Kent and the Hundred of Milton granted to him in the forty second of Henry the third Pat. 48. Mem. 12. Fulk Peyforer was Sheriff and Custos of Kent the forty third of Henry the third His Seat was sometimes at North Court in Eseling and sometimes at Colbrige in Boughton Malherbe Jo. de Cobham was Sheriff of Kent the forty fourth of Henry the third He served the first Part of the forty fifth and Robert Waller served the rest and Walter de Redmarleg was under him Robert Waller and Thomas Delaway under him held the Sherivaltie of Kent the forty sixth and forty seventh of Henry the third His Seat was at Monkton in Thanet Roger de Leybourn was Sheriff of Kent the forty eighth of Henry the third and Fulk Peyforer was Custos of the County the latter part of that year and three parts of the year forty ninth In the fiftieth year John de Bourn was joyned unto him and so continued till the fifty second of Henry the third and Fulk de Peyforer was Custos of the County again the last three parts of that year His Seat was at Leybourn Castle in Kent Stephen de Penchester was High Sheriff of Kent the fifty third and fifty fourth of K. Henry the third and Henry de Leeds was his Assistant or Shire Clerk His Seat was at Pencehurst Henry Malmains of Pluckley and Waldershare was Sheriff the fifty sixth of Henry the third and continued part of the first year of K. Edward the first in which Office he deceased and John his Son answered for the Profits of the County the first half year and William de Hever for the other half year William de Hever of Hever Castle in Kent was Sheriff part of the first year and all the second year of Edward the first William de Valoigns of Smerdlin and Repton was Sheriff of Kent the
de Ifield Pat. 6. Edwar. 3. Par. prima Memb. 22. in Dorso William de Clinton Tres vel duo eorum John de Cobham John de Segrave Thomas Feversham Par. 6. Edwar. 3. Par. prima Memb. 11. in Dorso Willielmus de Clinton Quinque quatuor tres duo eorum John de Cobham Galfridus de Say John de Segrave Otho de Grandison Thomas de Feversham Pat. 9. Edwar. 3. Par. 2. Memb. 24. in Dorso Johannes de Cobham De Confirmatione Pacis ac Statuti Northampton cujusdam Ordinationis ne qui alicubi incedant armati ad terrorum Populi Thomas de Aldon John de Segrave Par. 10. Edwar. 3. Par. 2. Memb. 18. in Dorso Willielmus de Clinton De Feloniis Malefactoribus notorie suspectis insequendis de audiendo terminando Felonia Transgressiones Excessus Radulphus Savage Thomas de Aldon Quatuor vel Tres eorum Johannes de Hampton Willielmus de Reiculuar Pat. 12. Edwar. 3. Momb 16. in Dorso Johannes de Cobham Tres vel duo eorum Thomas de Aldon Jo. de Warrenâ Com. de Surrey Thomas de Brockhull Willielmo de Clinton Com. de Huntingdon Quos c. Willielmus de Orlanston Pat. 18. Edwar. 3. Par. 2. Memb. 35. in Dorso Johannes de Cobham Tres vel duo eorum in Com. Kantii Thomas de Brockhull Otho de Grandison Willielmus de Morant Stat. 18. Edwar. 3. Cap. 2. In this year the Statute was made that ordained that their should be two or three Wardens of the Peace in every County Pat. 29. Edwar. 3. Par. prima Memb. 29. in Dorso Galfridus de Say  Willielmus de Thorpe Otho de Grandison Arnaldus de Savage Stephen de Valoigns Willielmus de Norton Pat. 31. Edwar. 3. Par. prima Memb. 17. in Dorso Galfridus de Say Willielmus de Norton Willielmus de Thorpe Thomas de Lodelow Pat. 31. Edwar. 3. Par. 2. Memb. 11. in Dorso Rogerus de Mortuomari Comes de March Constabularius Castri Dovoriae Custos quinque Portuum Will. de Thorpe a Judge Radulphus de Spigurnel Will. de Norton a Judge Stephanus de Valoigns Thomas de Lodelow Willielmus Warner In this year it being found by Experience that the former Number of the Wardens of the Peace setled by the Statute of the eighteenth of Edw. the third before mentioned was not sufficient for the good Governance of this County It was further provided by an Act made in the thirty fourth year of Edward the third Cap. 2. Ordaining that their should be in every Shire one Lord and with him three or four of the best in the County and three or four learned in the Laws assigned for keeping of the Peace and to restrain Offenders In the next Commission awarded after this Act these eighth Persons are recited for the abovesaid Purpose Viz. Sir Robert Herle then Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Constable of Dover Castle Iohn de Cobham of Cobham Roger de Northwood of Northwood Ralph de Fremingham of Fremingham or Farningham Thomas de Lodelow Robert Vinter of Vinters in Boxley Iohn Barrie of Sevington Thomas Hartredge of Hartredge in Cranebroke But this Restriction was not so permanent but that in short space the Number was very much augmented as by the subsequent Series in the first year of Richard the second may very well be observed Pat. primo Rich. secundi Pars prima Memb. 20. in Dorso De Justiciariis ad Pacem conservandam assignatis Justiciarii ad pacem conservandam assignati Edmundus Comes Cantabrigiensis Constabularius Castri Dovoriae Johannes de Cohham Robertus Belknap A Judge Stephanus de Valoigns Henry de Astry or Astie A Judge Willielmus Horne Thomas de Shardelow A Judge Willielmus Topcliff Thomas Garwenton de Well Nicholaus Hering Willielmus Tiltombe In Lastis de Sheringhope Shepwey St. Augustines Septem Hundredis in Com. Kantii Willielmus Makenade Teste Rege apud Westmon primo Die Aprilis Johannes Francis Thomas Hatredge John Bird de Smeth Justiciarii ad pacem conservandam assignati Idem Edmundus Comes supradictus Johannes Cobham Robertus Belknap Thomas Colepeper Henricus Astie Johannes Fremingham In Lastis de Alresford Sutton Leucata de Tunbridge in Com. Kantii Jacobus de Peckham Thomas de Shardelow Teste Rege ut supra Willielmus Topclive Nocholaus Hering Willielmus Makenade After by the Statute of the twelfth year of Richard the second Cap. 10. and the fourteenth year of the same Prince Cap. 11. it was prohibited that there should be any more than six Justices of the Peace in any Commission besides the two Justices of Assise and certain Lords who were assigned in the Parliament it self But in Times subsequent to these when the Womb of Vice like the Mudde of Nile was more fertile in the production of Crimes and the Seeds of Contention began to be sown more plentifully in every furrow of this Nation which sprang up again in a numberless Variety of Discord and Animosity these Restrictions were broke and the Catalogue of Justices was improved to that Volume to which it is swoln at present Before I descend to a particular Description of the Parishes of this County I should take cognisance of all those Towns and Villages which by the indulgence of former Princes were invested with the Charter of Market and Faire But this hath been so exactly performed lately by Mr. Kilbourn that I shall at present decline this Task Indeed all of them had this Passage inserted in the Original Grant Quantum in Nobis est so that many of them when they came to be discussed before the Judges Itinerent at the general Assises Quo Warranto they were held that is to say what Authority they had to support them were if they were found convenient and necessary ratified confirmed and continued but if again they were deemed needless and superfluous they were at these publick Conventions by the power of the Law then planted in the Judges vacated and discarded This may likewise be added that many of them were granted with this Intention of their first Institution only to inforce and Aggrandize the Signorie of those Mannors which were parcel of the Demeasn of those eminent Persons to whom those above mentioned Royal Charters and Concessions were indulged as Sutton Valence Court at Sreet Shinglewell and others and when the Title and Possession of those Places was either by Purchase or Marriage cast into the Tenure of other Proprietaries the Virtue of these Grants began to be dis-spirited and the Custome of Keeping up Markets and Fairs at these Mannors and Parishes began insensibly to shrink into disuse and intermission It is farther observable that at diverse Places which were endowed with these above mentioned Priviledges as at Brenchly Charlton by Greenwich and other Parishes the Market and Fair was observed and held in the Church-yard and on the Sunday it being the great Design of the Romish Clergie of those cloudy Times to
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
of a thousand Crowns on Sir Stephen de Cosington and Sir William his Son for their remarkable Service performed against the Enemies of his Crown and Scepter The last of this Family which held this Mannor was Sir J. Cosington who concluded in three Danghters and Coheirs about the the latter end of Henry the eighth matched to Duke Wood and Alexander Hamon and upon the Disunion of the Estate into Parcels the last by Female Interest was invested in Acris and his Successors remained Lords of the Fee untill the Beginning of K. James and then a Fatalitie like the former brought the Patrimony of this Family to be possest by two Daughters and Coheirs so that Sir Robert Lewknor having matched with Katharine who was one of them became in her Right entituled to this Mannor and left it to his Son Hamon Lewknor Esq who deceasing not long since hath transmitted it during the Minority of his Son to his Widow Dowager The Mannor of Brandred lies in this Parish and belonged to the Abby of St. Radigunds untill the suppression and then it was by Henry the eighth exchanged with the Arch Bishop of Canterbury in the twenty ninth of his Reign and remained parcel of that Patrimony which acknowledged the Signorie of that See untill these tempestuous Times shook it off Addington in the Hundred of Larkfield was as high as any Track of Evidence can transport me to discover the Inheritance of a noble Family called Mandeville and divers Deeds of a very venerable Antiquity being without date and now in the hands of Mr. Watton do attest Roger de Mandeville in those elder Times to have been Lord of the Fee but before the end of Edward the second this Family was vanished and had surrendred the possession of this place to Robert At Checquer in whom the possession was but of a narrow Date for hee not long after alienated his Interest in it to Nicholas Dagworth as is evident by this Record registred in the Book of Aid kept in the Exchequer De Nicholao de Dagworth pro uno Feodo Militis quod Roberius de Scaccario tenuit in Addington de Warreno de Montecanisio 40. s. That is Nicholas Dagworth in the twentieth year of Edward the third paid a respective Supply of 40. s. for his Mannor of Addington which both he and Robert At Checquer which enjoyed it before him held of the Honour of Swanscamp Castle as being the capital Seat of the Barony of Mountchensey under the Notion of a whole Knights Fee But in this Family the Title was a Volatile as in the former for before the going out of Edward the third I find it passed away from Dagworth to Sir Hugh Segrave and he in the seventh year of Richard the second alienated it to Richard Charles descended from Edward Charles Captain and Admirall of the Seas from the Thames mouth Northward in the reign of Edward the first as appears Pat. 34. Edwardi primi But he was scarce warm in his new Acquists but he expired in two Daughters and Coheirs Alice matched to William Snaith and Joan married to Richard Ormeskirk but this Mannor upon the Distinction of the Estate into Parcells was entwin'd with the Demeasne of Snaith and he dyed possest of it as the date of his Tombe in Addington Church informs me in the year 1409. but dyed without Issue-male so that his sole Daughter and Heir being wedded to Watton made it the Inheritance of that Family and here have they planted themselves ever since that Alliance and have performed many signal Services to this County by being invested with places of Trust as Justices of the Peace Commissioners of the Sewers and other Officers of the like Condition which hath much inforced and multiplied the eminent Reputation of this ancient Family Allington in the Hundred of Lark field is eminent for an ancient Castle within the Limits of it which as Mr. Darrell and Mr. Mersh do assert was erected by William de Columbariis or Columbers and this Mr. Darrell who was very curious in Disquisitions of this Nature more possitively affirms because in the eighth year of Henry the third when as appears by the Records of the Tower there was an exact Survey taken of all the Castles of England and of those who were either Proprietaries of them or else the respective Castellans or Guardians one of the above mentioned Family was found to be possessor of this Fortresse and was also Lord of the Mannor which was still annexed to the Castle but this Name was of no long continuance in the Tenure of either for about the latter end of Henry the third they came to own the Signorie of Sir Stephen de Penchester Lord Warden afterwards of the Cinque Ports to whom and to Margaret his Wife Daughter of the famous Hubert de Burgh Earl of Kent King Edward the first granted a Licence in the ninth year of his Reign as appears by the Patent-Rolls of that Time to erect a Castle and to fortifie and embattle at Allington so that it seems it was only before Fortalitium some small Fortresse and could not be marshall'd under the just Notion of a Castle untill it had received new Symetrie and Dimensions by those Appendages and Supplements which were added to it by this great Man and having thus established this Pile it came to own his Name and is in some old Records called Allington Penchester and not undeservedly for in the eighth year of Edward the first he obtained a Charter of Free-warren to his Mannor of Allington and also a Market Weekly on the Tuesday and a Fair yearly three days on the Vigil the day and day after St. Laurence but deceased without Issue Male so that after his Exit it came to acknowledge Stephen de Cobham who had married his Daughter and Coheir and he inocculated his own Name upon it and called it Allington Cobham which flourished severall Descents in this Family untill the beginning of Edward the fourth and then I find it in the possession of Brent but remained not long in this Name for in the eighth year of Henry the seventh John Brent passed away the Castle and Mannor of Allington to Sir Henry Wiat one of the Privie Councel to that Prince but his infortunate Grandchild Sir Thomas Wiat having by his Defection in the second year of Queen Mary forfeited it to the Crown it remained there untill Queen Elizabeth granted it to Jo. Astley Esq Master of her Jewels whose Son Sir Jo. Astley dying without Issue it came by Descent to Sir Jacob Astley created Lord Astley by the late King at Oxford whose Descendant does now enjoy the Possession of it Alkham in the Hundred of Folkston hath divers places in it of Account Malmains by vulgar Corruption of the word called Smalmains with Hollmeade which was ever accounted an Appendage to it are first to be considered In the twentieth year of Edward the third I find Thomas de Malmains Son of Nicholas de Malmains who
was Possessor of both these Places in Times of an elder Computation paid respective Aid at making the black Prince Knight for his Lands at Alkham But after this I find no more intelligence given me by Record of this Family for about the beginning of Henry the fourth I discover Iohn Alkham who extracted his Sirname from this Parish and it is very probable had here his Mansion though now it have found a double Sepulcher that of Oblivion and its own Rubbish to have been possest of them both which he held in Castle-Guard Tenure of Dover Castle and paid a subsidiarie Supply for them in the fourth year of that Prince at the Marriage of Blanch his Daughter from which temporary Assessement or Contribution severall Parcels of Land in this County have ever since contracted the Name of Blanch-Lands In Alkham the Signorie of both Places did reside untill the beginning of Henry the seventh and then they were demised by Peter Alkham to Iohn Warren Gentleman in which Name after they had continued untill the latter End of Henry the eighth Malmains was passed away to Brown who in our Memory conveyed it by Sale to Lushinton and Hollmeade was by the same Vicissitude annexed to the Demeasn of Wollet a Name that is grown reverend by an Efflux of many Ages both here and at Elham The Mannor of Hoptons another place considerable in Alkham If you will search who was in elder Times possest of it the private date lesse Deeds will inform you that anciently it was the Inheritance of Peter de Hall but was not long permanent in the possession of this Name for in the twentieth year of Edward the third as appears by the Book of Aid it was the Inheritance of William de Bourn and here it seems the Title was more constant for in this Family it was resident untill the beginning of Henry the sixth and then it was alienated to Baker of Caldham in whom it had not long continued but by his Daughter and Coheir it became the Inheritance of Robert Brandred from which Name about the latter end of Edward the fourth it passed away by Sale to Brown of Bechworth Castle in Surrey and here it fixed untill that Age which came within the Verge of our Grandfathers Remembrance and then it was demised to Godman in whose Descendants the Propriety now continues Evering is the last place of Account in Alkham it was the possession of a Family so called which branched from the ancient Lords of Folkston sirnamed Averenches whose Armes were as is manifest by ancient Armorials Or five Cheverons Gules and these Everings bare Or five Cheverons Azure Wolwardus de Evering held it under the Notion and by the Service of a whole Knights Fee in the Time of Henry the second of the Lords of Folkston And by a successive Chanell of many Descents hath the Title flowed so constantly in this Family that this Seat is at this instant annexed to their Inheritance In this Parish is an Eyle-Bourn which rises in the bottome at Dillingore which the Inhabitants presage to be a fatall presage either of Death or Dearth and in a short Distance of Time and Place from no appearance of Head or Spring sends forth such store of Water that a Vessell of considerable Burden may float therein then the Water being inforced into a Stream runs down to Chilton and disgorges it self into that River which meets the Sea at Dover Apuldore in the Hundred of Blackborn in the year of Grace 1032. was by an especiall Licence first obtained from Canutus and Elfgiva his Queen and given by Eadsin Bishop of Sr. Martins without Canterbury to the Prior and Monks of Christchurch est de cibo corum says the Book of that Convent that is it was granted to them for a Supportation of Diet. In the eleventh year of Edward the third there was a License granted to the then Archbishop and others by his Royall Patent obsternere quendam antiquam Trencheam quae ducit a Brachio Maris vocato Apledore versus Villam de Romney those are the Words of the Record that is to intercept and dam up a certain Trench or Chanell which proceeds from an Arm of the Sea called Apledore for then it seems the Sea flow'd up to this place though now it have wholly deserted it and leads to the Town of Romney But to proceed Apledore having by the abovesaid Donation been link'd to the Ecclesiasticall Patrimony continued wrapp'd up in that Interest untill the Resignation of the Revenue of the Priorie of Christchurch into the hands of K. Henry the eighth and then he setled it by a new grant on his new erected Dean and Chapter of Christ Church Hornes place in this Parish was the Seat for many hundreds of years of Gentlemen of that Sirname William Horne was one of the Conservators of the Peace in the first year of Richard the Second for this County and Michael Horne was Sheriff of Kent in the seventh year of Henry the fourth and held his Shrievalty at Apledore and from him did the proprietie of this place descend to Anne Horne the last of this Name who matched with Benedict Guldford Esquire who in her Right as being the sole Inheritrix of this place became Lord of this Seat but he denying the Oath of Supremacy which began about the twelfth and thirteenth of Queen Elizabeth to be tendered to Romish Recusants and sheltring himselfe by a Recesse and Flight into forrein Parts fell under the displeasure of the Queen and his Estate under the Fury of a praemunire so that this Mannor was torne away from his Interest by a Confiscation of it to the Crown and shortly after the above mentioned Princesse granted it to her faithfull Servant George Chowte Esquire from whom it is now descended to his great Grandchild Mr. Edward Chowt * Lately Deceased Esquire a Person who for his Support of Learning in these Times wherein if some whose Palates do decline it with regret and disgust might be confirmed in that licencious Liberty which they pretend to they would scarce leave us the Title page to inform Posterity that their was once Religion or Learning inhabiting amongst us cannot be mentioned by the Fautors and Abettors of Literature or at least the Pretenders to it without some grateful acknowledgment Dean Court in this Parish was the Mansion of a Family who borrowed their Sirname from this Town and were called Apledore and sealed with a Pile surmounted with a Fesse which was their paternal Coat but before the latter end of Edward the third this Family found its Sepulcher in a Female Heir for Thomas de Apledore dying witout Issue Elnith his only Sister entituled her husband William Roper to his Estate here and in the confining Marsh and by an uninterrupted Right derived from this Alliance hath the title of this place been supported in the Family of Roper for so many Descents that it is now at last devolved to the right honorable Christopher
that Cloister by Henry the eighth was by his liberal Concession made Parcel of his Inheritance and remained so until the Reign of Q. Mary and then being attainted and convicted of High Treason in the second year of that Princess his Estate here fell back to the Crown and continued there untill K. James in the Beginning of his Reign passed away Shawsted and Windlehill to the City of London and they again by their Trustees invested the Propriety of them by Sale in Sir William Garaway of London Father to Sir Henry Garaway Knight in whose Descendants the Title of them is still resident Place House in this Parish is secondly to be remembred which was anciently part of the Demeasn of the illustrious Family of the Pimps of Pimps Court in the Parish of Loose near Maidston and Philip de Pimp was one of those Men at Arms which the Prior of Rochester was to furnish out for the Guard of the Seacoast at Genlade or Yenlade in the Hundred of Hoo in the eleventh year of Edward the third In Times of a more modern Inscription I find Thomas Pimpe the elder to be Buried in Alhollows in Hoo and that he made his Will the twenty seventh of August as appears by the Repertorie of Rochester Diocess and in the fourteenth of Edward the fourth William and John were his Sons Elizabeth unmaried Margery Lady Prioress of Malling and Alice a Nun there Sir William Hampton about that Time bought much Land of him He I mean this Sir William was Lord Maior of London in the Time of Edwâ—rd the fourth but whether this Place was part of this Purchase or not there is no Light from any publick Intelligence can illustate it certain I am that the Coppingers imediately almost after this Time became possessors of the Place and the Proprietie is now by Female Right of a Daughter and Heir of a Branch of these Coppingers resolved into Sir Harbotle Grimston of Essex Alresford anciently written Aiglesford hath Places of considerable Animadversion within the Limits and Boundaries of it The Priory or rather now the Skeleton of it was founded by Richard Lord Grey of Codnor Anno Dom. 1240 in the twenty fifth of Henry the third for Carmelite or White Friers in Honour of the Virgin Mary the Mother of this Lord was Isolda Daughter and Coheir of Hugh Bardolph Lord of Hoo in Kent from whom he inherited fair Possessions in this County And many of his Posterity in Relation to that Particular were buried in the Conventual Church of this Monastery Upon the suppression it was granted with the Royalty of it by Henry the eighth to Sir Thomas Wiat from whom it descended to his Son Sir Thomas Wiat upon whose Defection this being with other Lands escheated to the Crown Queen Elizabeth granted it to Mr. J. Sidley and he bequeathed to his Brother Sir Will. Sidley and from that Name it was lately passed by Sale unto Sir Peter Ricaut whose Heir 1657 conveyed it by the same Vicissitude to Mr. Caleb Banks of Maidston Tottington and Eccles two Mannors in this Parish Richard Sonne of Malger de Rokesley gave Tiths of Tottington to the Priory of Rochester See Textus Roffensis anciently belonged to the Family of Rokesley of whose Heir General it came to of Poynings and Richard Lord Poynings the eleventh of Rich. the second held the Mannor of Tottington which with Eccles one of his Ancestors in the Time of King Henry the sixth gave in frank Marriage with his Daughter to J. Palmer of the Courtlodge in Snodland Esquire whose Posterity after they had held them some space of Time sold them to Warcup descended from the Warcups of Cumberland in which Name the Tenure was not long resident for by Sale it was alienated to Sidley of Southfleet and his Successor suddenly after by the like Fatalitie invested Ricaut in Eccles and Madox in Tottington Cosington is a Seat of much Eminence in this Parish and gave Residence and Sir-name to a Knightly Familie of the same And King Edward the first rewarded Sir Stephen de Cosenton whom he had made Banneret in the twenty eighth of his Reign for his signal Service at Carlaverock in Scotland with a Charter of Free Warren to all his Lands at Cosenton Acris and South-Burton vulgarly called South-Blabden in Elham in Kent The Mannor it self holdeth by Knights Service of the Barony of Rosse of Horton Kirbie from whom they received it by ancient Feoffement and bear in similitude of their Lords the Rosses the same Charge in their Arms viz. Azure three Roses Or. The Arms of Rosse being Or three Roses Gules But when in the Beginning of Hen. the eighths Government the Fatality of Time had concluded this Family in three Daughters and Coheirs married to Duke Hamon and Wood this Mannor of Cosenton accrued by Co-partition to Duke in which Name it hath ever since resided There was a Free Chappel belonging to this Mansion founded as private Evidences advertise me by Sir Stephen de Cosenton which is now crumbled into so desolate an Heap of Rubbish that we can hardly trace out its Ruines even amidst its Ruines There was another Free Chappel in his Parish annexed to Tottington by Richard Lord Poynings in the eleventh year of Rich. the second which hath been so dismantled by the impressions of Time and the fury of the Elements that there is very little Testimony or Evidence remaining that this Oratorie ever had a Being Preston in this Parish of Alresford is a Seat of that venerable Antiquity and hath for so many Descents been incorporated into the Demeasn of Colepeper that it is questionable which is the ancient Cradle or Seminary of this Family either Bayhall in Pepenbury or Preston in Alresford Sir Thomas Colepeper as the old Evidences and Muniments of this Name instruct me was of this Family and was Governour of Winchelsey under Edward the second by whom he was beheaded for defending that Town in behalf of the Barons then combined in an hostile League against him Walter de Colepeper flourished under Edward the first and Edward the second and seal'd with a Bend engrailed which is still the paternal Coat-Armour of this Family which I the rather mention because these Deeds are the first of that Nature which I have seen since Sealing with Coats of Arms grew customary in this Nation and argues him to be a Man of eminence in this County as did that spreading Revenue likewise of which he died possest not onely here but at Farleigh Peckham Wrotham and divers other places in the first year of Edward the third John Colepeper was a Judge in the Reign of Henry the sixth and concluded in a Daughter and Heir who by matching with Harrington added a considerable Supplement to the paternal Revenue of that noble Family I shall not more dilate my self in this Discourse it is enough that I inform the Reader that this ancient Seat which hath been for so many Centuries of years under the
much as the Tower of London they have been very high thick strong and well embattled the Matter of them is Flint marvailous and long Bricks both white and red of the British Fashion The Ciment was made of the Sea and small pibble There is a great likelyhood that the goodly Hill about the Castle and especially towards Sandwich hath been well inhabited Corn grâ—ws there in marvailous plenty and in going to Plough there hath been Time out of Mind and now is found more Antiquities of Romane Money then in any place else of England Surely Reason speaks that this should be Rutupinum for besides the Name somewhat toucheth the very near passage from Calis Cliffs or Calis was to Ratesborough and now is to Sandwich which is about a Mile off though now Sandwich be not celebrated because of Goodwin Sands and the Decay of the Haven There is a good Flight shot off from Ratesborough toward Sandwich a great Dike cast in a round Compass as if it had been for Defence of Men of War the Compass of the Ground within is not much above an Acre and it is very hollow by casting up the Earth They call this place their Little Borough within the Castle is a little Paroch Church of St. Augustine and an Hermitage I had Antiquities of the Hermit who is an Industrious Man not far from the Hermitage is a Cave where Men have sought and digged for Treasure I saw it by Candle within wherein were Conies it was so streight that I had no mind to creep far in In the North-side of the Castle is an Head in the Wall now sore defaced by the weather they call it Q. Berthas Head near to that place hard by the Wall was a Pot of Roman Money lately found Thus far He. The Ancient Lords of the Castle were the Earls of Oxford and Edward Earl of Oxford in the Beginning of Q. Elizabeth alienated it to Gant Ash juxta Faukham lies in the Hundred of Acstane anciently written Clacstane and was in elder Times the Inheritance of the Latimers William de Latimer held it in the thirtieth year of Edward the first and by the Royal Indulgence of that Prince obtained a Charter of Free-Warren to his Mannor of Ash which he held of Roger de Mowbray After the Latimers were worn out the noble Family of Grandison succeeded in the possession and Otho de Grandison held it as appears by the Book of Aid in the twentieth year of Edward the third at making the Black Prince Knight by the fourth part of a Knights Fee But after this there is little Evidence that it was long constant to the Interest of this Family for in the Reign of Richard the second it was wrapped up in the Demeasn of Cressel a Family that were entituled to a large Revenue both at Chiselhurst Hartley and elsewhere in this Track but it seems took no deep root at this place for in the fourth year of Henry the fourth the Knights Hospitalers held it at the Marriage of Blanch that Princes Daughter but whether they had it by Purchase or Exchange from Cressell the Record in the Exchequer does not specifie and here it became fixed and was esteemed as one of the principal Mannors relating to their Order in this County untill the Reign of Hen. the eighth and then in the thirty seventh year of that Prince not without much contest and strugling this was with the rest of their Revenue surrendred and being made parcel of the Income of the Crown K. Edw. the sixth about the second year of his Reign granted it to Sir Martin Bowes and he had Issue Will. Bowes who determined in two Daughters and Coheirs Eliz. matched to Will. Buggin and Ann married to Sir Edmund Fowler who divided his Patrimony and this upon the partition was united to the Revenue of Fowler and continues still to acknowledge his descendants for Proprietaries South-Ash is another Mannor in this Parish which had Owners in elder Times of that Name for in the Book of Aid I find that John at South-Ash paid an auxiliary supply for his Mannor of South-Ash at making the Black Prince Knight but it is possible this Mans original Name was Hodsoll and borrowed this Name from the Situation and Position of his Habitation which was Southerly and that which induces me to this Conjecture is that upon a perusall of the original Evidences I find that the Family of Hodsoll was long before possessors of this Mannor a particular Series of whom I could discover to the Reader but that I will not clog this Treatise with superfluities nor is this Mannor departed from the Signorie of this Name but is at this instant involved in the patrimony of Mr. William Hodsoll Hodsoll and Halywell are two other little Mannors in Ash whereof the last hath been the Seat of Hodsoll who borrowed their Sirname from the first many hundred years and in Relation to this assumed the bearing of three Stone Fountains two and one such as used to be dedicated to some Saint and were frequented anciently by such who reposed any Confidence in his vertue and miraculous efficacie whose Name they bore and of this Figure was â—hat Stone Well at Brackley commonly called St. Rumbals Well much frequented in the misty Times of Popery for the Cure of sore Eyes and other Maladies and that this was the ancient Coat of this Family is most certain for William Hodsoll who in severall Deeds writ himself Esquire both in the Reign of Henry the fifth and Henry the sixth sealed with the three stone Fountains only but now I know not upon what consideration the Fesse Wavee is added so that that the Coat is now Azure a Fesse Wavee between three stone Fountains Argent But to proceed as Hodsoll and Halywell have for so many Generations owned the Title of that Name and Family so hath no Vicissitude of Time so carryed off the Propriety of them but that they are still the present Demeasne of Mr. William Hodsoll North-Ash is another Mannor in this Parish which hath been accounted a Limb of the great Mannor of St. Johns at Sutton at Hone and upon the Suppression of the Alberge of the Knights Hospitallers here in England who for many hundreds of years had owed this Mannor was by Henry the eighth granted to Sir Maurice Dennis by whose Coheir it came to Wrote and he passed it away to Thomas Smith Esquire who upon his Decease gave it to his second Son Sir Tho. Smith in whose Descendants the Interest of it is wrapped up at present Scotgrove is the last place of Account in Ash it was in Ages of a very high Ascent the Estate of a Family called Torpell Mabilia Torpell Widow of John de Torpell who held it in the Reign of Henry the third dyed in the enjoyment of it in the Time of Edward the first as appears Rot. Esc Num. 27. In Times of a lower Gradation I find this Family vanished and then this Mannor came to be
posterity Potts Court in Babchild vulgarly called Petts Court was parcel of the Demeasn of the Priory of Dertford as appears by an Inquisition taken in the eleventh year of Edw. the fourth Rot. Esc Num. 69. and continued united to it untill the suppression in the Reign of Henry the eighth and then it was cast into the Revenue of the Crown where it lay untill Edward the sixth in the last year of his Reign granted it to Sir Thomas Cheyney whose Son Henry Lord Cheyney about the thirteenth year of Q. Eliz. passed it away to Samuel Thornhil Esquire in whose Descendant Line the Propriety of it is yet continuing Morris Court is a third place of Note in Babchild in elder Times it gave Seat and Sirname to a Family of that Denomination as appears by the ancient Muniments of this Seat but before the latter End of Henry the fourth this Family was vanished and then I find the Enghams setled by Purchase in the Inheritance and John Engham as appears by ancient Court Rolls held it in the Reign of Henry the fifth and Henry the sixth and after him did the Title by successive Inheritance transmit it self to his Posterity even untill those Times which grew near our Grand Fathers remembrance and then it was by Sale translated into Wolgate whose Ancestors had their Habitation at Wolgate Green in Throuley and after it had for some years acknowledged this Family for Proprietaries it was conveyed to Tilghman descended from the Tilghmans of Snodland from which Name it was again by as sudden a transmission alienated to Carselock of Feversham allied to John Carselock the last Abbot of the Priory there at the suppression of it and this Name being lately here by Defailance of Issue totally extinguished the Heirs of this Family as Knowler and others so designed by Testament do now possess it Badelesmer in the Hundred of Feversham was the Seat of that Family which for the great sway and influence they had once in this County although they have their Existence now only in Annals and History deserve a serious Remembrance Giles Lord Badelesmer as the Annals of St. Augustins instruct me was slain in the year 1258. in a Battell against the Welsh whilst he by endevouring to unite them to the English Scepter attempted to assault their Liberty and they as vigorously asserted it Guncelin de Badelesmer dyed possest of this Mannor in the twenty ninth year of Edward the first as appears Rot. Esc Num. 50. and lies buryed in Badelesmer Church with his Portraiture crosseleg'd cut in Wood and so much left of his Name as discovers to us that it is He who lyes there enterred and although there hath such a vast Interval or Decursion of Time intervened since his Sepulture yet neither hath Time nor our modern Zeal more fierce and ravenous then that so defaced it but that the Effigies insculped crosseleg'd is yet obvious visible and this I believe wil sufficiently refute the opinion of the vulgar who believe this Figure on the Tomb-stone to be the representation of some Giant and this Guncelin had Issue Bartholomew Lord Badelesmer that opulent and powerfull Baron of Kent who was witnesse to the Charter of Edward the second by which he confirms the Franchises and Priviledges of the City of London in the twelfth year of his Reign and there subscribes himself Steward of the Kings Hostell and was certainly a very eminent Person for in the year 1316 when Sir Richard de Rodney was invested with Knighthood by the abovesaid Prince the Ceremony of putting on his Spurs was performed by Maurice de Berkley and Bartholomew de Badelesmer but he had not been long swoln to this vast Dimension of power but their arose a Tempest which blasted all his blooming Glories for Isabel Wife and Queen to Edward the second having by severall good Offices performed between her Husband and his disobliged Barons so becalmed and softned all their Animosities that they became intombed in a mutuall Pacification was so inflamed at her denyall of Lodging and Accomodation in Leeds Castle by Thomas Colepeper the Castellan under Bartholomew Lord Badelesmer that she egged and pushed on the King to a Revenge which was done so effectually that the Death of the Castellan was the Expiation of so infortunate an Insolence and the Losse of the Head of the Lord Badelesmer taken Prisoner not long after neer Pontfrait and the forfeiture of his Estate paid the price of his Ambition and thus this magnificent Baron who like a streight and procere Elme grew tall in Title and like its luxuriant Branches did spread wide in the extent of his Power and Revenue was by this Storm supplanted and his Patrimony broken to peices being gathered up by escheat into the Royall Demeasne and in this Shipwrack did this Family lye involved untill the second year of Edward the third and then the indulgent Munificence of that Prince boy'd it up out of those Ruines wherein it appeared almost to have been sunk and by Patent restored him to his Estate here and elsewhere and he in a thankfull acknowledge to Heaven for this Restitution according to the Piety of those Times erected here a House for Black Canons or Canons of St. Augustins as the Record pat 13. Edw. 3. Memb. 6. doth amply testifie and dyed in the twelfth year of Edward the third and left his Estate to his only Son Giles Lord Badelesmere who dying without Issue his four Sisters Margery first marryed to William Rosse Lord Hamlake and then remarryed to Tho. Arundell Margaret matched to Sir John Tiptoft Elizabeth first wedded to William Bohun Earl of Northampton and afterwards to Edmund Mortimer Earl of March and Mawde espoused to John Vere Earl of Oxford became his Coheirs and that Land here at Badelesmer which was not before setled on the Monastery upon the partition was knit to the Patrimony of Vere and he dyed possest of it in the thirty fourth year of Edward the third and left it with the Title of Baron Badelesmer to his Successors one of which was Jo. Earl of Oxford who was attainted in the twelfth year of Edw. the fourth for supporting the House of Lancaster at the Battle of Barnet but was restored both in Blood and Estate but he never was possest of this Mannor for I find that upon the Suppression of this Cloister at Badelesmer it escheated to the Crown and then Henry the eighth granted it to Sir Robert Southwell and he in the second year of Edward the sixth alienated it to Sir Anth. Aucher and he upon his decease gave it to his Son Jo. Aucher who dying without Issue male Ann his sole Inheritrix brought it with her to her Husband Sir Humphrey Gilbert who about the middle of Queen Elizabeth alienated it to Sir Michael Sonds and from him is the instant Signorie devolved to Sir George Sonds Knight of the Bath There is another Mannor in this Parish of Badelesmer called Goddisland and gave Seat and Sirname
to a Family which formerly had their Mansion at this Place and John de Goddisland is mentioned in the Book of Aid to have held it in twentieth of Edward the third and when after some Flux of Time this Name was ebbed away from this place the Atwoods succeeded so stiled from their Habitation nere the Wood and Robert Atwood died seised of it in the sixth year of Richard the second and when this Family began to Decay the Sawyers came in and were Possessors of the place but long the Fee was not setled in this Name for the Title about the Beginning of Henry the seventh was engraffed by Purchase on Cheyney from which Family by the like Current it flowed about the Begining of Q. Elizabeth into Snode and from them not many years since it was by Sale wafted over to Franklin Barham in the Hundred of Kinghamford gives Name to that spacious Plain where the Britons encountred Caesar and his Army at his first Landing at Deale and after a signal Conflict repelled them back to their Ships The old Family of Fitz-Urse were formerly Lords of this Mannor and resolved into the Name of Berham after such Time as one of them called Randolph Fitz-Urse being Ring-leader of three other Cavaliers of the Kings Court had impiously assassinated Arch-Bishop Becket The Fact being so barbarous in the Estimate of those Times that flying into Ireland he abandoned the Name of Fitz-Urse and took that of Mac-Mahon as Mr. Camden Notes Certainly as he was the Actor and thereby more stained then the rest so was he much more culpable beause he held this Mannor of Berham of the See of Canterbury by the Service of halfe a Knights Fee so it appears by the Record of the Aid kept in the Exchequer and paid in the twentieth of Edw. the third yet did not this Name vanish at this place but still was inforced and multiplied into many Descents from whence issued Gentlemen of a prime and eminent Note in this Track untill lately that Fate which Shuffles both Families and Kingdomes into Disorder and Oblivion hath torn this Mannor now from this Name and by purchase brought over the Propriety of it to Fotherby Shelvingborough is a second Mannor in this Parish not to be waved in this Survey because it was sometimes one of the Seats of John de Shelving who held it in the seventeenth year of Edward the second But this Family determining not long after in a Daughter and Heir She by matching with Haut annexed this Mannor to the Patrimony of this Family and in this Name the Title was carried along by the Clew of many Descents untill it devolved to Sir William Haut who about the latter End of Henry the eighth concluded in two Female Coheirs whereof Elizabeth was matched to Sir Thomas Colepeper of Bedgebury who brought this along with her to that Family and he about the Beginning of Edward the sixth devested himself of the possession and by Sale transmitted his Right in it to Mantle where after the Title had by some small continuance made some little respite it was conveyed by Sale to Carlisle and here the Propriety was as transient for an Alteration of the same resemblance not many years since made it the possession of Hopday Diggs Court in Barham was the Mansion of the ancient Family of Digge or Diggs which Family about four Hundred years since that is about the Reign of Richard the first had the Aldermanry of Newingate in Canterbury as part of their Inheritance which it seems was not as now elective but as Freehold either demisable or devisable ad Libitum of him or her that held the same or if neither demised nor devised of him nor her in Life Time but indisposed of at Death then as Inheritance or Fee it descended to the next Heir at Law These Aldermen every one of them kept within their own Wards and happily as the Jews held theirs had at their several Gates a Court assembled every three weeks which was called of our Ancestors sometimes the Hundred Court sometimes the Wardmote that is the assembly or the meeting of the Hundred or Ward or the Portmote as the Jurisdiction was called Portsoka John or Diggs was in the year 1258 a great Benefactor to the Franciscans who had then newly planted themselves at Canterbury and purchased for them an Island in that City called Binnewight Emit Insulam vocatam Binnewight in Cantuar. locum Portae super Stourstreet ad opus Fratrum Minorum tempore opportuno transtulit Fratres ad illam As Leland records of him Adomarus de Digge one of this House was a Judge in the Reign of Edward the second and possest much Land about Reynham and Newington which still represents his Name to Posterity and is called Diggs Mersh John Diggs of Diggs Court was Sheriff of Kent part of the second year of Henry the fourth and John Diggs his Grand child was Sheriff of Kent in the fourth year of Edward the fourth his Son and Heir was John Diggs Esquire who likewise held that Office in the eleventh year of Henry the seventh this our Sheriff had Issue James Diggs of Diggs Court Esquire who was likewise Sheriff of Kent the second year of Henry the eighth and Justice of the Peace for this County almost all the Government of that Prince he was Father of Leonard Diggs Esquire who was Grand Father to Sir Dudley Diggs of Chilham Castle Master of the Rolls 1637 who almost in our Memory passed away this Seat which had been for many years an Appendage to it to Captain Halsey of London who not long after alienated it to Alderman Soame of the same place who not long since conveyed it to Sir Basil Dixwell of Terlingham in Folkstone Knight and Baronet whose collateral Descendant that is his Nephews Son and Heir Mr. Basil Dixwell is Proprietary apparent of it Barfreyston in the Hundred of Eastry was anciently held by Castle-Guard of Dover Castle by John de Wybarne and when this Family had abandoned the possession which was about the latter End of Henry the fourth it came to be held by Harward and when some years it had been wrapped up in the Interest of this Family it was transmitted by Sale about the latter End of Henry the sixth to Sir Thomas Brown of Bechworth Castle and here the Title lodged untill the Beginning of Henry the eighth and then part of it was passed away to Wood but the Mannor it self rested in Brown untill the Beginning of Q. Elizabeth and then it was conveyed to Mr. Thomas Bois whose successor Mr. John Bois not many years since alienated it to Sir Anthony Percival of Dover Hartanger and Soles are two Mannors situated within the Precincts of this little Parish who both had owners so Sirnamed The first after it had been folded up in the Demeasn of Hartanger untill the Reign of Edward the second was by Purchase made the Inheritance of Perot of Knowlton and Thomas Perot died
Name is promiscuously written Jo. de Marney who is in some old Deeds called Marins obtained a Charter of Free Warren to his Mannor of great Betshanger the first year of Edw. the first but it seems this Franchise did but improve the Sale and make it more fit to be enjoyed by another for not long after it was conveyed to John de Soles so called from his Habitation near some Ponds and he died in the enjoyment of it in the forty ninth year of Edw. the third Rot. Esc Num. 40. Parte secunda But after this it was not long constant to the Signory of this Family for about the Beginning of Richard the second I find it possest by Bertram de Tancrey Lord of Tancrey Island in Fordwich and his Descendants enjoyed it until the latter end of Henry the fourth and then it went away by Sale to Rutter from which Name about the Beginning of Edward the fourth it came to Lichfield whose Arms are yet visibly obvious in ancient Pains of Glass at Dane Court in Tilmanston viz. Bendee of six Pieces Azure and Ermin and in this Family it continued until the Beginning of Henry the eighth and then by the Heir General of this Name it became united to the Patrimony of Thomas Cox Esquire Customer of Sandwich who about the latter end of Henry the eighth conveyed it by Sale to Mr. John Bois Ancestor to John Bois Esquire who by Paternal Devolution is now entituled to the Signory of it Little Betshanger was a Seat relating to the Family of Cliderow which in elder Times was of eminent Account in this Track yet I find that Iohn de St. Philibert held Lands here in the thirty first year of Edward the third but the Mannor it self was an Appendage to the above mentioned Family * He was Knight of the Shire in the seventh year of Henry the fourth Roger de Cliderow flourished here in the Reign of Edward the second and Edward the third and as appears by Seals affixed to old Evidences which commence from the last Kings Reign bore for his Coat Armour upon a Cheveron between three Eagles five Annulets his Successor Richard Cliderow was Sheriff of Kent the fourth and most part of the fifth year of Henry the fourth he was constituted soon after Admiral of the Seas from the Thames mouth along the Saxon Shore to the West for in those Times the Admiralty was divided sometimes into three and most commonly into two Divisions one beginning at the Thames mouth was Admiral of the Northern Seas the second was Admiral from the Thames mouth Westward and the third had the command of the Irish Seas but in this man's Time King Henry the fourth in the eighth year of his Reign reduced it under one Person and granted it with more ample and wide Authority under his Brother John Beauford Earl of Somerset But to proceed after the Title of this place had remained locked up in the Demeasn of Cliderow until the latter end of Hen. the eighth it passed away with the Female Inheritrix to Thomas Stoughton Esquire by whom he had three Daughters who were Coheirs to their Mother Elizabeth matched to Thomas Wild Esquire Helen married to Edward Nethersole and Mary wedded to Henry Paramour who by a joynt conveyance passe away their right to their Father in the twentieth year of Queen Elizabeth and he in the twenty first year by Deed re-enstates his right in them and they again by a concurrent and mutual consent alienate their Interest here in the twenty eighth year of her Rule to Mr. John Gookin and he about the first year of King James conveyed it to Sir Henry Lodelow who not many years since passed it away to Mr. Edward Bois of Great Betshanger Father to Mr. John Bois Esquire the present Lord of the Fee Bicknor in the Hundreds of Milton and Eythorn was in elder Times the Habitation of a Family of that Sirname Sir John de Bicknor and Sir Thomas de Bicknor accompanied King Edward the first in his successeful Expedition into Scotland and are found Recorded in the Register or Bedroll of those Knights who were made Bannerets at Carlaverock Castle by that Prince in the twenty eighth year of his Government but after this this Mannor stayed not long in the Tenure of this Family for in the Reign of Edward the second it came to acknowledge the Dominion of Roger de Leybourn Baron of Leybourn Castle from whom it descended to his Sole Daughter and Heir Juliana de Leybourn who dying in the forty third year of Edw rd the third without Issue and without Kindred it devolved by Escheat to the Crown and then that Prince setled it by a new Donation on the Abby of St. Mary Grace on Tower-Hill where it continued until the publick Suppression and then being surrendred up to the Crown it was in the thirty sixth year of Henry the eighth granted to Christopher Sampson and he in the second year of Edward the sixth passed it away to Sir Thomas Wiat from whom not long after it came by the same conveyance to own the Interest of Reader who about the latter end of Queen Elizabeth alienated his Right in it to Terry who almost in our Memory partly by Sale and partly in respect of Alliance setled the Propriety of it on Aldersey so that Mr. Farnham Aldersey a second Brother of Terrey Aldersey of Swanton Court Esquire is now Lord of the Fee Biddenden in the Hundreds of Barkeley Cranbroke and Blackbourn had an old Family which took both Seat and Sirname from hence and when this was consumed and vanished the Mayneys were the next who were successively Possessors of it John de Mayney died seised of this and other Lands confining upon it in the fiftieth year of Edward the third and was Son of Sir John de Mayney who flourished here as appears by Deeds under the worthy Character of Knighthood many years before and to this Name was the Possession by a continued and unbroken Series of Ages wedded until some years since the Title was by Sale divorced from this Family and conveyed by Sir Anthony Mayney Knight and Baronet to Sir Edw. Henden Chief Baron of the Exchequer and he by Testament transmitted it to his Nephew Sir John Henden who having lately paid a Debt to Nature which we all owe his Son and Heir Edw. Henden Esquire does at this instant enjoy it Allards is another ancient Seat in this Parish which for many Generations past until of late acknowledged it self to be the Mansion of that Name and Family and from hence was Gervas Alarar or Allard descended who was Captain and Admiral of the Navy set forth by the Cinque Ports in the first year of Edward the first as appears Pat. 34. Edwardi primi but now the Distaffe hath prevailed against the Lance for this Name having been lately wound up in a Daughter and Heir the Possession of it in her Right is now transplanted into Captain Terry
alienated to Godfrey of Lidde where after it had some small Time been setled a Mutation like the former united it to the Propriety of Wood and he about the Beginning of King James demised it by Sale to Mr. John Fagge Grandfather to Mr. John Fagge Esquire one of the Justices of the Peace for the County of Sussex who is the instant Lord of the Fee Brook in the Hundred of Chart and Longbridge was given to the Priory of Christ Church by Charlemanus a Priest which Donation was first ratified by the Charter of Henry the first and secondly confirmed by that of Henry the second In the Conquerours time you will find it thus represented Rodbertus de Romeney tenet 1 Manerium de Brock ad firmam de Cibo Monachorum pro 1 Sulling defendebat se nunc pro Dimidio valet 4 l. This upon the Surrender of the abovesaid Cloister and its Revenue into the Hands of Henry the eighth was enstated on the newly erected Dean and Chapter of Christ Church and there was lodged untill this Age of Discomposure and Distraction and now it is rent off Bromley gives Name to the whole Hundred where it is situated and hath been many Ages part of the Demeasne of the Church since it was given as appears by the Records of the Church of Rochester by John Later a Goldsmith of London to the Bishop of that Sea in the year of our Lord 1300. There are two Seats within this Parish which were alwaies of temporall Interest and pretend to a deep Antiquity The first is Sundridge which formerly was the Patrimony of a noble Family called Blund Peter le Blund was Constable of the Tower of London the thirty fourth of Henry the third and Ralph le Blund his Grandchild paid respective Aid for his Lands at Bromley which he there held by a whole Knights Fee of the Bishop of Rochester in the twentieth of Edward the third and when this Name was entombed in a Female Heir this Seat went with her to the Willoughbies from whom the Earl of Lindsey is descended and when some years it had rested in this Family by the Circumstance of Purchase it became the Patrimony of Booth when this Name was likewise wound up in an Heir Generall the Betenhams of Pluckley by matching with her became Lords of this Manfion and and continue still Proprietaries of it Simpsons is the second Seat of Account though in Ages of a later Inscription it contracted that Name yet anciently it was the Demeasne of Bankewell a Family of Signall Repute in this Track John de Bankewell had a Charter of Free Warren to his Lands in Bromley in which this was involved in the thirty first of Edward the first and Thomas de Bankewell dyed seised of it in the thirty fifth year of Edward the third and when this Family was shrunk at this Place into a finall extinction the next who were eminent in the Possession of it were the Clarks and one William Clark that flourished here in the Reign of Henry the fifth that he might not be obnoxious to the Statute of Kernellation obtained Licence to erect a strong little Pile of â—ime and Stone with an embattell'd Wall encircled with a deep Moat which is supplyed and nourished with a living Spring but this mans posterity did not long enjoy it for about the latter end of Henry the sixth John Simpson dwelt here by right of Purchase and he having much improved the ancient Fabrick setled his Name upon it and indeed that is all that 's left to Evidence they were once Owners of it for in an Age or two after this it was conveyed to Mr. John Stiles of Bekenham Esquire from whom descends Sir Humphrey Stiles Knight and Baronet Cupbearer to the late K. Charles and him does Simpsons confesse for its instant Owner There is a Well in the Bishops Park called St. Blases Well which anciently had an Oratory annexed to it dedicated to St. Blasius which was much frequented at Whitsontide because Lucas who was Legat for Sixtus the fourth here in England granted an indulgent remission of forty Days injoyned Pennance to all those who should visit this Chappell and offer up their Orizons there in the three Holy-days at Pentecost Boughton Montchensey is placed in the Hundred of Twyford and hath that Addition annexed to it to signifie to us that it was once the Possession of the Family of Montchensey whose principall Seat was at Swanscamp where I shall treat more largely of them but though originally they held this Place yet it was not long a Branch of their Demeasne for about the Beginning of Henry the third they had deserted the Possession and surrendred it up to Hougham of Hougham by Dover and Robert de Hougham dyed possest of it in the forty first year of Henry the third and had Issue Robert de Hougham after whose Death the Spindle prevailed against the Spear for he concluding in Daughters and Coheirs Bennet one of them was matched to John de Shelving and he by a Right derived from her was invested in the Possession and dyed seised of it in the fourth year of Edward the third and so did his Widow in the twenty second year of that Prince and with them the Name of Shelving expired in a Daughter and Heir called Helen who was affianced to John de Bourn and so he in her Right became entituled to the Signory of this Mannor but before the end of Richard the second this Family found likewise its Tomb in a Female Inheritrix who was married to Haut of Hauts Place in Petham and Edward Haut held this Mannor in the eighth year of Henry the fourth as appears by the Pipe Roll relating to that Time but after this it was not long united to their Inheritance for about the latter end of Henry the sixth by an old Court Roll I find it in the Tenure of Reginald Peckham Esquire and Katharine Peckham Widow of James Peckham his Son held it at her Death which was in the seventh year of Henry the seventh and after her Thomas Peckham Esquire her Descendant enjoyed it at his Decease which was in the twelfth year of Henry the eighth and left it to his Son Reginald Peckham Esquire who about the latter end of the above mentioned Prince passed it away to Sir Thomas Wiat and he not long after alienated it to Robert Rudston Esquire who having been entangled in the unsuccesful Design of that Knight forfeited it to the Crown but was reinvested again in it by a new Concession in the second year of Queen Mary and much improved the ancient Structure with the increase of Building in the years 1567 and 1576 and left it to his Son and Heir Belknap Rudston Esquire who by his last Will and Testament setled it on his Kinsman Sir Francis Barnham in the year 1613 from whom it is now descended to that worthy person Mr. Robert Barnham Esquire his Son and Heir Wierton House is a
second place to be considered of in this Parish it borrows its Sirname from Adam de Wierton who as appears by old Deeds which by the Antiquity of their Character seem to commence from the Reign of King Henry the third was Possessor of this place and having inocculated his own Name upon it it sprouted out not in loose Suckers and Excrescencies but in those who were by lineal Descent from him justly and successively entituled to the Propriety of this Mannor untill the latter end of Richard the second and then it was by Sale transmitted to Robert Purse and there is one of this Name but whether this Man or his Son I am incertain who was Lord of Wierton House who lyes buryed in Boughton Church in the North Isle with this Inscription on a Plate of Brasse affixed to the Wall Hic jacet Robertus Purse qui obiit 145 bona multa huic contulit Ecclesiae that is he built the Belfrey and the North Isle and those are the good Works registred in his Epitaph and over his place of Sepulture his Portraicture in painted Glass was preserved entire untill the eruption of the late intestine War and then the tempestuous and ill managed or rather overheated Zeal of these Times which like an overheated Brain still concludes in Madnesse disordered it into a Heap of Ruines after this mans Exit I do not find it acknowledged this Family long for Robert Purse this mans Son alienated it to Richard Norton and his Wife Margaret Norton lyes enterr'd within that Seat which belongs to Wierton House as the Date on her Tombstone instructs me in the year 1470 and in this Family did the Title for many Generations inhabit untill that Age which fell under our Cognisance and then it was demised by Sale to Sir Anthony St. Leger of Ireland who still is the Proprietary of it Holbrook is the last Place to be taken Notice of in this Parish it was anciently involved in the Demeasne of a Family which in ancient Deeds and Court Rolls were written Halbroke and bore as is evident in old Registers and Armorials Azure A plain Crosse between four Mullets Or Frettee of the first and having continued here many Descents about the Beginning of Henry the fifth languished away and then the Propriety of this place came to confesse the Signory of Haut of Hautsbourn and dwelt in their Patrimony untill Sir William Haut determined about the latter end of Henry the eighth in two Female Coheirs whereof Joan was matched to Sir Thomas Wiat and he in her Right was enstated in the Inheritance of this place and about the latter end of Edward the sixth the Contract being fortified with his Ladyes consent passed it away to Smith Ancestor to Mr. ....... Smith who still possesses it as part of his Inheritance Boughton Alulph or Aluff in the Hundred of Wye had this appellative Distinction united to its Name to intimate to us that in the Saxons Time it owned the Jurisdiction of one Alulphus a Saxon into whose Name to derive his Memory down to us it hath been ever since adopted But in the Ages after the Conquest it was wrapped up in the Estate of the ancient Family of Burgherst now vulgarly called Burwash Robert dâ— Burgherst is the first who is brought on the Stage by publick Record and presented to our Remembrance and he held it at his Death which was in the thirty third year of Edward the first Rot. Esc Num. 41. and is amongst the Register of those who accompanied that Triumphant and Succesfull Prince in his fotunate Expedition against the Scots and he left it to his Son Stephen de Burgherst who in the second year of Edward the second obtained a Charter of Free-warren to his Mannor of Boughton Aluff and in the third year of that Prince paid his Debt to Nature from whom it descended to his Son Stephen de Burwash who had a Renovation of the former Charter of Free-warren confirmed to this Mannor in the first year of Ed. the third his Son and Heirwas Bartholomew Lord Burgherst who had a Charter of Free-warren confirmed to all his Lands in which this was involved in the twelfth and sixteenth years of Edward the third and was certainly a Person of much Eminence in those Times for he is recorded by Daniell in his Chronicle to have been one of those to whom the abovesaid Prince committed the Conduct of his Army at the Battle of Crescy and was summoned to sit in Parliament as Baron as appears amongst the Summons of that Age he deceased in the twenty eighth year of Edward the third his Heir apparent was Bartholomew Lord Burgherst who was Lord Chamberlain of the Kings Household and was frequently summoned to sit as a Peere of the Realm by Edw. the third as it appears Registered in the late printed Abridgement of the Records of the Tower and he in the forty third year of Edward the third passed away this Mannor and much other Land to Walter de Pavely in Paveley the Possession was resident but untill the Beginning of Richard the second and then it was conveyed to Trivet but here it was of no long fixed continuance neither for Sir Thomas Trivet about the fifteenth year of the abovesaid Prince passed it away to Lewis Clifford from whom it descended to his Successor Lewis Clifford Esquire who in the twelfth year of Henry the sixth by a Fine then levied transplanted his right in it into William Wenlock and he not long after transmitted it by Sale to Richard Beauchampe Baron of Aburgavenny whose Son Richard Baron Aburgavenny concluded in Elizabeth Beauchampe his Sole Heir who was matched to Edward Nevil in her Right Lord of this Mannor whose Descendants constantly remained invested in the Inheritance untill the latter End of Henry the eighth and then it was alienated to Sir Thomas Moile and he dying without Issue Male Katharine his Daughter and Coheir fastned it to the Demeasn of her Husband Sir Thomas Finch where it hath ever since remained so constant and permanent that it now confesses the Signory of the right honourable Heneage Finch the instant Earl of Winchelsey Seaton Ulley and Potbery are three little Mannors lying within the Verge of this Parish the first of which held in grand Serjeantie of the Crown with this respective Service to be performed by the Lord of the Fee Esse vantrarius Regius quando Rex iverit in Vasconiam donec per usus fuerit pari Solutarum pretio 4 d. which wiser Heads who pretend to unravell the Intrigues and Criticisms of Law Latin interpret thus to be the Kings fore Footman when he shall go into Gasconie untill he hath worn out a pair of Shoes which cost 4 d. All these Mannors were wrapped up in the Demeasn of Crioll and Bertram de Crioll died seised of them in the twenty third year of Edward the first whose onely Daughter Joan being matched to Richard de Rokesley called in some old Records Sir
the Rowths of Darbyshire from which Alliance Sir John Rowth claims at this instant the Possession Nash Court is a Seat of very reverend Antiquity especially since for some Centuries of years it hath been as is apparent by their own private Evidences the Mansion of the Hawkins a Family of deep Descent and illustrious Account in this Track but made more eminent by being the Cradle of that Learned Gentleman Sir Thomas Hawkins who for his accurate Translation of Caussinus his holy Court from the French Original into English and his other well polished Labours cannot be decyphered or limned out to Posterity under too worthy an Attribute Colkins is the last place though not of the least Account which in this Parish is to be considered it was built by John Colkin originally a Citizen of Canterbury and he at his Death which was in the tenth of Edward the third was in possession of it there are several of this Mans Posterity which lye entombed in Boughton with a Griffin Segreant which was their Paternal Coat affixed to the Front of the Gravestone William Colkin and Agnes his Wife are there enterr'd with this Inscription Orate pro animâ Will. Colkin Agnet Ux. qui quidem obierunt Anno Dom. 1460. and the rest is defaced this Mans Father John Colkin sleeps there with this Inscription annexed to the Marble Hic jacet Johannes Colkin qui obiito ctavo Die Aprilis Anno Dom. 1405. But not long after the Decease of William Colkin abovesaid did the Possession of this Seat continue permanent in this Family for his Son John Colkin sold it to Henry Petit Father to Cirjacus or Sidrach Petit who drew up a Survey of all the Mannors of Kent which held by Knights Service of the Crown in the twenty eigth year of Henry the eighth from whom Mr. Petit the present Lord of Colkins does extract both his Descent and Title Dane Court in this Parish also cannot be passed by without some Inspection In elder Times Sir Allan de Dane challenged the Signorie of it and as he took his Sirname from it so he had his Habitation here in the Reign of Edward the third and it continued a Mansion for his Descendants divers years after but in the Reign of Henry the fourth I find the Foggs Lords of the Fee the last of which that held it was Sir Jo. Fogge who died possest of it as appears by his Will in the seventeenth year of Henry the seventh and left it to his Son and Heir Sir Jo. Fogge from which Family not many years after it came to own the Propriety of Petit of Colkins in the Descendant of which Family the Interest of it is yet resident Tho. At Hurst here founded a Chappel in the eighth of Richard the second and dedicated it to Saint Nicholas which was for the use of Lazars and poor Leprous people lodged in an Hospital not far distant of this Mans Foundation also Bourdfield or Boresfield in the Hundred of Eyhorn was formerly a Parish and the remains of some part of the Stonework of the Church as likewise the Bounds of the Church-yard are yet obvious but since its decay it hath been incorporated into Oltringden and is now looked upon as an Hamblet of that Parish It was for many Descents the Patrimony of the Lords Cobham of Sterborough and so continued untill Thomas Lord Cobham died in the eleventh year of Edward the fourth and left one onely Daughter and Heir called Ann Cobham who was matched with Edward Borough after in her Right as Heir General created Lord Borough of Sterborough from whom this Mannor descended to his Grandchild Thomas Lord Borough who in the twenty fifth year of Q. Elizabeth conveyed it to John Pakenham and he not long after alienated it to John Lewin Esquire in which Family it remained untill our Remembrance and then by the Heir General it was carried off to Rogers of the County of Somerset and the like vicissitude hath by the Female Inheritrix of that Family brought it now to acknowledge Charles Cavendish Viscount Mansfield Heir apparent to William created Marquess Newcastle by the late King at Oxford Bishops-Bourn in the Hundred of Bredge and Petham is called so because it was given by K. Kenulfus at the Request of Athelard Arch-Bishop of Canterbury to the Priory of Christ Church in the year of Grace 789 and in the Charter there is a Recital of one Aldhun a pious Citizen of Canterbury who first bequeathed it to that Covent and the Charter of Confirmation informs us that it was given to the Monks ad Vestimentum corum for a supply of Vesture In the year 811. Arch-Bishop Ulfred exchanged Eastry of Bourn with the Covent above mentioned and in the Demeasne of that See it lay couched untill the latter end of Hen. the eighth and then Tho. Arch-Bishop of Canterbury exchanged it for other Lands with Sir Thomas Colepeper of Bedgebury who in the thirty fourth year of the abovesaid Prince conveyed it to Sir Anthony Aucher Ancestor to Sir Anthony Aucher Knight and Baronet the instant Proprietary both of this and Hautsbourn which next summons a Remembrance Hauts-bourn before it was enlarged with the Additional Appellation of Haut afforded both Seat and Sirname in elder Times to a Family of venerable Antiquity in these Parts John de Bourn lived here and had a Charter of Free-warren granted to it in the seventeenth year of Ed. the first but when this Name resolved into a Daughter and Heir who was married to Shelving this Mannor lost the Name of Bourn and was called by Addition Shelving Bourn and remained sometime under that Notion untill a Vicissitude of the same Nature with the former entombed this in a Female Inheritrix likewise who being married to Edw. Haut the first Addition was removed and wrapped up in a second for thenceforth in publick Records it was frequently stiled Hauts-bourn and so continued under that Name and in that Family untill Sir William Eaut about the latter end of Hen. the eighth dying without Issue Male this Family determined in two Daughters and Coheirs one of whom called Elizab. being matched to Sir Thowas Colepeper of Bedgebury brought Bourn to be the Inheritance of that Family and he in the thirty fourth year of Henry the eighth passed it away to Sir Anthony Aucher descended from Aucherus the Saxon who was of eminent Note at Newenden in this County of whom more shall be spoken when I come to treat of that place Bursted is the last Place to be taken Notice of in this Parish which in ancient Deeds is written Burghsted and was the Inheritance of a Family of that Sirname but the cheifest Honour which it acquired in times of a more modern Aspect is that for several Descents last past it hath constantly confessed it self to be part of the propriety and Patrimony of Denne a Cadet of the Denns of Denne Hill Boxley in the Hundred of Maidston had an Abby filled with Cistertian Monks and
came after to be the Possession of Roger Lord Leybourne and from him did descend to Juliana Leybourne his Sole Heir who matching with William Clinton Earl of Huntington made it his Inheritance but he deceasing in the twenty eighth of Edward the third without Issue and his Lady after dying and leaving no visibleor avowed Alliance knit to her by the indisputable tye of Consanguinity to claim it it escheated to the Crown and K. Richard the second in the twenty first of his Reign granted it to the Royal Chappel of St. Stevens in Westminster where it remained till the Dissolution and then it was granted in the second year of Edward the sixth to Sir Edward Wotton from whom by a successive Right of Descent it was transmitted to his great Grandchild Thomas Lord Wotton of Marley whose Widow the Lady Mary Wotton does at this instant possess it Lastly Chilston is an eminent Seat and Mannor likewise situated within the Precincts of this Parish In the fifty fifth year of Henry the third Henry Hussey had a Charter of Free-Warren to his Mannor of Chilston and his Grandchild Henry Hussey died seised of it in the sixth year of Edward the third and in this Family was the Inheritance in an undivided Succession resident till our Grandfathers Memory and then Henry Hussey by Sale translated the Proprietie into John Parkhurst whose Successor Sir William Parkhurst alienated it to Richard Northwood whose Son Mr. Oliver Northwood by the same transmission passed it over to Cieggat he very lately disposed of his Concernment in it to Mr. Manly of London who very lately hath conveyed it to Mr. Edward Hales Grandchild to Sir Edward Hales of Tunstal Knight and Baronet Buckland in the Hundred of Feversham was as Sidrach Petits Inquest into the Mannors of Kent informs me as high as the Reign of Henry the third the Possession of John de Buckland who it seems extracted his Sirname from hence and is likewise mentioned in Testa de Nevil to have held Land in this Track in the twentieth year of Henry the third But before the end of Edward the second this Family was vanished from this place and immediately after they were gone out the Frogenhalls of Frogenhall in Tenham were entituled to the Possession and Richard Frogenhall was seised of it at his Decease which was in the thirty fourth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 37. and from him did it descend to John Frogenhall Esquire who was with Edmund Brook Lord Cobham then Ceneral of the Kentish Forces under Richard Earl of Warwick at the Battle of North-Hampton where the House of Lancaster by that vigorous Assistance the Kentish men that day afforded the House of York received so fatal a Wound that all the Art of the Lancastian Partisans could hardly ever after close it and this Man had Issue Thomas Frogenhall who about the Beginning of Henry the seventh passed it away to Gedding and Thomas Gedding in the twenty fifth year of Henry the eighth held this Mannor and conveyed it by Deed to Henry Atsea of Herne and he in the thirtieth of Henry the eighth was possest of it at his Death and from him did the Thread of Descent guide the Title down to his Grandchild William Atsea who in the tenth year of King James conveyed it by Sale to ....... Saker of Feversham Gentleman whose Son Mr. Christopher Saker in our Fathers Memory alienated it to Sir Basill Dixwell of Terlingham in Folkstone Knight and Baronet who upon his Decease about the year 1641 gave it to his Kinsman Mr. John Dixwell Esquire in whom the Possession is still resident Buckland by Dover is situated in the Hundred of Bewsborough and was a Branch of that spacious and wide Demeasn which made the Patrimony of Hamon de Crevequer so considerable in this County and he held it at his Decease which was in the forty seventh year of Henry the third Rot. Esc Num. 33. Afterwards I find the Wilghebies or Willoughbies invested in the Possession and Thomas de Willoughbie was seised of it at his Decease which was in the seventh year of Edward the second But the Title had no long residence in this Family for in the Reign of Edward the third I find it in the Tenure of Barrie of Sevington for Agnes Wife of William Barrie was possest of it in Right of Dower as appears by an Inquisition taken after her Death in the forty eighth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 7. After the Barries were worn out the Callards or Calwards now vulgarly called Collard became Lords of the Fee a Family of deep Extraction in this Track and who were in elder Times entituled to the Possession of Land and Houses in Canterbury as appears by a Composition made between the Monks of St. Austins and those of Christ Church in the forty first of Edward the third recited by Mr. Somner in his Survey of that City Pag. 192. wherein it is mentioned that the Abby of St. Austins had purchased Land and Houses of Iohn Calward But to proceed after this Family had for divers Descents held this Mannor in a fair repute John Callard Esquire being one of those who accompanied Sir Henry Guldford of this County to serve Ferdinand of Castile in his War commenced against the Moors where for some Signal Service performed against those Infidels he had this Coat assigned to him and his Posterity by Clarenceux Benolt vid. Girony of six pieces Or Sables over all three Blackmores Heads decouped in our Fathers Memory they surrendred the Possession of this place by Sale to Fogge who not many years after passed away his Concernment in it by the same conveyance to Mr. William Sherman of Croyden Esquire Steward both to George Abbot and William Laud Successively Arch-Bishops of Canterbury Dudmanscombe is another Mannor in this Parish which in elder times made up the Revenue of the Priorie of St. Martins in Dover and continued annexed to that Cloister until the general Suppression and then being torn from the Church it was again exchanged with Thomas Cranmer Arch-Bishop of Canterbury by Henry the eighth in the twenty ninth of his Reign and so remained wound up in the Demeasn of that Sea untill that ruinous and fatal popular Tempest which arose in these Times supplanted it and cast it into the Possession of a secular Interest Burham in the Hundred of Lark field is in Doomsday Book written Burgham and was in the twentieth year of William the Conquerour held by Ralph de Curva Spina In Ages of a lower Approach to us I find it under the Signorie of Jeffrey de Say and he died possest of it in the twenty third year of Edward the first Rot. Esc Num. 48. and for the future remained so chained to the Propriety of this Family that it was esteemed Parcel of their Barony of Birling and when Jeffrey Lord Say in the Reign of Richard the second ended in two Female Coheirs one matched to John Lord Clinton
and the other called Joan wedded to Sir William Fiennes this upon the Division of the Estate accrued to Fiennes and coming again by the Heir General of Fiennes Lord Dacres to be possest by Leonard William Leonard Son and Heir of Fiennes Leonard a younger Branch of that House hath lately passed it away to Mr. Francis Barnham and Mr. Edward Maplesden There was in old Time a Fountain within the Limits of this Parish at a place called Haly-Garden venerable it was and of no small Account amonst the People who for the sanctitie they conceived was in it ascribed divine Attributes unto it as the Name imports for what we call Holy our Ancestors long time since styled Halyg as Halyfax in York-shire from holy Haire that that the People devoutly esteemed and frequently with blind credulity visited In the seventeenth of K. Richard the second the Friars Carmelites of Alresford obtained a Grant by Letters Patents to bring the Water from that Fountain in Haly-Garden to their Monastery in Alresford to what purpose they that will survey the Designs of the Monks of those Times may easily discover Burmersh in the Hundred of Worth was a Member of that Patrimony which in Times of a higher Calculation related to the Abby of St. Augustines in Canterbury and had here a Mansion called Abbots Court which is an Adjunct to this Mannor and had this Denomination imposed upon it because the Abbot of that Covent used to sojourn here when he came to survey that Demeasn which augmented the Revenue of that Abby and lay spread into Romney Mersh This Mannor upon the Surrender of the Patrimony of that Cloister into the Hands of Henry the eighth in the twenty ninth year of his Reign was in the thirty fifth of that Prince granted to William Finch Esquire whose Successor Sir Thomas Finch Earl of Winchelsey not many years since passed it away to Sir Ralph Whitfield Serjeant at Law whose Son and Heir Sir Herbert Whitfield is now Lord of the Fee C. C. C. CAnterbury hath so exactly in all the Parts and Limbs of it been described and surveyed by Mr. Somner that I should exceedingly eclipse the Labours of so inductrious a Pen if I should go about to Pourtray that in any contracted Landskip which hath been before represented to the Publick pencilled out in so large and exquisite a Volume Onely some few things are there omitted which in this Search I shall take notice of and so proceed The Augustine Friars or Convent of Black Canons in Canterbury was founded by Thomas de Bonington Pat. 17. Edw. secundi Memb. 18. Parte secunda The Prior of the Trinity in Canterbury was accustomed to receive two pence upon every Vessel of Wine coming into the Port of Sandwich Rot. Claus Hen. tertii Memb. 17. Baldwin de VVereval had a Charter in the second year of K. John for the Aldermanry of Westgate in Canterbury Hubert de Burgh Earl of Kent had the Castles of Canterbury Dover and Rochester granted to his Custody Carta 12. Hen. tertii King Henry the third in the sixteenth year of his Reign at Canterbury took the Fealty of the Knights and Free Tenants of Kent as likewise of the Barons of the Cinque Ports K. Henry the third in the forty eighth of his Reign grants a Pardon for Life to Francis de Balsham for that She was hanged for Felony at Canterbury from nine of the Clock on the Munday till the rising of the Sun next Day and yet escaped with Life Pat. 48. Membra 24. I should not have mentioned this but that an Accident proportionate to this in all the Circumstances of it happened to one Ann Green who not many years since being hanged at Oxford for the supposed Murder of her Child miraculously escaped with Life King Edward the first Landed at Dover 1274 and restored divers Liberties to Canterbury which before were seised into the Hands of the Crown Pat. 4. Edw. 1. There was a Chauntry founded in St. Dunstans Church by John Roper for two Priests to celebrate at the Altar of St. Nicholas in that Church Pat. 4. Hen. 4. Parte prima Memb. 29. There was another Chauntry mentioned by Mr. Somner founded by VVilliam Brenchley Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench for one Priest to celebrate at the Altar of St. John Baptist in Christ Church for the support of which he gives one House in St. Elphage Parish and ten pound Rent issuing yearly out of his Lands at Bilsington Pat. 25. Hen. 6. pars 1. Memb. 15. The Mannor of Dodindale had originally owners of that Name for as Mr. Somner in his Survey of Canterbury out of the Records of St. Augustins instructs us Haymo the Son of Guido de Dodindale gave the Tithes of Dodindale to the Priory of St. Augustins But it seems it was but for certain years for in the Reign of Henry the second as the same Records testifie Robert de Marci gave the Tithes of this place to the Hospital of St. Laurence so far he in that laborious Peice of his hath exhibited to the publick view who were its ancient Possessors when it bore the Name of Dodindale now out of the private Evidences it must be my Task who were its Proprietaries since it carried the Name of Morton By a Deed without date Elias de Morton from whom it assumed the Name of Morton which hath clove to it ever since demises the Fee-simple of it to Hugh Fitzvinon a Family which had large possessions at Selling by Monks Horton whose Daughter Eugenia Fitzvinon passes it away by Deed to Nicholas de Twitham in the twentyeth year of Henry the third and he immediately after by a Deed not bounded with any date settles it in Robert de Polre but whether his Successor sold it to J. Chich or not is incertain because there is a vacancy or gap in in the private Evidences though the Records of St. Augustins make him to have some Interest in it in the year 1330. The next that I find to have been entituled to the possession were Hardres and Isaack who in the twenty second year of Henry the sixth conveyed it away to William Say for the use of Robert Rigdon but it seems the title did not long fix here for he in the thirty third year of the abovesaid Prince transmits all his concernment in it by sale to William Barton and John Whete and they by mutual consent in the eighteenth year of Edward the fourth alienate it to Edward Pargate who transmitted it to his Son and Heir John Pargate from whom descended Edward Pargate who in the twenty fifth year of Henry the eighth demises it to Peter Bruin and after the Title had many years united to this Family Henry Bruin dying without Issue gave it to his Sister Jane Bugge who in the first year of King James cast her Right by Sale into her Kinsman John Bruin who in the fifth year of that Prince by the same alienation translated the Title into William
present Proprietary of it But though the Family be worn out at this place yet from a Cadet of this Name who did once possess Wierton in Boughton Quarry now the Mansion of Sir Anthony St. Leger did Sir Gregory Norton now of Sussex Knight and Baronet lately deceased originally sprout forth There is another place in this Parish called the Den of Ivetegh which was anciently the Inheritance of a Family who bore that Name and though the Deeds now in the Hands of my Cozen Mr. Thomas Petley of Vilston do discover the Possession to be resident in this Name no higher then the Rule of Henry the fixth yet it is probable because the Name was local it was theirs long beyond that Time from Ivetegh it came to Mascall a Family whose Estate was formerly at Berming and from this Name it was by Sale demised to Lambe who some three descents since alienated his Interest in it to Perry extracted from the Perrys of Worcestershire but this Family lately determining in Females Elizabeth marryed to Mr. Thomas Petley of Vilston Ann and Mary these three are the Vihble Coheits of that Estate which related to it Crayford in the Hundred of Little and Lesness contains diverse places in it of eminent Consideration fitst Howbery offers it self up to our View It was in the Reign of Henry the third and Edward as appears by ancient Court Rolls and other Evidences the Patrimony of the noble Family of Northwood who held it for severall Descents in an uninterrupted Channel untill the Reign of Richard the second and then the Title and Propriety of it was by the Revolution of Sale transplanted into Abermill but here the Possession was so cursory and transient that before the end of Henry the fourth it was surrendred to Nicholas Carew of Surrey and John Cornwallis of London who by joynt Concurrence in the fifth year of Henry the fifth conveyed it to Richard Bryan and he in the first year of Henry the sixth passed it away to Roger Apylton one of the Auditors to that Prince and his Father Henry the fifth and Agnes his Wife Widow of Thomas Coveley or Cowley and the Reversion in Fee to her Son Thomas Cowley which accordingly after her Decease descended to him and from him it was transported by Descen to his Grandchild John Cowley who in the twenty second year of Henry the eighth alienated it to John Judde whose Son Henry Judde about the beginning of Queen Elizabeth resigned up the Possession by Sale to Sir Richard Fane in whose Family after it had fixed untill that Age which was within the Confines of our Fathers Remembrance it was by Purchase made the Patrimony of Draper and is still the Inheritance of Master ........ Draper now in his Minority Newbery is the second place of Account which was in elder Times ennobled by being parcell of that Inheritance which confessed the Dominion of St. John and Edward St. John as appears by the Records of this place flourished here in the Reign of Edward the first and Edward the second and dying without Issue left his Estate here to Isabell his Sister and Coheir matched to Henry de Burgherst and he in her Right dyed possest of it the twenty third year of Edward the third as appears Rot. Esc Num. 94. parte secunda After this Family was crumbled away at this place I find it folded up in the Demeasne of Poynings the last of which who enjoyed it was Thomas Poynings who about the Beginning of Henry the sixth conveyed it to John Kingston Esquire in which Family it made its aboad untill the Reign of Henry the eighth and then I find it departed from this Name and cast into the Possession of Sir Thomas Lisley whose Descendant about the Beginning of Queen Elizabeth conveyed it to Apylton of Marshalls Court in this Parish where they had been resident many Descents before and Roger Apylton gave this and Marshalls Court in Dower with his Daughter Frances matched to Mr. Francis Goldsmith who almost in our Remembrance passed away Newberry to Draper Ancestor to Mr. Draper now Proprietary of it but Marshalls Court was alienated to Pix whose Descendant not many years since sold his Interest in it to Mrs. Touse of London who hath setled it in Marriage on her Daughter matched to Collonel Wood of Kingston on Thames Ellam is the last place of Remark in Crayford it gave Seat and Sirname to a good old Family who for many Descents passed under the Notion and Estimate of Gentlemen before they deserted the Possession of this Seat and bore Argent a Sword in Bend Dexter Sables Henry Ellam dyed 1471 and lyes entombed in Crayford Church John Ellam deceased 1481 and had there likewise his place of Sepulture both whose Monuments Time and a Casual Fire invading the Church have miserably dismanteled the last of this Name who was possest of this place was John Ellam who in the sixteenth year of Henry the seventh alienated it to Henry Harman who was then Clerk of the Crown in which Family it continued untill the latter end of King James and then it was passed away with May Street which Henry Harman abovesaid purchased of Cowley and Bulbeck of Bubeck Street in this Parish in the twentieth of Edward the fourth to Draper whose Descendant Mr ....... Draper is entituled to the Interest of both these places The Arch Bishops of Canterbury had anciently some Concernment in Crayford for as I find by Record William Arch Bishop of Canterbury in the twentieth of Richard the second obtained the Grant of a Market to this place to be weekly observed on the Tuesday and a Fair yearly on the Vigil the Day of our Ladies Nativity and four Dayes after Northcrey lies in the Hundred of Rokesley and though an obscure Village in it self yet is made eminent by containing within its Limits the Mannor of Rokesley which contributes a name to the whole Hundred it was as high as can by Record be traced the Inheritance of Rokesley Greogrie de Rokesley Lord Maior of London in the year 1275 which was in the third year of Edward the first an eminent man in those times he was for as by the Chartularies of London it appears he was Keeper of the Kings Exchange in London and Say-master Generall of the Kings Mint nor was his Son of less reputation for Sir Richard de Rokesley so was he called was Seneschal of Poictou and Governour of Montreul in Picardy about the latter end of Edward the first but died without issue Male and left Ioan his Daughter and Heir who was matched to Sir Thomas de Poynings Father of Richard Lord Poynings and so Rokesley became the Inheritance of that Family but Northcrey remained longer in Rokesley for Roger de Rokesley a Cadet of this Family paid respective Aid for Northcrey in the twentyeth year of Edward the third but it seems went out without Issue so that Northcrey devolved to Poynings as the next of Alliance for Richard Lord
of Lathbury in the County of Buckingham Nin-House shall not pass without some mention because it was the residence of John at Nin who is in the Register of those twelve Worthies who are pourtraied kneeling in Coat Armour in an ancient window in this Parish Church whose posteritie enjoyed it untill the beginning of Henry the sixth and then it was alienated to Sharpe and Wil. Sharpe mingled with the Ashes of his five Wives as the Inscription on his Sepulchral Stone instructs us rests in the nethermost part of the South Isle of this Church and as the Date endorsed on his Tombe informs us deceased in the year of Grace 1499. and from him did the Proprietie of this Mansion by the Devolution of sundry Descents come down to Mr ........ Sharpe lately deceased whose Heirs do still enjoy it Chevening in the Hundred of Codsheath had owners of that Name in times of higher Assent who were of no dispicable account Adam de Chevening was one of the grand Assise in the time of King John and had his residence here and likewise derived his Name from hence and the heirs of William de Chevening paid respective Aid for the Mannor of Chevening by the half part of a Knights Fee which Adam de Chevening formerly held of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury in the twentieth year of Edward the third at the making the Black Prince Knight when the Chevenings went away from the Possession of this place the Family of Delapole who were Lords of the Mannor of Pool in Southfleet were Seated in the Inheritance for John de Lapole held it in the tenth year of Henry the sixth but long after this did it not continue constant to this Name for by Sale the whole Demise was put into the Tenure of Isley and William Isley held it at his death which was in the fourth year of Edward the fourth Rot. Esc 34. and in the Demeasn of this Family was the Inheritance folded up till Sir Henry Isley in the Reign of Edward the sixth fixed the Proprietie of it by Sale in John Lennard Esquire who lies enterred in Chevening Church in right of which original Grant Francis now Lord Dacres his great Grandchild is invested in the present Inheritance of it Chepsted in this Parish was so called from the Market of Fish there long since used for there such as imported fish from Rye on the Sea-Coast thence called Rypers made their Stage and on fresh horses carried it to London Just as Chepe-Side and other places beginning with Chepe give Addition and Distinction from other Towns of like Name where Markets are kept That this Mannor had Proprietaries of this Name is evident for John de Chepsted Son of Cohn de Chepsted paid respect of Aid for this Mannor which was held by Knights Service of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury in the twentieth year of Edward the third at the making the Black Prince Knight the Heir of Chepsted as appears by an old Pedigree in the hands of Sir Sackvil Crow was matched to John de Bore and the Heir of Bore to Stockett who passed away Chepsted about the latter end of Henry the sixth to William Isley Esquire whose unhappy Successor Sir Henry Isley being attainted in the time of Q. Mary it escheated to the Crown where it hath ever since been resident Morants Court lies in Chevening likewise and contributed both Seat and Sirname to a Knightly Family who were Proprietaries of it King Edward the second in the fourteenth year of his Reign granted Charter-warren to Jurdan and William de Morant in all their Lands in Chevening Shoram Otfood Brasted Sundridge and Chidingston William de Morant was Sheriff of Kent the twelfth and thirteenth year of Edw. the third and had Issue Sir Thomas Morant whose heir General brought this Seat to Peckham in which Family the Title lay couched till our Fathers Memory and then it was demised to Blackswell who some few years since hath by Deed and other Conveyance setled his Right in it on Mr. Watson of the County of Oxford Chiselhurst in the Hundred of Rokesley hath several places within the confines of it of signal Account The first is Scadbery which had Owners of that Sirname which about the twentieth of Edward the third were extinguished for then John de Scadbery deceased without Issue male so that this ancient Seat devolved to be the Patrimony of Osmund de Walsingham descended from the Knightly Family of Walsingham in Norfolk who matched with Ann his sole Daughter and Heir and having planted himself in this County he began to sprout out and flourish into a Series of such worthy Successors that this Family was justly registred in the Catalogue of those who were esteemed the most ancient and eminent of this County having in this latter Decursion of Time been for six Descents Knights which that I may the better represent to the Reader the Splendor of this Family I shall destinctly name the first was Sir Thomas Walsingham who was born the third year of Henry the fifth and he had Issue Sir James Walsingham who was Sheriff of Kent the twelfth year of Henry the seventh whose Son and Heir was Sir Edmund Walsingham who was Lieutenant of the Tower twenty four years and he had Issue Sir Tho. Kinsman to Sir Francis Walsingham the famous Secretary of Estate to Queen Elizabeth Sir Thomas Walsingham was Son and Heir of Sir Thomas above mentioned and he had Issue Sir Thomas Walsingham who is the instant Proprietary of Scadbery Frogpool is another ancient Seat in this Parish which in Henry the thirds Reign confessed the Signory of a Family called Barbur Thomas le Barbur obtained a Charter of Free-warren to his Lands in at Chiselhurst in the thirty eighth of the above named Prince But before the latter end of Edward the second this Family was moldered away and then it came to be possest by a Family called Cressell who were Lords of much Land about Hartley Faukham and other places in that Territory and bore for their Coat Armour as appears depicted in ancient Coloured Glasse in Chiselhurst Church Sables A Fesse Argent between three Chaplets Or John de Cressell in an old Survey of Rochester is remembred to have been a liberall Benefactor to this Church in the Reign of Edward the third and from the Government of that Prince does the Age of the above mentioned Coat seem to commence and this is the Reason why another John Cressell of this Family is in the seventh year of Henry the fifth recorded in the Register of those Qui portabant Arma antiqua Finally after the Propriety of this noted Mansion had continued so many Descents wrapped up in the Patrimony of this Family it was about the latter end of Henry the eighth transmitted by Sale to Dyneley and Sir John Dyneley in our Remembrance demised his Concernment in it to Mr. William Watkins to whose Care and industrious Expence the additional Building annexed to the ancient Structure does owe its
originall and he having thus improved it transmitted his Right in it by sale some few yeers since to Mr. Philip Warwick Chiddingston in the Hundred of Somerden hath the Addition of Cohbam as being the Inheritance of the Lords Cobham of Sterborough Castle Henry de Cobham had in the ninth year of King John a Charter for all his Lands in Kent of which these at Chiddingston with the two little Mannors of Reynsley and Tihurst In Ages of a lower Step Reginald Lord Cobham who was summoned to Parliament as Lord Cobham of Sterborough in the twenty second year of Edward the third died possest of them in the thirty fifth year of that Prince Parte prima Rot. Esc Num. 62. And here the Right continued till in Thomas Lord Cobham this mans great Grandchild the Male Line failed and resolved into Ann Cobham who was matched to Edward Borough Lord of Gainsborough in the County of Lincoln whose Grandchild Thomas Lord Borough some fifty years since passed away his Right in Chiddingstone Reynsley and Tihurst which had devolved to him by his Grandmother to Stretfield whose Son deceasing without Issue Male they became the Inheritance of four Daughters and Coheirs matched to Dillingham Shetterden Powell and Taylor only Reynsley before his Death was sold to Mr. Christopher Knight whose Heir does now possesse it Burwash Court in this Parish was the Patrimony of the Lords Burgherst by vulgar Depravation of the Name called Burwash Stephen de Burwash had a Charter of Free-warren to all his Lands in Kent in the first year of Edward the second Robert de Burgherst or Burwarsh possest it at his Death which was in the thirty third year of Edward the first Rot. Esc Num. 41. and his Son Bartholomew Lord Burwash in the forty third year of Edward the third by Deed passes away much of his Land in Warwick-shire and Kent to Walter de Paveley and Matilda his Wife in which this lay involved from Paveley it came down by Purchase to John de Bore Trivet and Vaux whose Successors conveyed Burwash to John Alphew in the Reign of Henry the sixth Alphews Coheirs were marryed to ....... Brograve and Sir Robert Read Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in the Time of Henry the seventh who in his Wifes Right carried away Burwash as parcell of her Dower but this man determining likewise in Daughters and Coheirs Katharine one of them was wedded to Sir Thomas Willoughby second Son to Christopher Willoughbie of Eresbie which Sir Thomas was likewise Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Eliza. was matched to Sir Tho. Totihurst and a third was married to Th. Wotton Esquire Sir Thomas Willoughbie Esquire Son and Heir of Sir Tho. who joyned in a Fine with his two Uncles even now mentioned in the sixth year of Edw. the sixth and so by a mutuall Concurrence with them their united Concernment in Burwash was passed away to Mr. John and Mr. Robert Seyliard of Delaware in whose Name and Revenue the Title and Propriety of this place hath ever since kept so permanent an Aboad that it is still the Inheritance of Mr. John Seyliard now of Delaware Esquire Bore Place with the Mannor of Milbroke and Boresell was formerly the Inheritance as high as Henry the third of a Family which assumed its Sirname from hence and was called Bore and likewise took in to his Arms a Bore for his Cognisance in this Family the Right of these places successively dwelt till John Bore in the Time of Henry the sixth transplanted his Interest in them by Sale into John Alphew by whose Coheir they came over to her Husband Sir Robert Read and from him they went away by Katharine one of his Coheirs to Sir Thomas Willoughbie whose great Grandchild Percivall Willoughbie who having matched with Bridget one of the four Coheirs of Sir Percival Willoughbie of Notinghamshire devested himself of his Title to both these places to improve his Interest in that County and not many years since alienated them to Mr. Bernard Hide of London Esquire one of the Commissioners of the Custome House to the late King Charles whose Grandchild Mr. Bernard Hide is upon his Fathers late Decease now enterred into their Possession of Milbroke and Boreplace But Boresell now vulgarly called Bowsell was sold to Edmund Thomas of Whitley neer Sevenoke who is now in the enjoyment of it Chilham in the Hundred of Felborough was by William the Conquerour as the Pages of Doomsday Book instruct us assigned to Fulbert de Dover under the Notion of a whole Knights Fee for his Assistance and Association to John de Fiennes in the Guard of Dover Castle which eminent employment thus imposed upon him did induce him to wave his originall Sirname of Lucy and assume one derived from his Office yet Richard de Lucy this mans Son did it seems take up again his primitive Sirname for when King John by his Charter in the sixteenth year of his Reign Cart. 24. Num. 37. restores to Rose de Dover called in the Latin Record Rohesia the Castle of Chilham with all its Appendages he calls it there the Land which was her Grandfather Richard de Lucy's Inheritance This Rose de Dover was sometimes written in old Deeds de Lucy in Relation to which she sealed with three Pikes * Fishes called Lucii in Latin she matched with Richard base Son to King John by whom she had two Daughters and Coheirs Lora married to William de Marmion and Isabell espoused to David de Strabolgie Earl of Athol who in her Right became Lord of the Castle and Mannor of Chilham and transmitted it to his Son John Earl of Atholl who for his frequent Acts of Hostility and Rebellion against Edward the first in his Contest with the Scots being by the Fate of War made Captive was at Canterbury hanged on a Gibbet fifty Foot high that he might be as eminent in his Punishment as he was before conspicuous in his Crimes and being cut down halfe alive had his Head struck off and his Trunk cast into the Fire a Savage Manner of Punishment and hardly heard of before amongst us upon his Shipwrack and Confiscation of Estate it rested in the Demeasne of the Crown till King Edward the second in the fifth year of his Reign as appears Parte prima Pat. Edwardi secundi granted the Castle and Mannor of Chilham to Bartholomew Lord Badelesmer who quickly after lost it by his Perfidiousnesse and Disloyalty to that Prince so that it returned to the Crown and the abovesaid Prince as is evident by Pat. 15. 16. Edwardi secundi restores the Castle and Mannor with all the Goods and Chattels in it which belonged to Bartholomew Badelesmer to David de Strabolgie Grandchild to the first David for Life only which upon his Expiration was again united to the Royal Revenue and in the third year of King Edward the thirds Government it was by Patent granted to Bartholomew Badelesmer Son to the abovesaid Lord Bartholomew and
he dying in the twelfth year of Edward the third left it to his Son Giles Badelesmer who deceased without Issue and so his four Sisters became his Coheirs one of which called Margaret by matching with William Lord Roos of Hamlake united the Castle and Mannor of Chilham which accrued to her upon the Division of the Estate to his Revenue from whom successively it did devolve by a continued Rivulet of Descent to his Successor Thomas Lord Rosse who asserting the Cause and Quarrel of the House of Lancaster was in a Battle commenced between Edmund Beaufort Duke of Somerset and John Nevill Marquesse Montacute made Captive to the Partisans of the House of York and in the third year of Edward the fourth sealed his Faith to that Cause which he contended for with the Losse of his Head which was struck off at Newcastle but it seems the Mannor and Castle of Chilham was before this untimely Fate of his upon his being engaged in Armes with the Complices of the House of Lancaster by Edward the fourth in the first year of his Reign granted to Sir John Scott of Scotts Hall one of his Privy Counsel Pat. Anno pri Edwardi quarti Parte 4. Memb. 24 but it was but for Life for afterwards it returned to the Crown and rested there till Henry the eighth by royal Concession planted the Propriety in Sir Thomas Cheyney who inhabited here when Leland made his Kentish Perambulation which was in the Beginning of the Reign of that Prince from whom it came down to his Son Henry created Baron Cheyney by Queen Elizabeth who having by Riot and Profusion and other exorbitant Excesses wasted a noble and plentifull Patrimony in the tenth year of that Queens Government alienated the Mannor and Castle of Chilham to Sir Thomas Kempe whose Son Sir Thomas Kempe concluded in four Daughters and Coheirs Dorothy married to Sir John Cutts Ann matched to Sir Thomas Chichley Amy wedded to Sir Henry Skipwith and Mary espoused to Sir Dudley Diggs who being concerned in this Estate the three first by a joynt Concurrence passed away their Right to Sir Dudley Diggs and his Lady who was Master of the Rolls in the year 1636 and a great Assertor of his Countryes Liberty in the worst of times when the Sluces of Prerogative were opened and the Banks of the Law were almost overwhelmed with the Innundations of it from whom it is descended to his Son Mr. ...... Diggs Esquire in whom the Propriety and Interest of this Mannor and Castle does still continue Easture in this Parish was the Seat of a Family which was known by that Sirname and in several ancient Deeds which are not bounded or limited with any Date there is mention of John de Easture who lived here in the Reign of Henry the third and Edward the first after this Name was vanished the Apulderfields of Otterpley in Challock a younger Branch of the Apulderfields of Bedmancore were invested in the Possession and of this Family was Henry de Apulderfield who was Sheriff of Kent in the fifty first year of Edward third and likewise Proprietary of this place but when this Family resolved into a Daughter and Heir called Isabell she by matching with John Idelegh who had a large Income about Mepham Chalk and Cobham cast it into the Inheritance of that Family where it had not long remained but a Vicissitude like the former carryed it by Agnes the Female Heir of William Idelegh to Christopher Ellenden who was Master of a good Estate about Seasalter and Damian Bleane which Name not many years after shrunk into a Daughter and Heir likewise called Mary descended from Thomas Ellenden who was about the Reign of Henry the seventh matched to Edward Thwaits so that in her right that Family became setled in the Inheritance of this place and remained in the Possession till in that Age we stile our Grandfathers it was by Sale translated into Morton descended from the ancient Family of the Mortons of Millbourn St. Andrews in the County of Dorset whose Successor Mr. George Morton not many years since passed away his Interest in it by Sale to his Uncle John Finch Baron of Fordwich and Lord Keeper of the great Seal in the year 1640. Youngs is another Mannor in Chilham which by Deeds of a very high gradation in time which step into the Reign of Edward the second appears to be the Possession of a Family of that Appellation and when that was decayed and worn out at this Place the Beverleys who were a Family which had been planted at Tancrey Island in Fordwich ever since the latter end of the Reign of Edward the third were ingraffed in the Inheritance and continued by an undissolved Chain of several Ages seated in the Proprietie of it till George Beverley the last of this Name at this place in our Grandfathers Remembrance demised his right in it by Sale to George Barley where the Title found no long abode for he passed away his Interest to Fleet extracted from the Fleets of Fleet in the Isle of Thanet who suddenly after alienated it to Shepheard from which Family almost in our Remembrance it was by Purchase brought over to own the Signorie of Sir Dudley Diggs who upon his decease transmitted it to his eldest Son Mt. ....... Diggs Esquire in whom the present Proprietie of it is fixed Dane Court is a fourth Mannor within the Limits of Chilham not to be waved or declined in this present Survey It was anciently the Patrimony of Thomas de Garwinton of Welle in Littlebourne and he held it as appears by ancient Court Rolls in the Reign of Edward the first and Edward the second whose great Grandchild William Garwinton of Welle in the eleventh year of Henry the fourth dying without Issue upon a serious debate and winnowing of Collateral Alliances Joan Wife of Richard Haute was found to be his Cousin and Heir and so this place became in her Right the Inheritance of this Family but this mans Son called Richard likewise not long after deceasing without Issue male Margerie his only Daughter who was matched to Will. Izaack about the latter end of Henry the seventh became his Heir and so it fell under the Jurisdiction of that Name and remained entwined with their Demeasn till it about the beginning of the Government of Q. Elizabeth was by Edward Izaack sold to Hales from which Family in that Age our Fathers lived in by the same conveyance it went away to Spracklin issued out from the Spracklins of St. Lawrence in Thanet in which Name the Possession is at this instant resident There is a place in this Parish on the South-side of the River stretched out on a long green Hill which the Common People who bear the greatest sway in corrupting of Names call Jelliberies Grave The Historie it self will evidence the original of this denomination It was about this place that Julius Caesar respited his farther remove or advance into the bowels of this
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
it is observable that in these Assemblies and in other Recorded by Sir Henry Spelman either the King immediately or else some Thane which was a Dignity equivalent to our English Baron who did Personate the Prince was joyntly President with the Bishop that as one took Cognisance of the Affaires of the Church so the other managed the Concernments and Interest of the State and this was done with much of Reason and Prudence in the original Constitution of these Synods for the mingling the divided Interests of the Laitie and Clergie together and making them mutually to interfere extinguished all jealousie and Emulation between them and by consequence all those black effects and inconveniences which are still the Retinue to those two Furies for we cannot be so Citizens of the Common-wealth but we must be Sons of the Church nor so Sons of the Church the Temporall and Spirituall Interest are so complicated together but we must in some relation be Citizens of the Common-wealth and what causeth annoyance to the one creates disturbance to the other for like Hippocrates Twins they laugh and mourn and live and die together But to proceed when this Mannor had for many Ages been incorporated with the Inheritance of the Church Henry the eighth judging the Clergie grown too Luxuriant in a wide Revenue prun'd off this and Malingden a Mannor which was ever an Appendage to Cliffe as two superfluous Excrescencies and engraffed them again in the Royall Demeasn but suddenly after Cliff was by this Prince granted to George Brooke Lord Cobham and he left it to his Son Sir William Brooke Lord Cobham who enstated it by entaile on his second Son George Brooke and in Defailance of Issue male by him surviving to the next Heir male of the Name after this man was beheaded at Winchester in the second year of King James this devolved to his Son Sir William Brooke who dying without Issue male in the year 1643. Sir Jo. Brooke now Lord Cobham became his Heir Malingden was by Queen Elizabeth granted to William Ewens who quickly after this Concession transferred his Interest in it by Sale to Brown from whom by as sudden a Decursion the Title by Purchase went in to Sompner who in Times which almost attaque our Remembrance sold it away to Hills Perry Court in Cliffe was always a Limb of the Revenue of the Family of Cobham and so for many Hundred years continued till Henry Brooke Lord Cobham being wound up in that fatal and mysterious Design of the noble but infortunate Sir Walter Rawleigh in the Time of King James forfeited this to the Crown but this Seat was by the abovesaid Prince after the Death of Frances Widow to the abovesaid Henry Lord Brook granted to Robert Cecill Earl of Salisbury in Reversion who married Elizabeth Brook this Lords Sister and his Son Will. Earl of Salisbury Knight of the Garter and Captain of the Band of Pentioners to his late Majesty passed it away by Sale to Bernard Hide of London Esq whose Grandchild Mr. Bernard Hide does enjoy the present Fee-simple of it Cardans is the last Mannor in Cliffe which untill the publique Dissolution tore it off belonged to the Charter-House in London and being thus ravished away was by Henry the eighth in the thirty first year of his Reign granted to Thomas Gethins from which Family not many years since it passed away by Sale to Oliver Leder and was lately if it be not still in the Tenure and Possession of that Name West-Clive vulgarly called West-Cliff in the Hundred of Bewsborough was the Patrimonial Inheritance of the Lord Cobham of Sterborough Castle in Surrey a younger Branch of the Lord Cobham of Cobham Reginald de Cobham second Son of John de Cobham was summoned to Parliament as Baron of Sterborough in the twenty second year of Edward the third and dyed possest of this Mannor and much other Land in Kent and Surrey in the forty fifth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 15. and so it remained interwoven for some Descents with the Demeasne of this Family till Thomas Lord Cobham this mans great Grandchild resolved into Ann Cobham who was his Female Heir who by being espoused to Edward Borough Lord Gainsborough linked this to his Demeasne and Propriety but it was unloosned in Thomas Lord Borough this Mans Grandchild who in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth alienated his Interest in it to Guibon whose Grandchild Mr Thomas Guibon is invested in the instant Possession of it Bere Court or Mannor in this Parish was formerly a parcell of the Demeasne of a Family who in times more ancient fell under this Denomination Williant de Bere was Bailiff of Dover and was to account the profits to the Constable of Dover Castle Anno secundo Edwardi primi Memb. 19. Anno quarto Edwardi primi Memb. 34. After this Family had waved the Possession of this place the Tookes were setled in the Inheritance and by a Decursion of many Ages have brought down the Inheritance to Mr. Charles Tooke who is the instant Possessor of Bere Cobham in the Hundred of Shamell afforded a Seat and Sirname to that noble and splendid Family * Sir Hen. de Cobham Sir Reginald de Cobham Sir Stephen de Cobham Sir Henry de Cobham le Uncle are enrol'd in the Register of those Knights who were assistant to K. Edward the first at the Seige of Crlaverock in Scotland in the twenty eighth year of his Reign who from hence borrowed the originall Denomination of Cobham and certainly this place was the Cradle or Seminary of Persons who in elder times were invested in Places of as signall and principall a Trust or Eminence as they could move in in the narrow Orbe of a particular County Henry de Cobham was one of the Recognitores magnae Assisae in the first year of K. John who were in some proportion equivalent to the Judges Itinerant for they took Cognisance of all Causes Criminal declared to be so by the Laws then in force and likewise determined in sundry Actions of a meer Civill Aspect either Reall Personal or Mixt Reginald de Cobham Son of John de Cobham was Sheriff of Kent from the Beginning of the thirty third year of Henry the third to the end of the fortieth year of the said Prince and was again Sheriff in the forty second year of the above mentioned Prince in which year he dyed and Roger de Northwood and his other Executors answered for the Remainder of the year Sir Henry de Cobham was Sheriff of Kent the twenty ninth thirtieth and part of the thirty first year of Edward the first he is written in the old Rolls of the Arms of the Knights of Kent Henry Cobham le Vncle that is he was Uncle to the Lord Cobham he lies buried in Shorne Church with his Portraicture armed in Mail and Crosselegg'd with a Barons Robes cast over but whether he were ever actually engaged in the Defence of the Crosse and
alienated both the Title and Demeasn to Allen and he in our Memory sold one moitie of it to Ford and setled the other proportion of it upon his Daughter and Heir who was matched to Giles Down-Court in Dodington is an ancient Mannor which in elder times owned the Signorie of Simon de Dodington who flourished here in the Reign of K. John and Henry the third and was entituled likewise to the Patronage or Advouson of the Church but he determined in an only Daughter called Matilda de Dodington who in the forty first of King Henry the third as appears by a Fine levied in that year passed away her Interest here to John de Bourne in which Family the Title many years after rested untill about the latter end of Henry the sixth it was conveyed to Dungate of Dungate-Street in Kingsdowne And Andrew Dungate the last of this Name at this place dying without Issue male his sole Daughter and Heir was marched to Killigrew who likewise about the entrance of Henry the eighth expired in two female Coheirs whereof one was wedded to Roydon the second to Cowland In Roydon The Pssession was but brief for he about the latter end of Henry the eighth alienated his Proportion to Adye a Name deeply rooted in this Track whose Successor Mr. John Adye still enjoyes the capitall Messuage or Mansion called Down-Court but the Mannor it self which accrued to John Cowland upon the Division of the Estate was by his Will made 1540. ordered to be sold to discharge Debts and Legacies and was according to the Tenure of the premises not long after conveyed to Allen Ancestor to him who is the instant owner of it Downe in the Hundred of Rokesley is so called from its eminent situation it was in times of elder Aspect the Habitation of a Family which passed under that Sirname Richard de Downe who flourished under Edward the first and Edward the second lies buried in the Chancell of the Church but with no date upon his Tombe Soon after this Family was expired the Petleys became Lords of the Fee and Stephen Petley is Recorded in the Book of Aid to have paid an Auxiliary supply for Lands at Down at making the Black Prince Knight in the twentieth year of Edward the third and in this Family was the Title of this place successively wrapped up for many Generations untill about the latter end of Henry the eighth it melted away with the Name For Jo. Petley resolved into four Daughters and Coheirs Agnes the eldest was matched to Jo. Manning the second was espoused to Bird the third was wedded to Casinghurst of Valous and the fourth was married to Childrens and upon partition of the Estate this Mannor fell to be the Inheritance of Manning and in this Name for many years it remained constant untill in our Fathers Remembrance it went away by Sale to Sir Nicholas Carew of Beddington in Surrey and his Son Sir Francis Carew conveyed it to Ellis of London who not many years since alienated his Right in it to Colonel Richard Sandys third Son of Sir Edward Sandys of Northbourne but Down-Court was long before passed away by Manning to Palmer which was separated from the Mannor of Downe and singly sold by it self The Arms of Philipot and Petley are extant in the South-window of the Chancell with this Inscription affixed to the Pedestall of their two Pourtraicttures Orate pro Animabus Jo. Petley Christiana Uxoris Jo. Petley Aliciae Filiae Tho. Philipot ........ ac Parentum corum E. E. E. E. EGerton in the Hundred of Calehill hath two places within the Verge of it remarkable The first is Barmeling which was the Seat of a Family of that Sirname Robert de Bermeling and in old datelesse Deeds called Sir Robert de Barmeling he held it at his Decease which was in the fifty third year of Henry the third and left Issue William de Bermeling who was also in the enjoyment of it at his Death which was in the twenty second year of Edward the first and so did Robert de Bermeling who made his Exit the thirty first of Edward the first and here in this Family hath the Propriety by an undivided Track of Succession been so fixed and permanent that it is yet the unseperated Inheritance of this Name of Barmeling The second is Bruscombe This was a Branch of that Demeasn which formerly acknowledg'd the Chitcrofts for its Possessors a Name of very great Antiquity both here and at Lamberherst Agnes wife of Richard Chitcroft held it at her Death which was in the eighteenth year of Edward the second Rot. Esc Num. 198. After Chitcroft was worn out the Beaumonts were invested in the Possession and John de Bellemont or Beaumont deceased in the enjoyment of it in the twentieth year of Richard the second Rot. Esc Num. 14. But not long after this the Title ebbed away from this Name and by a successive Channel of Vicissitude was powred into Baron a Family originally extracted out of the West where they are yet in being John Baron died seised of Bruscombe the second year of Henry the fifth The Family which succeeded this in the Inheritance upon their Recesse which was about the latter end of Henry the sixth were the Wottons of Boughton Malherbe in which Family the Title and Propriety hath been ever since so constantly resident that it still rests in the Descendants and Heirs of Tho. Lord Wotton of Marley Eltham in the Hundred of Black heath anciently called Ealdham did anciently belong in part to the King and partly to the Mandevills from whence it came to be called Eltham Mandeville King Edward the first granted that Moiety which belonged to himself to John de Vescy a potent Baron in the North in the ninth year of his Reign and in the twelfth year ennobles his former Concession and gives him a new Grant to hold a Market weekly and a Fair yearly at his Mannor of Eltham In the fourteenth year of the abovesaid Prince John de Vescy with his Knowledge and Consent made an Exchange with Walter de Mandevill for that Proportion of Eltham in which he was Interessed and gave the sixth part of the Mannor of Luton in Bedfordshire for one Messuage with the Appurtenances in Eltham and Modingham This John de Vescy died without Issue in the eighteenth of Edward the first and William his Brother succeeded in the Possession and was Lord Vescy and had Issue by Isabell Daughter of Robert Perington Widow of Sir Robert de Wells William de Vescy his lawfull Son born in the year 1269 who died without Issue in his Fathers life Time at Conway and was buryed at Malton Then William de Vescy having a base Son called William Vescy de Kildare born at Compston in the County of Kildare 1292 * Fines de Anno 24. Ed. primi VVill. de Vescy sold to Anth. Beck Bishop of Durham the Mannor of Eltham with the Appurtinances which Isabell the Widow of
John de Vescy held for term of her Life begotten upon Dergavile his Concubine Daughter to Dunwald a petty Prince in Ireland he made a Feoffment of all his Lands in England to Anthony Beck Bishop of Durham to the use of William Vescy of Kildare his base Son and also infeoffed King Edward in Kildare in Ireland and in Sproxton in Scotland for Licence of his good Leave and Assent to the other Feoffment William de Vescy of Kildare was slain in the Warrs of Stripling in Scotland The King of England himself being then present in Person By which means the State being in the Bishop of Durham he disposed of Alnewike Castle in the North to Henry de Percy that had married Idonia de Clifford and considering that the Estate of Lands at Eltham came from the Crown the said Bishop reserving an estate for life disposed of them back again to the Crown he himself dyed there the twenty eighth of March 1311. In the fifth year of Edward the second and had bestowed great cost in building there The Stone-work of the outward Gate being Castle-like is a remnant of the work of that Time The Palace it self being much more modern and Augmented by several additions of the Kings of England who in a manner kept here their constant residence and here were made the Statutes of Eliham the precedents for Government of the Kinâ—s House to this day The Bishop of Durham being dead K. Edward the second kept his residence here 1315 9 Edw. 2. and his Q. was here brought to bed of a Son called John of Eliham K. Edward the third intending to give a princely reception to K. John of France which had been Prisoner in England and came over to visit the King 1363. and dyed before his return entertained him here at Eltham K. Henry the fourth kept his last Christmas at Eliham 1412. K. Henry the fifth his Son and Successor lay there at Christmas likewise when he was fain to depart suddenly for fear of some that had conspired to murther him K. Henry sixth made it his principal place of residence and granted the Tenants of the Mannor of Eltham a Charter of renovation of a Market in the seventeenth of his reign which containeth more ample priviledges than any such grant that yet I have seen as will be likewise evident to those who will peruse the original Record of that year in the Tower of London K. Edward the fourth greatly to his cost repaired the House Pat. Anno 21. Edw. 3. pars 2. Memb. 2. and inclosed Hornpark so called being the Site of the Mannor of West-horn which was anciently in the Kings Demeasne For King Edward the third in the twenty first year of his reign granted liberty to all his Tenants of this Mannor to be toll-free throughout England K. Henry the seventh set up the fair Front there towards the Moat and was usually resident there I find in a Record in the Office of Arms that he did usually dine in the Hall and all his Officers kept their Tables there and at such time as he created Stanley Baron Monteagle by reason of some Infection then reigning in and near the City of London none were permitted to dine in the Kings Hall but the officers of Arms who at the serving in the Kings second Course of meat according to the Custome came and proclaimed the Kings style and the style of the said new Lord. King Henry the eighth built much at Greenwich with Bricks made here at Eltham and then neglected this place yet he lived here sometime and kept a royal Christmass at this place 1515. There is an ancient place in this Parish called Henleys which in the time of King Edward the third was a Marnor belonging to John de Henley whose House was moated about the situation is yet extant below the Conduit-head but he dying without Issue it came by his guift to King Edward the third and was annexed unto the Mannor by William de Brantingham his Feoffee The Mannor East-horn and Well-hall was in the year 1100. possest by Jordan de Iriset or Brinset first establisher of the Order of Knights Hospitallers here in England In Ages of a lower Descent that is in the reign of Edward the third it was held by Iohn de Poultney and from that Family about the reign of Richard the second it devolved by Sale to Chichley Iohn Tatterst all married Agnes the Daughter of Iohn Chichley of Wolwich Son of William Chichley Alderman of London and by her had VVell-hall and East-horn he had Issue by her two Daughters Ann was married unto Sir Ralph Hastings and Margery was married unto Iohn Roper Esquire and Agnes their Mother was remarried to VVill. Kene who likewise had Issue by her from whom the Mansells of Wales are extracted and by this Descent are of the Blood and Kindred of Henry Chichley Lord Arch-bishop of Canterbury Founder of All-Souls Colledge in Oxford but VVell-hall and East-horn were united to the patrimony of Roper and have continued here so fixed that they are the present Inheritance of Edward Roper Esquire To this Mannor the Chancel of St. Michael in the South-side of Eltham Church belongeth called sometimes Tatershalls Chancel In the windows the Matches before mentioned are impaled in Coloured glass The utmost extent of this Hundred East-ward reacheth to Shooters-Hill so called of the Thievery there practised where Travellers in elder Times were so much infested with Depraedations and bloody mischiefs that order was taken in the sixth of Richard the second for the enlarging the High-way according to the Statute made in the Time of King Edward the first so that they venter still to rob here by prescription Pat. 6. R. 2. pars 2. Mem. 34. and some have been so impudent to offer to engage the Sun shining at mid-day for the repayment of money called borrowed in a Theevish way to the great charge of the Hundred that still was in the Counter-bond and King Henry the fourth granted leave to Thomas Chapman to cut down burn and sell all the Woods and Under-woods growing and confining to Shooters-Hill Pat. 7. H. 4. pars 2. Memb. 12. on the South-side and to bestow the money raised thereby upon mending the High-way Surely Prince Henry his Son and Sir John Falstaffe his make-sport so merrily represented in Shakespear's Comedies for examining the Sandwich Carriers loading at this place were not the Surveyers Mottingham in the Hundred of Blackheath is a Hamlet and member to Eltham enjoying like priviledges which are annexed to both these places as being of ancient Demealn It was formerly written Modingham denoting that it was proudly situated for so we interpret Mod in old English It passed away from the Crown with the Mannor of Eltham to Jo. de Vescy and returned back again with it inhabited in the time of K. Edw. the third by the Family of Bankwell and after in the reign of H. the sixth by the Chesmans the last
of which Name which held this place was Tho. Chesman whose Female-heir Alice brought this Seat to her Husband Rob. Stodder Ancestor to Will. Stodder Esq not long since deceased who was proprietary of it A strange and marvellous Accident happened at this place upon the fourth day of August 1585 in a Field which belongeth to Sir Percival Hart. Betimes in the morning the ground began to sink so much that three great Elme-Trees were suddenly swallowed into the Pit the tops falling downward into the hole And before ten of the Clock they were so overwhelmed that no part of them might be discerned the Concave being suddenly filled with water the Compass of the hole was about 80. yards and so profound that a sounding line of fifty Fathoms could hardly find or feel any bottome ten yards distance from that place there was another piece of ground sunk in like manner near the high-way and so nigh a dwelling house that the Inhabitants were greatly terrified therewith Edenbridge in the Hundred of Westerham was ever esteemed a Chappel of ease to the Parish of Westerham The first that I discover by the beams of Record to have been possest of Edenbridge were the Stangraves who had here their capital Mansion which was known by their Name John de Stangrave obtained a Charter of Free-warren to Edenbridge in the twenty sixth year of Edw. the first Sir Rob. de Stangrave was his Son and Heir who was with Edw. the first at the Siege of Carlaverock in Scotland and there for his generous Service received the Order of Knighthood and dyed seised of Edenbridge and Stangrave the twelfth year of E. the third Rot. Esc Num. 52. After the Stangraves were vanished the Dynleys were setled in the Signory of these above-mentioned places Jo. de Dynley had a Confirmation of the Chatter of Free-warren to Eden-bridge in the fourteenth year of Edward the third and immediately after passed away his Interest here to Hugh de Audley Earl of Gloucester Lord of the Mannor and Castle of Tunbridge by whose Daughter and Heir the Lady Margaret Audley Stangrave and Edenbridge came to acknowledge the Signory of Ralph Stafford Earl of Stafford and he dyed seised of them in the forty sixth year of Edward the third and in this Family of Stafford as they were successively Earls of Stafford and Dukes of Buckingham was the propriety of these places resident untill the twelfth year of Henry the eighth and then Edward Duke of Buckingham Lord high Constable of England having unadvisedly consulted with a Monk and a Wizzard touching the Succession of the Crown fomented so Vast a Stock of Fears and Jealousies in the Brain of that Cautious Prince that they could not be extinguished but by his Blood which was poured out on a Scaffold as the last expiation of that Treason which was by Cardinal Wolsey pinn'd upon him and likewise of his Prince's Fury Upon this his untimely Exit his Estate escheated to the Crown and King Henry the eighth not many years after granted Westerham Eden Bridge and Stangrave which were parcell of the Confiscation to Sir John Gresham Knight from whom they by Descent are now devolved to Marmaduke Gresham Esquire who enjoys the instant Possession of them Delaware is a Seat of very venerable Account in this Parish It was the Seat of Gentlemen of that Name as high as the Reign of Henry the second as appears by old Evidences now in the Hands of Mr. Seyliard of which Robert de la Ware was the last who about the latter end of Edward the third went out without Issue-male so that Dionysia Delaware who was matched to William Paulin became Heir to this place In Paulin it remained constantly resident till the beginning of the Rule of Henry the sixth and then William Paulin determined in a Daughter and Heir likewise who was wedded to John Seyliard of Seyliard in Hever which is still in the Possession of Mr. Seyliard of Gabriells in this Parish and who descended from Ralph de Seyliard who flourished about the Reign of King Stephen In an old Pedigree of Seyliard now treasured up amongst the Evidences of Delaware there is enrolled the Coppy of a Deed without date by which Almerick d'Eureux Earl of Gloucester who flourished in the Reign of Henry the third demises Lands to Martin at Seyliard and other Lands called Hedinden to Richard at Seyliard who were Sons of Ralph from which Ralph John Seyliard Esquire now Proprietary of this anâ—â—ent Mansion of Delaware by a Steady and unbroken Current of many Descents in a Direct Line is originally extracted The Mannor of Sharnden in this Parish was parcell of that Estate which belonged to the Lords Cobham of Sterborough Castle not far distant and continued folded up in the Patrimony of this Family till the Government of Edward the fourth and then Thomas Lord Cobham of Sterborough deceasing without Issue-male Anne matched to Edward Lord Borough of Gainsborough became his Heir in which Name and Family the Title of this place successively streamed down till almost our Times and then the Lady Katharine Borough to whom it was assigned by Thomas Lord Borough her Husband to defray Debts and other Uses passed it away to Sir Edward Richardson Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench whose Grandchild the Lord Edward Richardson Baron of Cromartie in Scotland does now possesse the Signory and Inheritance of it Elham in the Hundred of Lovingborough is anciently written Helham which denotes the Situation of it in a Valley amongst Hills Though now the Magnificent Structures which in elder Times were here be dismantled and have only left a Masse of deplored Rubble to direct us were they stood yet in Dooms-day Book it is written that the Earl of Ewe a Norman and neere in Alliance to the Conquerour held it and left the Reputation of an Honour unto it as the Record of the Aid granted at the making the Black Prince Knight in the twentieth of Ed. the third doth warrant For the Mannor of Mount adjacent to Elham is said to be held of the Honour of the Earl of Ewe by Knights Service In Testa de Nevill there is mention of Gilbert Earl of Ewe who then paid respective Aid in the twentieth year of Henry the third at the Marriage of Isabell that Prince's Sister From this Gilbert Earl of Ewe it went away to Edward eldest Son to Henry the third who obtained a Market and Fair to Elham by Charter in the thirty fifth of Henry the third and after he had fortified it with these Priviledges in the forty first year of the abovesaid Prince conveys it by Sale to Boniface of Savoy Arch-bishop of Canterbury Boniface to decline the Envy and Emulation of his English Opposites which he and the rest of those Forreiners and Aliens had contracted upon themselves by their practicall Turbulencies in the Managery of the principal Affairs of State under Henry the third passed it away by Sale to Roger Lord Leybourne a great Partisan and
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
distant from Terowan or Terwin in the fifth year of Henry the eighth which was Signally testified by that Prince when by his Favour and Command there was annexed this Augmentation to his paternall Coat viz upon a Canton Azure a Demy Ram Saliant Argent armed Or between two Flower de Lis of the last over all a Batton or Truncheon which intimates to us that that Captive-Duke was one of the Marshalls of France Dexterways in Bend of the Second Chaddington is a second place of Account and represents to our Remembrance the Lords Cobham who were in elder Times Lords of the Fee John de Cobham dyed seised of it in the twenty eighth year of Edward the first Rot. Esc Num. 42. And from this John did it successively flow down to Henry Lord Cobham who was attainted in the first year of King James upon whose Conviction this Mannor escheated to the Crown and that Prince some few years after granted it to his Kinsman Lodowick Duke of Lenox but he dying without Issue it descended to his Nephew James Duke of Lenox lately deceased whose Dutchesse Dowager during the Minority of the Duke her Son holds the present enjoyment of it Goddington is a third place which calls for our Consideration It was parcel of the Patrimony of the ancient Family of Charles Robert Charles who was possest of Land about Hilden in Tunbridge and was Bailiff of the Forrest or Chase there to Robert de Clare Earl of Gloucester was seised of it at his Death which was in the twenty ninth year of Edward the first Rot. Esc Num. 74. From whom it devolved to Nicholas Charles who dying without Issue in the eleventh year of Richard the second Alice one of his Sisters and Coheirs brought this to be the Inheritance of William Snaith Sheriff of Kent in the ninth year of K. Henry the fourth descended from William de Snaith who was made Chancellor of the Kings Exchequer during Pleasure in the fifty fifth year of Edward the third but this Family likewise going out in a Daughter and Heir she by matching with Watton whose Ancestor held Lands at Rydley nere Ash in the twentieth year of Edward the third annexed it to the Incom of that Family in which Name the Title hath ever since by an even and permanent Succession resided Wainscot is the last place of any Eminence It was a Branch which was engrafted upon that Demeasne which fell under the Signiory of the Colepepers of Alresford Walter Colepeper of Preston in that Parish held it at his Death which was in the first year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 80. And into the Patrimony of this Family did the Right of it by a Succession of many Descents even seem to have bin riveted having continued constant to this Name from the above mentioned Walter Colepeper untill the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and then it was alienated to Randolph from which Family in Times which were within the Circle of our Fathers Remembrance it passed away by Sale to Somers descended from William Somer Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Reign of Henry the sixth who held much Land in the Hundred of Hoo whose Son not many years since passed it away to Mr. Robinson of Rochester Frensted in the Hundred of Eyhorne was honored anciently by being parcel of the Patrimony of the noble Family of Crombwell written so in elder Times though since a softer pronunciation hath been quilted into the Name so that in Times of a more modern Aspect it hath been written Cromwell who had here a Seat called now Meriam Court but in elder Orthography written Mereham Court The first of this Family whom I find possest of it was John de Crombwell who in the eighth year of Edward the second as Sir Henry Spelman in his Glossary in the Word Banneretus cites the Record out of the Office of the Pell was written Banneret Now what these Bannerets were I shall briefly unfold they were formerly called Vexilliferi because their Investiture anciently was by delivering to them a Guidon which was nothing but a Pennon cut off at the end which before flowed out into an acute Angle and now was fashioned and composed into a Square And as anciently thirteen Knights Fees did in the vulgar Estimate make up a Tenure per Baroniam so did ten Knights Fees compose a Banneret out of which he was whensoever the Affairs of the Prince did require to bring into the Field twelve or sixteen Chevaliers or Horsemen and those Persons of no cheap or inconsiderable Account but such as could as Sir Henry Spelman notes ex Praediis Peculio proprio out of their own Patrimony Equipp Horse and furniture of Armes proportionate to the Service they were to be embarked in But to proceed Ralph de Crombwell Son of the abovesaid John in the ninth year of Edward the second obtained a Charter of Free-warren to his Lands here at Frensted and Meriam Court but his Family after the Grant of this Franchise did not long possesse their Inheritance here for Richard de Crombwell this mans Son about the Beginning of Edward the third passed it away to Hugh Girund in whom the Title was as sickle and volatile for he determining in Mawd his Sole Daughter and Heir she by matching with Henry de Chalfhunt made it his Patrimony and he in his Wifes Right was seised of it at his Death which was in the forty ninth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 14. And in this Family did the Propriety of Meriam Court and other Lands at Frensted continue invested untill the Entrance of Henry the sixth and then it was passed away to Hadde now called Hadds and William Hadde held Meriam Court and the Land annexed to it here at Frensted at his Decease which was in the thirty fourth year of Henry the sixth and in this Family was the Possession constantly resident untill that Age which fell within the Circle of our Grandfathers Knowledge and then it was conveyed to Archer from which Family some few years since it went off by Sale to Thatcher Yokes Court is another ancient Seat in Frensted which as high as any Beam either of Publick Record or private Muniments can conduct me to a Discovery I find acknowledged the noble Family of Northwood and owned the Interest of that Family untill the thirty fifth of Edward the third and then Roger de Northwood dying without Issue-male bequeathed it to his only Daughter and Heir Albina Northwood who by matching with John Digge of Diggs Court in Berham united this Seat to the Interest of that Name and Family and they to keep Life in her Memory a small Preferment beyond the Fate of humane Frailty that had improved their Paternal Inheritance with so great a Supplement of Additional Estate erected a fair Monument over her Ashes in Berham Church and adorned it with a French Epitaph which instructs the Reader whose Dust sleeps beneath the Marble Repository Indeed in this Act this Family
inhabiting at Hougham not far distant and Robert de Hougham dyed seised of it in the forty first year of Henry the third In the Reign of Edward the second I find the Clintons possest of it and William de Clinton Earl of Huntington dyed seised of it in the twenty eighth year of Edward the third and from him it descended to his Kinsman John de Clinton great Grandfather to John Lord Clinton who about the Beginning of Henry the seventh sold it away to Davis from which Family by a Daughter and partly by Purchase it came over to Lessington and he in our Fathers Remembrance alienated his Concernment in it to Hopday whose Son is the instant Possessor of it Bredmer or Berdmer is the last place worthy any Consideration It is partly situated in Folkston and partly in Cheriton that there was a Family of this Name was most certain For in ancient Deeds and Court Rolls of Valoigns who was Lord of Cheriton after Scotton I find frequent mention of severall of this Name who held Land of this Family But in the Book of Aid I find William de Brockhull held the fourth part of a Knights Fee in Cheriton which was this in the twentieth year of Edward the third From this Name by Elizabeth Heir of Thomas Brockhull it came to be the possession of Richard Selling Esquire and here it rested untill the Beginning of Henry the eighth and then it was passed away to Edmund Inmith a Retainer to Thomas Lord Clinton who gave it to his second Son Edmund Inmith and he was extinguished in two Daughters and Coheirs one was married to Reyner and the other to Baker who in her Right shared this place and in the Reign of King James passed it away by Sale to Ben who holds the instant Possession of it G. G. G. G. DEptford in the Hundred of Blackheath and Lath of Sutton at Hone so called from the deep Channel of Ravens-purg'd The River that here slydeth into the Thames was heretofore called West-Greenwich from the turning of the River Thames in such a crooked Compass and the green Meddows adjacent Gislebert Magminot or Magminiot for he was a great Favorite to William the Conquerour was one of those eight Barons and Trustees that were joyned to John de Fiennes for the sure Guard of Dover Castle and were assigned competent Lands for the maintenance of that Service his Castle or Scite of his Barony hath been long time buryed in its own Ruines yet some remains of Stony Foundations make me conjecture it stood nere Says Court in Bromfield upon the Brow of the Thames Bank neere the Mast Dock where the Skeleton of Sir Francis Drake's Ship was layd up and in a very short time nothing left of her but the Fame of her Captain and Steersman cannot perish so long as History shall last But to return to the former Subject it may appear by the Quire of Dover Castle transmitted on Record in the King's Exchequer that it had the Reputation of a Barony and these Knights Fees were held of it Pevinton Kanc. duo Feeda Militum Estswale Kanc. unum Feedum Militis Davinton Kanc. duo Feoda Militum Cuckleston alias Cuckston Kanc. unum Feodum Militis Waldeswareschare Kanc. 3. Feoda Militum Leckhamsted-Bucks unum Feodum Kennington-Hert duo Feoda Militum Gothurst Northampton unum Feodum Militis Hertwell-Northampton duo Feoda Militum Brandiston-Suffolk duo Feoda Militum Hecchesham-Surrey duo Feoda Militum Whitfield Kanc. unum Feodum Militis Coudham-Kanc duo Feoda Militis Bredinghurst Kanc. unum Feodum Militis Thornham Kersoney tria Feeda Militum Bingbery Kanc. tria Feeda Militum Brickhill-Buck unum Feodum Militis Haec sunt Feoda de Baronia de Magminot quae tenentur de Willielmo de Say quae ipse tenet de Rege per Baroniam Et reddunt Wardam ad Castrum Dovoriae Per 32. Septimanas You may find mention of Walkelme Magminot in the Catalogue of the Lord Wardens But the Daughter and Heir of this Line was married to Say from whom it came to be called Says-Court which Name it still retaineth And was by reason of the Commodiousnesse of the Meadows belonging to it and Stalls there erected made a place in the Time of the late King for feeding Sheep and Oxen served by Composition for the Kings House William Duke of Suffolk held the Mannor of West-Greenwich and one Messuage in Deptford Anno 29. Hen. 6. by West-Greenwich which was ment by that which we now call Deptford Strand and by Deptford is ment the upper Town where a fair strong Stone Bridge lately erected doth acknowledge the sole Royal bounty of K. Charles by this Inscription This Bridge was re-edified at the only charge of King Charles in the fourth year of his Reign Anno Dom. 1628. In former Times it w as repaired at the Charge of the Contry adjacent For I find by a Record in the Tower Esc Anno. 20. Edw. 3. n. 66. Quod Reparatio Pontis de Depeford pertinet ad homines Hundredi de Blackheath non ad homines Villarum de Eltham Moding-ham Wolwich The Treasurer of the Navy hath here a commendable and convenient House for his Residence at the Dock to view the building and repayring the States Ships and what is most expedient for the Manufacture of Cordage Anchors and other Provisions for Ships by which means the Town is so greatly increased in small Tenements and the Statute for Cottages excepting Market-Towns and such places as are used for building of Ships that for number of Inhabitants and Communicants it may compare with diverse Counties in the Kingdome which great Increase of the Parish caused them to new build another Isle on the North-side the Church to which the East-Indian Company of Merchants were good Benefactors And the Chancel enlarged with beautifull Additions partly at the Cost of Sir William Russell Knight and Baroner Treasurer of the Navy and the circumspection of Doctor Valentine the late learned and worthy Incumbent of the place Adjoyning to the Church The Company of Navigators and Seamen incorporated by King Henry the eighth have a Hall or House for their meetings and Consultations Certainly the use of this Society is most considerable and commendable for the Common-wealth upon all Occasions may from them receive necessary Intelligence of all the Roads Waterings Depths and Conveniences of most part of the Maritime places in the Known World One thing more I have to mention and that is Hacham which was in K. Hen. the seconds Time the Seat of Hacham lying upon the Confines of Kent and Kent-fields or Kent-lands within this County as Kent-Hatch in Westerham is the very out-side of this Shire As that place towards Surrey called Kent-House designs the Bounderies of this County between Bekenham and Croydon Divers Inquisitions taken since that time have found Hacham to be in Kent And I believe the Mannor of Bredingherst before mentioned was formerly in this Shire which is now slipt into Surrey
at Peckham Rey in Camberwell The Reception of Prisoners from the County of Surrey being for a good Space used to be at New Cross hath begot an opinion that there was the out-side of Kent but those that will justly denote the Ambitus and Bounds must not think it begins at Kent-street because it is so called of the Road-way into Kent Nor that Kentish Town by High-gate is part of this Shire though it pertake of the Customes of Gavel-kind Nor at Sir Thomas Waterings Kanc. Inq. 7. R. 2. n. 30. post Mort. E. fillii Tho. Dolsil where the Pilgrims to St. Thomas of Canterbury that disobedient and pertinacious Arch-bishop watered their Horses But a small Bridge beyond Hatcham in the Road to London neere which is a Road or Way to Bredingherst which by an Inquisition taken in the seventh of King Richard the second appeareth to be in Kent In the forty third of Edward the third it appears that the Mannor of Hachesham was granted to the Prioresse of Dertford Caus 43. E 3. M. 6. and many parcels of Land that came by Escheat as held of that Mannor lying in Surrey after the Death of Jo. the Son of Jo. Adam were confirmed to that Foundation by the King all which returning into the Hands of Henry the eighth upon the publike Suppression this Mannor with its Appendages was for ever setled by the Crown on the Company or Brother-hood of the Haberdashers in London East-Greenwich is the next Town to Detford so called because it standeth more East-ward then the other formerly spoken of In Latin named Viridis Sinus in Saxon Grenawic that is the Green Town upon the Turning Creeke of the River In the Time of the Danes Invasion they often made their Road at this place and made it remarkable by their Cruelty shewed unto Ealphege Arch-bishop of Canterbury whom in the year of our Lord a thousand and twelve they cruelly executed with most exquisite Torments whose Death together with the cause thereof Ditmarius Mersepurgius who about the same time lived hath thus in the eighth Book of his Chronicles described I understood saith he by the relation of Sewald a pitifull Deed and therefore memorable namely that the perfidious Crew of Norman Souldiers under Thurkill as yet their Captain took that excellent Prelate Arch-bishop of the Citty of Canterbury named Ealphege with the rest and them after their wicked manner imprisoned and bound yea and put him to endure Famine and unspeakable pains This good man moved with humane Frailty promiseth unto them a Summe of Money and for the obtaining thereof did set down a Time between That if in this Space he could not by some acceptable Ransome escape this momentary Death he might yet in the mean while purge himself with many a Grone to be offered as a lively Sacrifice unto the Lord. But when as the Time and space appointed were come and gon this greedy Gulph of Pirats called forth the Servant of the Lord and in threatning-wise demand this Tribute promised unto them to be speedily and out of hand paid Then he as a Meek lamb Here am I quoth he ready to undergo even for the Love of Christ whatsoever ye presume now to do against me that I may deserve to become an example of his Servants and nothing am I troubled at this day And whereas I seem unto you a Lyer it is not my own Will but great need and Poverty that hath done it This body of mine which in this Exile I have loved over much I present as culpable unto you and I know it is in your Power to do with it what yee intend but my sinfull Soul that regardeth not you I humbly commend to the Creator of all things As he was thus speaking the whole Rabble of these prophane Wretches hemmed him round about and getteth together diverse and sundry weapons to kill him which when their Leader Thurkill saw a far off he came quickly running and crying do not so I beseech you and here with my whole heart I deliver unto you all my Gold and Silver and whatsoever I have here or can by any means come by save my Ship only that you would not sin against the Lord's annointed But this unbridled anger of his Mates harder then Iron and Flint was nothing mollified with so gentle Words and fair Language of his but became only pacified by shedding his innocent blood which presently they altogether confounded and bleanded with Ox-heads Stons as thick as Hail and Billets hurled at him And to the memory of this said Ealphege is the Parish Church here consecrated But far more splendid hath this sumptuous Pallace been ever since Humphrey Duke of Gloucester Brother to King Henry the fifth builded the same and called it Placence And likewise the Castle and inclosed the Park For doing them both he had the King's Charter XI Hen. 6. Rex concedat quod Humfridus Dux Glocestriae Elianora uxor ejus possdent Karnellare Manerium suum de East-Grenwich Imparcare CC. Acras terrae inter Manerium suum praedictum For it was not lawfull for any man to fortifie his House or raise a Castle or place of Defence without Licence from the Crown for Fear of inward Sedition and was therefore inquirable before the Escheator in the twenty fourth Article of his Office Item de Castellis Dominicis Karnellatis sine Regis licencia The word having its derivation from Charneux whichin French signifieth the indented Form of the Top of a Wall which hath vent and crest commonly called Imbattelling because it was very serviceable in fight to the Defendant within who might at the loops or lower places and other cranies in the Walls and Bulworkes annoy the Enemy that assayled the same and might also shroud himself under the higher Parts thereof Afterward King Edward the fourth bestowed some cost to enlarge this work Henry the seventh followed and beautified the House with the Addition of the Brick Front to the water side But King Henry the eighth as he exceeded all his Progenitors in setting up sumptuous Houses so he spared no Cost in Garnishing Greenwich Queen Ann in the time of King James builded that new Brick-work towards the Garden and laid the Foundation of the House of Delight towards the Park which Queen Mary hath so finished and furnished that it far surpasseth all other of that kind in England In Memory of the many Camps that have been here Certain places within this Parish are called Combes namely East-Combe where that godly good Gentleman William Lambert Esquire dwelt that gave us the first Description of this Country in his Perambulation and made this work the more easy to any that should endevour further Progresse therein Facile est inventis addere difficile invenire Westcombe with its Appendant Members related to the noble Family of Badelesmer and upon the Attainder of artholomew Lord Badelesmer escheating to the Crown they lay clasped up in its Revenue untill King Richard the
second granted them to Sir Robert Belknap the Judge upon whose Attainder they were granted in Fee to Robert Ballard Esquire Pincernae suo his grand Boteler That is the Mannors of Westcombe and Spittlecombe in Greenwich two Watermills in Detford with their Appurtenances in Charlton and Writle-mersh after which that Name continued a long time in this place of whom you may read more among the Sheriffs of Kent untill about the fourth of Philip and Mary Westcombe was altenated by Nicholas Ballard to John Lambert Esquire whose Successor Thomas Lambert not many years since alienated it to Hugh Forth from whom it is lately gon over by Sale to Mr ...... Biddulph of London Soon after the Conquest this Greenwich was parcell of the Possessions of the Bishop of Liseux in France and bore Service to Odo then Bishop of Baieux and Earl of Kent After the Mannor belonged to the Abbot of St. Petres of Gaunt in Flanders till such time as King Henry the fifth seising into his Hands by occasion of War the lands of the Priors Aliens bestowed it together with the Mannor of Lewsham and many other Lands also upon the Priory of the Brotherhood to the Monks of Shene which he had then newly erected to which it remained till the Time of King Henry the eighth who annexed it to the Crown unto which it now belongeth and is called the Honor East-Greenwich Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth were both born here and King Edward the sixth a Miracle of Princely Towardnesse ended his Life in the same House King Edward the third 1376 in the fifty first year of his Reign founded the Religious House of Friers Aliens or Dominican Friers Sir John Norbury Knight high Treasurer of England is reckoned a Benefactor to the same after the Dissolution of this House and its Annexion to Shene by King Henry the eighth Another House of observant Friers was erected here by King Edward the fourth as we read in Jo. Rosse Circiter Annum Regni Edwardi quarti venerunt Fratres observantes Ordinis Minorum ad Greenwich habebant Cantariam Capellam Sancti Crucis And King Henry the seventh builded that House for them adjoyning to the Pallace which is yet there to be seen There are moreover in the Town two Colledges or Almes houses for the Sustentation of poor Persons the one builded by William Lambert Esquire which he named the Colledge of Queen Elizabeths poor People and as the Prying Adversaries of out Religion then observed was the first Protestant that built an Hospital The other standing by Thames-side was founded by Henry Howard Earl of Northampton Lord Privy Seal Lord Warden of the Cinque-ports and Knight of the Garter And inlarged and Beautified the Castle which is famous in the Spanish Fables from whence there is a most fair and pleasant Prospect open to the River winding in and out almost redoubling of it self the green Medows and Marshes underlying the Citty of London and Country round about Described by Berkley in his Euphormio And also for a L'env'oy to Greenwich you may read the Verses of Leland the Antiquarian Poet adjoyning to Greenwich Blackheath of which the Hundred taketh the name so called of the colour of the Earth or Bleacheath of the high and cold Situation for bleak signifieth cold Also Campus Martis it may well be called for besides the Burthen of the Danish Camps it hath born three rebellious Assemblies One in the time of King Richard the second Moved as shall be farther declared in Offham by John Tylar whom William Walworth then Maior of London slew with his Dagger in Smithfield and thereupon upon the Tradition comes that the City had given them for an Augmentation to their Eschochen a Dagger in the Dexter-point or Canton so to be born by them for ever Jack Cade that Counterfeit Mortimer and his Crew conducted the second who araying themselves here and passed to London where they did to Death the Lord Say and others and executed their malice upon the Records and Monuments of the Law Burning down the Office of Armes which was then kept at Cole-Harbour burning destroying their Rolls Registers and Books of Armory Their main Drift and Design being to bring in Parity And their Insurrection was here assembled by Michaell Joseph Black-smith and the Lord Audley under the Reign of King Henry the seventh at which time they and their Complices received their just Desert the Common Numbers of them being discomfited and slain and the Leaders themselves taken drawn and hanged Of this last there remaineth yet to be seen upon the Heath the place of the Smith's Tent called commonly his Forge and of all there the great grave-Hills of such as were buryed after the overthrow These Hills in the West-Country upon diverse Champions and Plains where is no small Store of the Like are called Barowes of the old English word Burghes which last word melted into Buryings being a Spring of the old Stock we do yet retain alive The first and last of these Commotions were stirred of Griese the Common people conceived for the Demand of two Subsidies Of which the one was unreasonable because it was taxed upon the Polls and exempted none The other was unseasonable for that it was exacted when the heads of the common people were full of Perkin Warbeck The third and middlemost grew upon a grudge that the People took for yielding the Dutchie of Aniou and Maine to the King of Sicily The coming of whose Daughter after that the King would needs have her to Wife notwithstanding his precontract made with the Earl of Armenac was not so joyfully embraced by the Citizens of London upon Blackheath wearing their red Hoods Badges and blew Gowns as in Sequele the Marriage and whole Government it self was known to be detested of the Country Commons by bearing in the same place Harnesse Bowes Bills and other Weapons Thus far the Story of Blackheath proves but sad and tragical That which remains is of a more glorious and splendid condition consisting of Ovations and Triumphs for when the Emperour of Constantinople came to require Aid against the Turks King Henry the fourth with all Princely respect went to meet him at this place and so conducted him to London And when King Henry the fifth returned from his victorious Conquest of France the Lord Maior and Citizens of London went forth in their best Equipage to attend his Reception at this place at which time the King made many Knights Bannerets And K. Hen. the eighth that excelled in all Triumphal matters met Anne Cleve daughter to the Dake of Cleve Graveney in the Hundred of Boughton was in the year of our Lord eight hundred and eleven by Archbishop Vlfred bought of King Kenwolfe as the Book of Christ-church sets it forth ad opus Ecclesiae Christi to the repair of the Cathedral In the year of Grace eight hundred and thirty Werhardus a Priest of much Power in England by the injunction of the Arch-bishop gave Graveney
seventeenth year of Edward the second as appears Rot. Esc Num. 75. And leaving no lawfull Issue this upon the partition of his Estate increased the Revenue of John Comin Earl of Badzenoth in Scotland who had married Joan one of his two Sisters and Coheirs But long it remained not here for he deceased without any Issue-male so that Joan his sole Daughter matched to David de Strabolgie Earl of Atholl became his Heir and he in her Right was found to be invested in the Possession in the first year of Edw. the third as is manifest Rot. Esc Num. 85. And from him did it devolve by Descent to his Son and Heir David de Strabolgie who in the seventh year of Edward the third by Deed setled it on his Kinsman Sir Henry de Hills which Katharine his Widow and Countesse confirms the twentieth year of that Prince Gilbert de Hills lieth buryed in Godmersham Church and as appears by his Pourtraicture in his Armour was a person of Eminence in that Age wherein he flourished and from him and Sir Henry de Hills did issue forth many eminent and worthy Successors who were Proprietaries of this Mannor untill that Age which fell within the Precincts of our Crandfathers Memory and then it went away by Sale to Scot a Cadet or younger Sprig of the Scotts of Scotts-Hall the Heir General of which Family was Mrs. Dorothy Scott who being lately matched to Mr. Daniell Gotherson he in her Right is now though not without a signal Contention at Law with some collateral Pretenders to the Title peaceably planted in the Possession of it Godmersham as the Records of Christ-church inform mee had the Grant of a Market to be observed weekly on the Tuesday and a Fair yearly upon the Thursday and Friday in Whitson Week by the Prior of Christ-church in the Reign of Edward the third Goudherst in the Hundred of Marden with the inherent Mannor of Bedgebury were the ancient Patrimony of a Family of no cheap Account in this Track which as it chose one of these Mannors for its Seat so did it derive its Sirname from thence likewise and was called Bedgbury and certainly were of a very high Ascent in their Extraction For in a Deed without Date one John de Bedgebury demises some parcels of Land to William de Comden of Comden House in this Parish and the Seal affixed to this Deed is a Cavalier on Horseback armed like one of the Knights Templers which argues that he lived before the Suppression of that Order and assumed that Impresse out of his particular Affection to them or else which was customary in those Times out of some signall and solemn vow to maintain the Temple of our Saviour from the Assaults and barbarous Impressions of Infidels which these persons were by their Oath and first Institution oblieged vigorously to defend also John de Bedgebury this man's Successor paid respective Aid for his Lands at Goudherst and likewise for his Mannor of Bedgebury at making the Black Prince Knight in the twentieth year of Edward the third and left these above recited Mannors to his Son John de Bedgebury who dying without Issue his Sister became his Sole Inheritrix who by matching with Thomas Colepeper of Bayhall in Pepenbury Sheriff of Kent in the eighteenth year of Richard the second fastned the Propriety of these places to the Interest of this Family where they continued undivided but in the thirty eighth year of Henry the eighth Court Shingley was by Thomas Colepeper alienated to Stephen Darell but Goudherst and Bedgebury were not plucked away from this Family by this Alienation but continued united to their Estate so that at this Day they own Thomas Colepeper Esquire for their Proprietary Combwell was a Priory of Black Canons under the Rule of St. Augustin and was founded by Sir Robert de Thurnham and dedicated to the Honor of St. Mary Magdalen Their Revenue lay scattered in Marden Stapleherst and Goudherst in which last there was an obscure Cell or Convent of Nuns which had their principal Subsistence by their Charity whose Ruines are yet visible though their Revenue was so narrow that no Record informs us where it was situated Upon the Dissolution in the Reign of Henry the eighth this devolving to the Crown that Prince in the thirty fourth year of his Government granted it to Sir John Gage one of the Justices of the Peace both for Sussex and Kent and his Successor conveyed it to Colepeper who immediately after passed it away to William Campion Esquire Ancestor to Sir William Campion who was offered up a Sacrifice to the Cause and Quarrel of the last King at Colchester in the year one thousand fix hundred forty eight and in his Heirs is the Interest of this Mannor at this instant resident Finchcocks is a third place of note in this Parish made more eminent in that it was the Mansion of a Family of that Sirname whom although I find invested in the Possession of this place ever since the fortieth year of Henry the third yet do I not discover that any of the Family was illustrious by any important undertaking or famous by any eminent Office The next Family which stept into the Possession was Horden of Horden and he became Proprietary of it by Purchase about the Beginning of Henry the sixth one of which Family was Edward Horden Esquire who was Knight of the Greencloth to Edward the sixth Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth who dyed without Issue-male and left his Estate to be shared between two Daughters and Coheirs Elizabeth matched to Mr. Paul Bathurst descended from Bathurst Street in Nordiam and Mary espoused to Mr. Delves of Fletchings who in her Right carried away Horden where certainly the above-recited Family had flourished under a noble Estimate for Edward Horden the last of this Name was issued out from William Chichley second Brother to Henry Chichley Arch-bishop of Canterbury and for some considerable Service performed to the Crown had the Augmentation of a Regal Diadem upon a Canton added to his paternal Coat by Queen Elizabeth But to proceed Finchcocks by the above-mentioned match devolved to be the Possession of Bathurst and so owns it self at this Day to be the Estate of this Name and Family Patenden is another place which gave Seat and Sirname to a Family of no vulgar Repute in this County and was seated in its Possession as appears by original Deeds and other old Records as high as the Reign of Edward the first and where in the twenty ninth year of Henry the sixth there was issued out a Commission to Gervas Clifton Esquire then Sheriff of the County to return all those who did portare Arma antiqua Amongst the Register and Catalogue of those who were then returned Patenden is recorded who was Lord of this place and from him did the Propriety of this place by Descent glide down to his Successor who in those Times we style our Fathers passed it away by Sale
conveyed to the Peckhams where it hao not long made its Residence but the Title by purchase like an Orbe never much in repose rowled it self from Thomas Peckham into Vane where for some years it has rested The Mannor of Moateland◠shall be the last mentioned though not in the above specified Survey yet in mine in Relation to this Parish The first Family that I track in the Record to be Possessors of it were the Bakers of East-Peckham in which Name the Propriety of it lay wrapt up till Richard Baker did devest himself of his Right and passed it over by Sale to Burgesse where it had not long dwelt but the same Change untwined it For Thomas Burgesse alienated it to Henry Leigh and in his Successor till a clearer Ray of more Modern Intelligence directs me to believe the Contrary I think the Possession is resident There are two other Seats of Venerable Account in this Parish The Mannor of the Rectory is the first which in the year 1287. was by Thomas de Inglethorp Bishop of Rochester as the Records of that Church signifie appropriated to the Knights of St. John otherwise called the Knights Hospitalers and remained locked up in their Demeasne until the publique Suppression snatched it away and united it to the Crown where it lodged until the second year of Edward the sixth and then it was granted to Sir Ralph Vane whose Descendant about the middle of Queen Elizabeth passed it away to Roger Twisden Esquire Captain of a Troop of Kentish Gentlemen at the Camp formed at Tilbury to oppose the Hostile Eruptions of the Spanish in the year 1588. And from him it is now come by Descent to be possest by his Grandchild that learned and accomplished Gentleman Sir Roger Twisden of Roydon Hall Knight and Baroner The second is Fish-Hall the Mansion formerly of John de Fisher so called because he was invested with a Priviledge by Gilbert de Clare Earl of Glocester and Lord of the Lowey of Tunbridge to have the Fishing freely and uncontrouledly within his Jurisdiction or as far as it did extend so that from this Immunity or Franchise his Posterity contracted the Sirname of Fisher and for some Ages did the Right of it remain interwoven with the Demeasne of this Family till Richard Fisher sold it to John Vane Esquire from whom the same Revolution not long after transported it to Rivers of Chafford and now the Title is ingrafted into a yonger Branch of that Family Halling in the Hundred of Shamell has nothing remarkable in it but the Mannor of Langridge aliâs Bavent for so it is written frequently in Records and indeed not without some Reason to support the Orthography for in Times of elder Prescription it gave both Seat and Sirname to a Family that had that Appellation and there is some Track or Print yet of the Ruines of a Mansion-house in that Feild which is at this Day called Bavents and Roger de Bavent died in possession of it in the thirty first year of Edward the third and when this Name was worn out the next which we find in Succession to be Proprietary of it was Langridge a Branch spouted out from that Stem of Langridge which was anciently planted in the County of South-hampton And when this Family was decayed and vanished and had left nothing to evidence to us that it had once a Being here but the adopting this Mannor into its Name the Possession went into Melford and here after it had had some short abode it abandoned this Family and cast the Interest of it into the Patrimony of Raynwell whose Successor after some short Flux of Time as appears by the Book of Aid kept in the Exchequer sold it to Robert Wotton in the seventeenth year of Henry the seventh and he suddainly after alienated this and other Lands to Whorne of Cuckston nor was the Title any length of Time lodged in this Name for a Fate of the same condition with the former carried it over to Vane from whom it flowed away in the same Current and by Sale emptied it self into Barnewell nor was it lesse permanent there for the same inconstant Tide wafted it down to Nicholas Lewson and Sir Richard Lewson his Grand-child desirous to wrap up all his Interest within the County of Stafford alienated his Kentish Lands to several persons and sold those which were part of his Demesne here to Barber The Mannor of Halling it self was given to the Church of Rochester by Egbert King of the West Saxons in the year of our Lord 838. and has continued parcel of the Churches Patrimony in an uninterrupted Succession of Time till the year 1643. and then the Title was raveled and discomposed Halden in the Hundred of Blackborne and Barekley has nothing worthy in it that may oblige a Remembrance but only Hales-place from whence as from their Fountain the several Streams of the Hales that in divided Rivulets have spread themselves over the whole County did originally break forth But where this Hales-place is now placed or in what Angle of the Parish it is situated I confesse I cannot instruct my self unlesse it be that Great House which was the Original Seat of the Scots before they planted at Congerherst in Haukherst and which Reginald Scot sold to Sir Edward Hales Indeed it is often mentioned in the Pedigree of Hales and likewise in the Deeds of that Family as lying in Halden which is evidence enough that there was such a Mansion in this Parish though peradventure through Neglect and Disuse and by altering its Possessor it have at present lost its Name Halstow in the Hundred of Hoo was anciently part of the Barony of Bardolph but did not long rest here for Isolda the Daughter and Co-heir of Hugh de Bardolph being married to Henry Lord Grey this was thrown into that Scale with other Demesnes of vast Estimate which did after swell the Revenue of this Baron into a huge Dimension But as all sublunary matters have the Fate of an uncertain inconstancy written in indelible Characters upon them so had this for Richard Lord Grey this mans Successor sold it to John Lord Cobham and he died possest of it in the thirty sixth year of Edward the third from whose Heir an equivalent Vicissitude resigned it up to the illustrious Family of Zouch and William La Zouch extracted from the Zouches of Haringworth in the County of North-hampton died actually possest of it in the fifth year of Richard the second and after the Title had been some years knit to the Relation and Interest of this Family it was at length torn off by the rough Hand of Time and by Sale surrendered up to Norris from whose Heir by as quick a Transition it conveyed it self over to Sir Edward Hales Grand-father to Sir Edward Hales Baronet now surviving Halsted in the Hundred of Codsheath was the Inheritance of a good old Family called Malavill who were of no contemptible Account in this part of the
the twentieth year of Edward the third and when after some expiration of Time this Family began to find the common Sepulcher which wairs upon all Humane Glory Decay and Oblivion the Martins a Name of generous extraction in this Track stept in and by Purchase became Lords of the Fee and held it till the Name being contracted into Anne Sole Daughter and Heir of Jo. Martin by marriage with Roger Brent it was knit to the Patrimony of that Family and so for some years remained undissolved till the Union by Sale was broken and not long since passed over to Sir Thomas Bind where at present the Possession is wound up with the other Demeasne of that Family The Mannor of Beverley is a third place of Note in Harbledowne It was the Sear of the ancient Family of Beverley before they removed to Tancrey Island in Fordwich and having remained Proprietaries of it many Generations by Efflux and Descent it was guided down to William Beverley Esquite from whom the Title ebbed away and in whom the Name determined for he deceasing without Issue Male Beatrix was his only Daughter and Heir who was matched to Thomas Norton Esquire by which Alliance the Title of this place became inter-woven with his Inheritance and continued clasped up in it until the middle of the Raign of Queen Elizabeth and then it was conveyed to Merseday in which Family it had a setled Residence until some sew years since the Mutation of Sale brought it to one Mr. ....... Richardson for its Proprietary Lanfranck Arch-bishop of Canterbury in the year 1071. Founded an Hospital at Harbledowne for Lepers employed afterwards to the Use of aged people William Wittlesey Arch-bishop of Canterbury in the year 1371. founded a Chauntry here and dedicated it to the Honor of St. Nicholas which Foundation in the year 1402. Was by Arch-bishop Arundell fully ratified and confirmed Nether-Hardres in the Hundred of Bridge and Petham is eminent for two Places situated within the Precincts and Ambuts of it The first is Hepington which certainly was anciently the Chichs of the Dungeon in Canterbury for I have seen a Record wherein Nicolas Mesingham releases his Right in this and divers other Lands confining on Canterbury to Tho. Chich. But let it be granted it was theirs certainly the Title was very volatile and incertain for I find the Foggs when they expired to be next in Possession of it which was as high as the entrance into the Raign of Hen. the fourth And here for some Ages the Title fixt it self till at length the Fatality of Time passed it over by Sale to Hales one of whose Successors has lately sold the Mansion House to Sir Thomas Godfrey but still preserves the Propriety of the Mannor it self in his Name Lindeshore but vulgarly called Linsore is the second Place that Objects it self to a Consideration In the eighth of Edward the third an Original Fine represents it to be Thomas de Garwinton's and here many years the Possession was resident till Joan his Niece became by Reason her Nephew Thomas Garwinton Grand-child to this Thomas de Garwinton died without Issue the Heir General of this Family and she being married to Richard Haut a Cadet of the Hauts of Hautsborne alias Bishops-Bourne made this part of their Demeasne but this Name not long after concluding in Margery Haut Sole Daughter and Heir to Richard Haut she being made the wife of William Isaack of Blackmansbery in Bridge involved this in her Husbands Revenue to which after it had been some time united it was by Sale from this Family carried over to John Brent Esquire and this Name some narrow Distance of Time after resolving into a Daughter and Heir called Margaret who was married to John Dering this became part of his Estate and so continued till his Successor not long since sold it to Young of Canterbury Vpper or High Hardres call it which you please is placed in the Hundreds of Bridge Petham and Lovingborough and gave name to a Family which certainly was of Saxon-extraction being compounded of two Saxon words Erd which signifies Earth and Reys which signifies Rivulets or small Drils of water And more to establish this Opinion the Record of Doomes-day Book informs us that Rodbertus de Hardres held half a Sulling or Ploughed-land in Liminge in the twentieth year of William the Conqueror this man was Ancestor to Philip de Hardres who was one of the Recognitores magnae Assisae in the Raign of King John and his Son Philip de Hardres was a man of that Eminence under the Government of Henry the third that he matched with Grace Daughter and Heir of Stephen de Harengod and I have seen an old Deed which bears the form of a Latine Will wherein this Stephen settles his Mannor of Elmested and other Lands in this Track upon this Philip de Hardres which Deed though not dated certainly relates to the Time of his Decease which was in the one and fortieth of Henry the third Rot. Esc Num. 23. But though this Mannor gave Sirname to Hardres yet I find some others had an Interest in it or at least some part of it before it absolutely and solely came to confesse the Signory of this Name Oliver de Bohun obtained a Charter of Free-warren to his Lands at High Hardres in the first year of Edward the first which was renued to Nicolas de Hadlow or Hallow who had not long before purchased the Inheritance of the above said Family at this place in the one and twentieth year of the above mentioned Prince but about the latter end of Richard the second I find this Family quite dislodged from this place and the Sole Demeasne and Propriety wrapped up in the Family of Hardres one of whom by Name Henry Hardres was one of the Justices of the Peace for this County in the Time of Henry the fourth and Henry the fifth and from him is descended Sir Richard Hardres now Lord of this Mannor who by a Title riveted and incorporated into him by a Chain of many uninterrupted Descents does now claim the Signory of it Southcourt is another little Mannor in Upper Hardres which in elder Times was entituled to the Propriety of Garwinton a Family of signal Estimate and deep Root in this Track for in an old Pedigree of Isaac I discover that Thomas and William de Garwinton were in the List of those Kentish Gentlemen that accompanied Henry the third in his Expedition into Gascony in the thirty seventh year of his Raign which Design by the ill Conduct of his Affairs and worse Managery of his Arms was very ruinous and full of dysaster to that Prince But this Family about the eleventh year of Henry the sixth as I have shewed in Bekesbourne being extinguished without Issue the Heir General brought this Mannor to be possest by Haut from whom some two Descents after the same Fatality brought it to be enjoyed by Isaac in whom the Propriety was resident until
and other old Evidences Frankish and bore for their Coat-Armour as appears by Seals A Salteir engrailed ........ After Franke John Martin about the Beginning of of Henry the sixth by purchase became invested in the Possession and he upon his Decease which was in the year 1436. bequeathed it to a yonger Son who bore his Name and was called John Martin from whom by paternal Succession it came down to his Grand-child Edward Martin who about the Beginning of Queen Elizabeth alienated it to Lancelot Bathurst Alderman of London who erected that elegant and magnificent Fabrick which is now the possession of my noble Friend his Grand-child Sir Edward Bathurst Reynolds is a third place of considerable importance it was the Seat of Gentlemen of that Denomination and were rooted by a Prescription of so many years in the Possession of this Place that it is a Controversie whether those at Belso in Essex or these here were of the most venerable Antiquity one of them in one of his Deeds writes Rogerus Filius Reginaldi It is not bounded with any Date and from this Orthography which was Customary in those Times the Name of Reynolds or Fitz Reynolds did by vulgar Acceptation and Use first borrow its Original But to advance in my Discourse After this Seat had for sundry Descents been constant to this Name and Family it was about the latter end of Edward the fourth transmitted by Sale to Sir John Browne Lord Mayor of London in the year 1480. from whom it came down by paternal Descent to his Son and Heir William Brown Esquire who assigned it for subsistance to his second Son John Browne Esquire who was Sheriff of Kent the tenth year of Queen Elizabeth and held his Shrievalty at this place and in this Name did the Title dwell until not many years since it was dislodged and by Sale transplanted into Sir John Jacob from whom the like Fatality hath lately transported it and cast it into the Inheritance of Sir Harbottle Grimston of Essex Baronet Horton upon Stoure near Canterbury lies in the Hundred of Bridge and Petham and was involved in that spacious Inheritance which acknowledged the Signiory of the Lord Badelesmere Bartholomew Lord Badelesmere Steward of the Houshold to Edward the second in the second year of that Prince gave it in Franke-marriage with his Daughter Joane Badelesmere to John de Northwood and that this was Customary in that Age wherein the Times were dry for any pecuniary Supply is most certain for John de Northwood this mans great Grand-child in the eighth year of Richard the second gave it in Franke-marriage with his Daughter to Christopher Shukborough of the County of Warwick Esquire and he in the ninth year of Henry the fourth alienated it to Gregory Ballard Esquire whose Posterity for many years did successively possesse it until Nicolas Ballard in the fourth year of Philip and Mary passed it away by Sale to Roger Trollop Esquire and he in the second year of Queen Elizabeth by Bargain and Sale demised his Interest in it to Sir Edward Warner then Lievtenant of the Tower and he in the sixteenth year of the Government of that Princess conveyed it to Sir Roger Manwood Lord chief Baron of the Exchequer whose Son Sir Peter Manwood almost in our Fathers Memory disposed of his Right in it by Sale to Mr. Christopher Tolderbye who left it to his Son Mr. Christopher Tolderbye and he deceasing without Issue Jane his only Sister and Heir by matching with Sir Robert Darell of Cale-hill a man eminent both by his Integrity and Hospitality according to the accustomed Genius which alwaies waited on this Family brought it to be possest by that Name upon whose Decease it devolved to his second Son Mr. Edward Darell who is the present Lord of the Fee There was an eager Contest between John Beckford Vicar of Chartham and Christopher Shukborough Esquire Lord of Horton touching the celebration of Divine Offices in the Chappel at Horton as likewise the Administration of the Sacraments and it was improved to that Animosity that there was a mutual Appeal made to William Courtney then Arch-bishop of Canterbury who directed a Commission to John Barnett his Official in the year 1380. to hear and determine the Controversie and upon a serious sifting and winnowing this whole Affair the Debate was wound up upon this Conclusion that there should be a solemnization of all Divine Offices in the above mentioned Chappel exceptis tantum D. functorum Sepulturis exsequiis only the Dead were to receive their enterment in the Church of Chartham Hothfeild in the Hundreds of Chart Longbridge and Cale-hill was wrapt up in the Demeasne of the Lord Badelesmer who held it in Grand Serjeanty of the Archbishop of Canterbury that is he was to serve up water to the Arch-bishop at his Installment or Inthronization to wash his Hands and had Pelvim Lotorium so are the Words of the Record he was rewarded with the Vessel which contained the Water and likewise the Towel which dried his Hands and he was likewise to be his Chamberlin the Night of his Instalment and was recompensed with the Arch-bishops Bed as his Guerdon Bartholomew de Badelesmere Son of Guncelin died possest of it in the fifth year of Edward the second Rot. Esc Num. 5. And left it to his infortunate Heir Bartholomew Lord Badelesmere who by his mutinous Association with the Rebellious Nobility having in the sixteenth year of Edward the second forfeited this to the Crown it lay entwined with the Royal Revenue until Edward the third in the second year of his Raign restored it to his Son Bartholomew de Badelesmere who in the twelfth year of that Prince's Government dying without Issue his four Sisters became his Co-heirs whereof Margaret married to the Lord William Rosse of Hamlake cast this Mannor into the Inheritance of that Family and he in her Right died seised of it in the seventeenth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 60. And from him did the Title by a lineal transmission passe down to Thomas Lord Rosse who vigorously endevouring to support the sinking Title of the House of Lancaster was by John Nevill Marquesse Montacute discomfited in the North and taken Prisoner and after beheaded at Newcastle upon whose Dysastrous Tragedy this Mannor was laid hold on by the Crown as an Escheat and King Edward the fourth in the fourth year of his Government granted it to Sir John Fogge of Repton for Life only who was Treasurer of his Houshold and one of his Privie-Councel and whom King Richard the third invited afterward out of the Abbey of West-minster where he had taken Sanctuary for fear of some Mischief intended him by that Usurper and in the presence of a numerous Assembly gave him his Hand and bad him be confident that he was thenceforth sure unto him in Affection This I mention the rather because divers of our Chronicles have erroneously mentioned that he was an Attorney whom
seventh year was possest of the other Moiety of this place gave about that year by Charter some land to the Incumbent or Parson of St. Nicholas of Harbledown After these two Families had deserted the Inheritance I find the Archers about the Beginning of Edward the third to be entituled by Purchase to it and William le Archer so he is written in the Book of Aid paid an Auxiliary Supply for this Mannor in the twentieth year of Edward the third at making the Black Prince Knight but his Son VVilliam Archer in the twenty first year of Richard the second passes away his Right by Sale to John Alkham of Alkham a Family that had taken deep Root in Antiquity downwards and had a spreading Revenue upwards in this Track but before the end of Henry the seventh were consumed and crumbled away and then the next Family which succeeded in the Possession was Herman who was likewise owner of Mary-place in Crayford and in this Name did the Interest of it fix until the latter end of Queen Elizabeth and then it was alienated to Andrews who some few years after demised the Fee-simple to Pepper and he almost in the Verge of our Remembrance sold it to Sir Thomas VVilford of Ilden and he in our Memory alienated it to Richards of Dover Although the greatest part of this Mannor was of secular Concernment yet I find that the Prior of St. Martins in Dover had some Interest in it as appears by an Inquisition taken after the Death of John Atte-hall where it is proved in the sixteenth year of Richard the second Rot. Esc Numb 129. Parte secunda that he held Lands at his Death at Maxton of that Covent Siberston is the last place of Account in Hougham it gave Name in elder Times to a Family so styled for in an old Deed without Date in the Hands of Mr. Whittingham-Wood of Canterbury lately deceased I find Richard de Siberston demises it to John Monins and in another Deed I discover that John Monins Son of John Monins passes the third Part of his Mannor of Siberston to John Monins the elder in the thirty ninth year of Edward the third And this I think is Authority sufficient to evidence to the Publique that it was a parcel of that Estate that owned the Interest and Signory of that eminent Family in which it lay couched until the latter end of Henry the eighth and then it was by Sale transplanted into Pepper whose Successor in our Fathers Remembrance conveyed it to Moulton of Retherhed vulgarly called Redriff in Surrey in whose Descendants the Inheritance of it does still continue Hunton in the Hundred of Twiford celebrates the Memory of an ancient Family called Lenham who were once Proprietaries of it Nicolas de Lenham obtained a Charter of Free-warren to his Mannour of Hunton in the forty first year of Henry the third but about the Beginning of Edward the third the Interest of it was departed from this Family for William de Lenham determined in Eleanor de Lenham his sole Inheritrix and she by matching with John Gifford wrapt up this and Bensted another little Mannor in this Parish which likewise was parcel of Lenhams Estate in the Demeasne of that Family and he and his Wife paid Releif for Hunton and Bensted in the twentieth year of Edward the third at making the Black Prince Knight But after this it was not long permanent in this Family for about the Beginning of Richard the second it was passed away with Bensted to John Lord Clinton who in the twenty eighth year of Edward the third was found Heir to his Cozen William Clinton Earl of Huntington for that Land which he held Jure proprio nativo not Jure uxoris Julianae de Leybourne in this County And the Effigies of this John and of his Grand child ...... Lord Clinton who paid Relief in the fourth year of Henry the fourth for his Mannor of Hunton at the Marriage of Blanch that Prince's Daughter have escaped the furious Barbarity of these Times and stand yet undemolished in the Church-Windows and from this last did it descend to John Lord Clinton his Successor who about the Beginning of Henry the seventh alienated the Fee-simple to Sir Henry Wiatt one of the Privy Councel to the said Monarch and his Son Sir Thomas Wiatt the elder died seised of it in the thirty fourth year of Henry the eighth and transmitted it with Bensted which his Grand-father likewise bought of the Lord Clinton to his infortunate Son Sir Thomas Wiatt who adhering too strictly to an unhappy Clause in the Testament of Henry the eighth which obliges his Councel not to suffer his Daughters to espouse any Forrainer involved him in that dysastrous Design which could not be expiated but by the Forfeiture of his Life and Estate in which this Mannor of Hunton being concerned it was in the second year of Queen Mary granted to her Atturney General Sir John Baker of Sisinghurst from whom the Title in the Stream of Succession lately glided down to his Heir General Sir John Baker Baronet Son and Heir to Sir John Baker Baronet not many years since deceased Burston is another Mannor in Hunton which is eminent for being the Seat of John de Burston which the Dateless Deeds that relate to this Family from the probable Conjecture of the Hand-writing which is calculated for the Raign of Henry the third record to have lived in that Prince's Time and there was Land likewise about Wye and Crundall that acknowledged the Jurisdiction of this Family for in the forty fifth year of Henry the third Waretius de Valoigns Knight makes a Release of his Title to some Lands in those Parishes to John de Burston and in this Family did this Seat remain for many Descents and was productive of men of no despicable Account in this Track amongst whom William Burston was returned in the twenty ninth year of Henry the sixth by Gervas Clifton then Sheriff inter illos qui portabant Arma Antiqua In the Raign of Henry the eighth Alderman Head of London was resident here and added much both of Building and Magnificence to this Fabrick but certainly it was only as Lessee for I cannot find that he was ever Proprietary of it for about the Beginning of Queen Elizabeth it was sold by Burston to Sir Thomas Vane who upon his Decease gave it to his second Son ...... Vane from whom it descended to his Heir Sir George Vane whose Widdow Dowager the Lady ...... Vane is now in Possession of it Hunton had the Grant of a Market procured to it by Nicolas de Lenham on the Tuesday and a yearly Fair to continue five Dayes the Vigil the Day of the Assumption of our Lady and three Dayes after Pat. 41. Henrici tertii Memb. 7. Hucking in the Hundred of Eyhorne is involved in the Mannor of Hollingbourne and was enstated on the Prior and Convent of Christ-church when that by a munificent Donation
William le Marshall Earl of Pembroke to whom her Father gave with her in Marriage Kemsing Sawters and much other Land in this County but this Mans Successor Anselme le Marshall Earl of Pembroke dying without Issue Robert Bigod Earl of Norfolk by Mawd his Mother the Heir Generall of the Family as being Sister to Gilbert Marshall Earl of Pembroke entered upon the Estate of that Family here at Kemsing and he passed it away to Otho Lord Grandison with the Advowson of the Church of Kemsing in the eleventh year of Edward the first And after this Family was worn out I find the Says to Step into the Inheritance and Geffrey de Say held it at his Death which was in the forty third year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 24. Parte secunda From whom the Propriety flowed down to his Successor Geffrey Lord Say and he concluded in two Daughters and Coheirs whereof Elizabeth one of them was affianced to Sir William Fiennes who in her Right was invested in Kemsing and from him was the Title by Descent transported over to William Lord Fiennes Son of James Lord Fiennes and he in the second year of Edward the fourth passed it away to Sir Geffrey Bolein Great Grand-father to George Viscount Rochford who was beheaded and left no Issue in the Raign of Henry the eighth so that this upon his Father Sir Thomas Boleyn Earl of Wilts departure without any other Issue-male in the thirtieth year of Henry the eighth devolved to that Prince who seised upon it in Right of his Wife the infortunate Anne Bullen who was eldest Sister to the unhappy Viscount And here in the Revenue of the Crown did it lie couched until Queen Elizabeth in the first year of her Raign passed it away by Grant to her Kinsman Henry Cary Lord Hunsdon Son of William Cary Esquire of the Body to Henry the eighth and of Mary his Wife Sister to Q. Anne Mother to the above said Princesse and his Grandchild Henry Earl of Dover alienated his Right in it to Richard Earl of Dorset and he not many years since passed it away to Mr. ...... Smith vulgarly called Dog-Smith who upon his Decease settled the Fee-simple for ever on the Hospital of St. Thomas in Southwarke There was an old Knightly Family which tooke their Sirname from this Parish and was styled Kemsing and their Coat was Argent a Fesse and Cheveron interlaced Sables now quatered by Mr. William Hart of Lullingston Esquire in Right of Peche who married the Heir General Kenardington in the Hundred of Blackborn is by Contraction called Kenarton and although it cannot much boast of the healthful situation thereof yet it hath had Lords and Owners of a very great Estimate Will. de Normannia held it in the Raign of K. John and part of the Raign of Henry the third as appears by the Pipe Rolls which relate to those Times and concern this County Rafe de Normanvill is registred in the list of those Kentish Gentlemen who were with Richard the first at the Seige of Acon in Palestine After him his Son Thomas de Normannia or Normanvill for so he is written in the ancient Rolls succeeded in the Possession of it but died in the eleventh year of Edward the first without Issue-male so that by his only Daughter and Heir it devolved to be the Possession of Sir William de Basing with the Mannor of Cockride likewise which was folded up in her Inheritance and was one of those Knights who accompanied King Edward the first in the twenty eighth year of his Raign in that succesful Expedition which he was ingaged in when he undertook the Conquest of Scotland After him William de Basing held it and was Sheriff of Kent in the eighth year of Edward the second and dying in his Shrievalty Margaret his Widdow accounted for the Profits of the County as the Records of the Pipe Office set forth Sir Thomas de Basing his Son died seised of it in the twenty third year of Edward the third and paid respective Aid for it under the Notion of a whole Knights Fee at making the Black Prince Knight and left it to John his Son a Child of eight years of Age who after was Knighted and died possest of it in the seventh year of Richard the second and left it to Thomas his Son and Heir then eleven years of Age and he had Issue Thomas likewise who dying without Issue John Basing his Uncle was found to be his Heir but was scarce planted in his new acquired Patrimony but he also in the twenty fourth year of Henry the sixth expired without Issue so that the Inheritance devolved to Alice his Sister matched to Thomas Mackworth as the Heir General of the Family And thus were the Basings at this Place extinguished who before they planted in Kent were registred amongst the prime Gentlemen of Middlesex Salomon de Basing was Sheriff of London the last year of King John Adam de Basing was Lord Mayor of London in the thirty sixth year of Henry the third and Robert de Basing succeeded in that Office in the seventh year of Edward the first and Basings-Hall ows both his Name and Foundation to this Family and John Stow in his Survey of London ascribes to them the Degree of Barons of the Realm But to return into that Path from whence this Discourse had diverted me After Mackworth which by Female Devolution was possest of this Mannor was worn out which was about the Beginning of Henry the seventh The Hornes of Hornes-place in this Parish were by Purchase settled in the Inheritance Gentlemen certainly they were of as eminent Account as any in this Territory and had been Proprietaries of this Seat for many Hundreds of years for one Ralph de Hurne of Kenardington was one of the Recognitores magnae Assisae in the Raign of King John Persons who before the Office of Justice of Peace was instituted did supply their Place and were much in Resemblance like the Grand Inquest at this Day being assistant both by their presence and concurrent Counsels to the Justices in Eyre in all the great Decisions which did relate to Causes Criminal emergent à tribus Forisfacturis or the three Forfeitures Murder Felony and Breach of the Peace But to proceed In this Family did the Propriety both of Hernes-place and Kenardington thus purchased of Mackworth lie rolled up together until the twelfth year of Queen Elizabeth and then Bennet Horne the Heir General of both these being matched to ...... Guldford a Romish Catholick he to decline the Oath of Supremacy fled beyond Sea with his Wife upon whose Recesse the Crown seised upon that Estate which had formerly accrewed to him in behalf of his Wife at this place as escheated upon the Statute of praemunire And the above said Princesse immediately after granted the Premises thus forfeited to Walter Moile of Buckwell Esquire Ancestor to Mr. Robert Moile who claims the present Signiory both of Kenardington
of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 59. in right of his Wife Juliana Sole Heir of Roger de Leybourn Lord of Leybourne Castle and she after him likewise was in possession of it at her decease which was in the forty third year of Edw. the third Rot. Esc Num. 47. But this after her departure for want of Heirs either direct or collateral escheating with a wide and opulent patrimony to the Crown it made its aboad there untill Rich. the second in the Beginning of his reign granted it to Sir Simon de Burley Lord Warden of the Cinque-ports and Knight of the Garter who being infortunately attainted in the tenth year of Rich. the second this Mannor by escheat reverts to the Crown and that Monarch in the eleventh year of his reign grants the Custody of Langley Park to William Arch-B of Cant. which his Grand-father K. Edw. the third had in the ninth year of his reign by a special Grant indulged to Will Lord Clinton and Julian his Lady licensed to be inlarged with 200 Acres of Land but the Mannor it self was granted to the Dean and Canons of St. Stephens in Westminster in the twelsth year of his reign as appears by an Inquisition taken at that time Rot. Esc Num. 159. and amply confirmed in the twenty first year of the abovefaid Prince as appears Pat. 1. Memb. 35. Parte tertia and remained folded up in their revenue until the general Suppression in the reign of H. the eighth dislodged the Title and planted it in the Crown and then that Prince by a new Concession made it the demeasn of Leven Buffkin descended from an ancient Family of that Name in Sussex and his Successor in our Fathers memory passed it away to Nat. Powel Esq and he not many years since demised his Interest in it by Sale to Sir Edw. Hales Knight and Batonet from whom it is now descended to his Grandchild Sir Edw. Hales of Tunstall Baronet Brising is another Mannor in Langley worthy the remembrance even in this that it gave Seat and Sirname to a Family of that denomination Sarin de Rising held in the twentieth year of Edw. the third and paid respective Aid for it at making the Black Prince Knight In times of a more modern Character the Astrys were invested in the possession And Jo. Astry held it at his decease as appears by an old Will in the fourth year of Edw. the fourth of this Family was Ralph Astry who was Sheriff of London in the first year of Richard the third and likewise William Astry who dyed seised of it in the thirty fifth year of Henry the eighth but after his Exit the Title was of no longer date in the Tenure of this Family for the Vicissitude of purchase about the Beginning of Edw. the sixth brought it from this Name to own the Signory of Leven Buffkin Esq one of the Justices of the Peace of this County and in his posterity did it reside until those Times which were of our Fathers Cognisance and then it was conveyed by Sale to Powel from whom not many years since the same revolution hath devolved it back into the possession of the instant proprietary Mr. Leven Buffkin Lee in the Hundred of Blackheath in Barbarous old Latine written Laga was the residence of an ancient generous Family called Bankwell and there is a place in this parish called Bankers by Corruption of the Name which in Orthography of more Antiquity and Truth was written Bankwells from whence certainly at first issued this Sirname In the thirty first year of Edward the first John de Bankwell had a Grant by the King's Charter to have Free-Warren to all his Lands in Lee Levesham and Bromley And in the return of John de Shelving High Sheriff of Kent in the sixteenth and part of the seventeenth year of Edward the second of all the Knights and men at Arms in this Connty William de Bankwell is mentioned in the second degree he dyed the twentieth year of Edward the third and left Thomas Bankwell his Heir who in the thirty fifty year of that Prince's Government deceased possest of Lee and a very large proportion of other Land in Modingham Sherfholt now I think corruptly called Shrawfield Littlecroft Bankers both in Lee Bromley Levesham Eltham Chiselhurst Detling Langshot and Wickham by Bromley and left three Sons according to the Custome of Gavelkind Heirs to his Inheritance which were John William and Robert Bankwell but upon the distinguishing the Estate into parcels Lee Bankers and Sherfholt now corruptly called Shrawfield fell to be the patrimony of John Bankwell and in this Mans Lineage did the Inheritance of these places divers years reside till the Name was circumscribed in a Female Heir who being wedded to John Arrapon brought this place to be an adjunct to his Inheritance And here I confess for want of information either from publick or private Record I am at a losse and cannot discover whether by Arrapon it was sold to the Crown and from the Crown transmitted to Woodvill or else immediately passed away by sale to Richard Woodvill Earl River who enjoyed it but upon his Son 's untimely death on a Scaffold at Pomfret being by the malice and subtlety of Richard the third blasted with an Aspersion of Treason that fatal Stroke which separated his Head from his Body divided his Estate here from this Name and Family and united it by Escheat to the Crown In whose Revenue it was resident until King Henry the eighth as is manifest by the original Patent granted it to Sir Thomas Wroteley In times of a more modern Aspect that is about the Beginning of Queen Elizabeth I find it in the Tenure of Thomas Sackvill Lord Buckhurst but how it devolved to him I confesse I know not and from him it descended to his Grandchild Richard Sackvill Earl of Dorset who exchanged it with King James whose Successor King Charls sold the Royaltie and Fee-simple of it to Ralph Freeman Lord Maior of London who gave it in Marriage with his Daughter and Heir to Sir George Sonds of Leeze-Court in Shelvich Knight of the Bath who by a Right derived from that Match is the present Lord of Lee and its two Appendages Bankers and Shrawfield Leeds Town and Castle lies in the Hundred of Eyhorne and were by William the Conquerour in the twentieth year of his Reign as appears by the Text of Dooms-day Book assigned to Hamon de Crevequer whom he had constituted one of the Trustees to assist his Cousin John de Fiennes in the Conservation and Guard of Dover Castle who chose this for the Capital Seat of his Barony of Crevequer or decrepito Corde for so it is rendered in Latin and of Chetham near Rochester for of that place likewise he and his posterity sometimes writ themselves Barons and here erected a stupendous Castle which because it was environed with Water was called the Moat Hamon de Crevequer married Matilda Sole Daughter and Heir of William
Heir it came to be the Possession of Stringer and he ending likewise in a Female Heir she brought it to Scot a Cadet of Scots-Hall who suddenly after sold his Right in it to VVilcocks by whose two Daughters and Coheirs in the Memory of these Times it came to be divided between their two Husbands Bates and Knight The Mannor of Belgar or Belgrave is Situated likewise in Lidde it was given with the Mannor of Bilsington to the Priorie of Bilsington by John Maunsell the Founder of it and was exchanged by the Abbot and Canons for other Lands not long before the Suppression with VVilliam St. Leger by whom it was alienated to VVilliam Middleton and Edward Arthur who after they had been some small time Seated in their new Acquists by jont-consent passed away their Right in it to Sherley of Sussex who in our Fathers Memorie by Sale transferred the Inheritance to Abdy descended from the Abdys of Abdy-House in the Parish of VVaith in Yorke-shire whose Heir both to the Name and Belgar also is Sir Christopher Abdy a person who for his generall Knowledge may be called without the circumstance of Flatterie an Exchequer of humane Learning Scotney was the Seat of a Family so called for in the Book of Aid there is a recitall of one Richard de Scotney who held Lands in the Mersh not far distant afterwards it came to the Ashburnhams of Sussex but whether by Purchase or by Marriage of the Heir of Scotney is incertain though I rather believe it devolved to them by Marriage because Scotney in Lamberhurst divided by a remote distance from this place was likewise theirs from Roger Ashburnham it came to Henry Chichley Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and he by Gift tied it to his Foundation of All-Souls Colledge in Oxford to whose Revenue it remains at this instant time united Nod in this Parish of Lidde was for sundry Ages the Residence of the Derings before they were transplanted to Pluckley and here are Lands Situated within the Verge of this Parish which by an undivided prescription of many Ages have been named Derings and Derings-Mersh a certain Evidence to enforce the Antiquity of this Family But when they grew more delighted with the Situation of Pluckley than this place it was by ........ Dering in the fourth year of Philip and Mary alienated to Mr. Peter Godfrey of Lidde and Surrenden was tyed for his peaceable Possession in it Lastly here is Manerium Summi Altaris so it is written in old Latine Deeds or the Mannor of the high Altar which for many Hundreds of years has been united to the Vicarage But whether it were given to find Vestments for the Priest to Offociate in at the high Altar or for a supply of wax Tapers or for provision of Books to celebrate Mass with or lastly for all these Uses united and complicated together I know not because the original Instrument which fortified the Donation is lost and so both the Use and Doner are become incertain There was a Water in Lidde called Guestling whose Course the Prior of Christ-Church did by an Inquisition taken in the ninth year of Edward the second consult how to alter If you will discover what price was set on Timber in elder times an old Epitaph affixed to a Tomb-stone in Lidde Church will represent it to you The Inscription Recorded in old English speaks thus Of your Charity pray for the Soul of Tho. Briggs who died on the Feast of St. Leonard the Confessor the year of our Lord 1442. and did doe make the Roffe of this Chirch as far as 45. Copplings goeth which did cost 45. Marks Lidden in the Hundreds of Folkstone and Bewsborough was a Mannor which in elder Times made up that vast Patrimony which related to the Knights Templers in this County but upon the totall Extirpation of that Order here in England in the Raign of Edward the second it was by the Statute called Statutum de Terris Templariorum made in the seventeenth year of that Prince's Government settled by that solemne Act upon the Knights Hospitalers and remained treasured up in their Revenue untill the Disbanding and finall Dissipation of this Order in this Nation by Henry the eighth And then being by that Prince rent away it was in the thirty sixth year of the same Prince granted to John Wilde Esq for Life onely and the Remainder in Fee to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and his Successors for ever in whose Patrimony according to the tenour of the original Concession it lay involved untill that popular Tempest which arose in these Calamitous Times shook it off and cast it into a secular Interest Coclescombe and Swinkfield-Mennes were of the same Complexion with the former that is they were first enwrapped in the Demeasne of the Knights Templers and afterwards supplanted and fastned to the Revenue of the Knights Hospitalers to whose Interest it continued firme untill the Whirl-wind of the publique Suppression in the Raign of Henry the eighth ravished them away and then that Prince in the thirty third year of his Raign by Royall Concession made them the Inheritance of Edward Monins Esq from whom by Successive Devolution they are now come down to his Descendant Sir Edward Monins of Waldershare Baronet Swanton-Court is the last Place in this Parish which Summons our Remembrance It was as appears by private Deeds Muniments and other Authentick Testimonies the Seat and Habitation for severall Descents of a Family deeply rooted in this Track whose Sirname was Greenford and it is possible were originally extracted from a Mannor known by that Denomination in Middlesex who after they had flourished by a large Decursion of Time under a fair and unstained Estimate at this place transmitted the Proprietie of this Mansion to John Greenford Esquire in whom this Family found its Tombe and Period for he dying without Issue-male in the eleventh year of Edward the fourth Alice his Sole Daughter became his Heir and She by matching with John Monins Esquire linked this Seat to his Inheritance and to this Family and to his Descendants hath the Title ever since been so constantly wedded that it hath suffered no Divorce but remains at this instant united to the Patrimony of Sir Edw. Monins of Waldershare Baronet Lyminge lies in the Hundred of Court-At-Street and was anciently Famous for Land which was given here by Edbaldus Son of Ethelbert King Kent to his Sister Edburga upon which she erected a Nunnery and Dedicated it to the Honour of St. Mildred But the Mannor which belonged to it was upon the Suppression granted by Henry the eighth to the See of Canterbury and Arch-Bishop Cranmer in the twenty ninth of that Prince's Government exchanged it for other Lands with the Crown and the above-said Henry the eighth in the thirty sixth year of his Raign granted it to Sir Anthony Aucher who after in the Rule of Queen Mary was slain at Callis whilst he endevoured to make good that City and the English Interest
who in so many remarkable and triumphant Conflicts asserted the Interest of this Nation in France in the Raign of the abovesaid Prince and at last received a mortal Wound by a Splinter of a Window struck into his Face by a Cannon shot at the Siege of Orleans of which he died 1428 and left his Estate here to his Natural Son James Montacute * Ex vetustis Autographis penes Rich. Lea Arm. de Rochester so written in the Deed but in all our printed Books of Nobility falsly and corruptly John and he in the thirtieth year of Henry the sixth conveyed it by Deed to Thomas Davy Gentleman and he not many years after alienated it to Edward Nevill Baron of Aburgavenny from whom it was transported by Descent to his Successor Henry Lord Aburgavenny who dying in the twenty ninth year of Q. Elizabeth without Issue Male gave it to his second Brother Sir Edward Nevill from whom it is come down to his Descendant John Lord Aburgavenny the instant Proprietary of it Buckland in this Parish did acknowledge the Bucklands for its Heirs and Possessors who sometimes did inhabit at Preston in Shorham and sometimes at this place which however now obscure and despicable was of Credit when Sir John Buckland paid respective Aid for his Lands at Ludsdown at the making of the Black Prince Knight in the twentieth of Edward the third from Buckland by a Daughter and Heir some few Ages since it came over with Preston in Shorham to Folhill and in that Family is the Title still at this instant resident Lullingston in the Hundred of Axtan was in ancient Records written Lullingston Rosse for Anketellus Rosse held Lands here in the twentieth of William the Conqueror William de Rosse this mans Grand-child as appears by the Pipe Rolls held two Knights Fees in Lullingston in the first year of King John Alexander de Rosse this mans Son was one of the Recognitores magnae Assisae or of the grand Assise about the end of that Prince's Rule but not long after this the Possession of this place was not lincked to this Family for Lora de Rosse Sole Daughter to William de Rosse by matching with William de Peyforer fastned it to the Revenue of that Stock from whence it assumed the Title of Lullingston Peyforer but it quickly deserted both the Title and Possessor for Gregory de Rokesley Lord Maior of London in the seventh year of Edward the first purchased it of the abovesaid William and in the same year obtained a Charter Warren to his Lands at this place In the twentieth year of Edward the third John de Rokesley Son to Walter Rokesley and Grand-child to the before mentioned Gregory paid Aid for the Mannor of Lullingston which held by a whole Knights Fee at the making the Black Prince Knight In the thirty third year of Edward the third Sir John Peche purchased the Mannor of this John de Rokesley this Sir John was Son to Sir John de Peche who was Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Constable of Dover Castle and was called to Parliament among the Barons in the fourth year of Edward the third In the same year he bought Lullingston he obtained a Charter of Free Warren to his Lands there which was renewed and by Confirmation fortified in the thirty fourth and thirty fifth of Edward the third Sir William Peche was his Son and Heir whose Widow the Lady Joane Peche who died seised of this Mannor in the eleventh year of Henry the fourth lies entombed in St. Mary Woolnoth Church in London Sir John Peche was Son and Heir to them both Sir William Peche was Son and Heir to this Sir John who died at Lullingston 1487 and had two Children Sir John Peche Knight and Banneret who died sans Issue which Sir John was a man of exemplary Account being Lord Deputy of Calais and of signal Charity as is evident by his Munificence and Bounty towards the Poor for he founded the Alms-Houses at Lullingston and gave 500 lb. to other Pious Uses to be performed by the Grocers Company in London of which he was Free and Elizabeth marched to John Hart Esquire who in his Wife 's Right upon the Decease of her Brother enter'd into the Possession of the Premisses from whom it is transmitted to William Hart Esquire his great Grand-child who hath the instant Signory and Fee-simple of this Mannor of Lullingston M. M. M. M. MAidstone giveth Name to the whole Hundred wherein it is seated an elegant Town it is whether we consider it in respect of the uniform and regular Building or of the healthful Situation of it spreading it self out partly upon a Hill and partly upon a Valley which are interlaced with a smal River which hath its Original about Leeds and on the other side its Banks are washed with the waters of the Medway from whence it primitively borrowed its Name being in Saxon called Medwegston The Places of most eminence which are circumscribed within the Limits of it are First Buckland which is situated on the opposite Banck of the River upon the Knob or Knoll of an Hill of easie Ascent from whence it takes in a various and delightful Prospect of the adjacent Valley It was anciently part of the Demeasn of the Bucklands but whether it originally gave Seat and Sirname to them or not is not evident because there was another Place which likewise bore this Name at Luddesdowne and which also acknowledged it self to be Parcel of their Proprietie John de Buckland held it at his Death which was in the third year of Edward the third and his Son and Heir was Sir John Buckland who was a Person of remarkable Reputation and Note in this Track for he had Lands about Wouldham Halling Snodland Ludsdowne and Shoreham as well as at this Place After this Name went out the Lords Cobham were Proprietaries of Buckland and in this Family was the Possession guided along by an undivided Clew of several Ages till the infortunate Henry Lord Cobham about the entrance into the Raign of King James being with Sir VValter Raleigh and others entangled in a Design which the then present Power after a serious and solemn Debate adjudged treasonable he could not unravel himself out of it but with the Forfeiture though not of Life yet of Estate but this Mannor before his Attaint being settled upon his Lady Francis Cobham as part of her Jointure upon his Decease was granted by the Crown to her and the Reversion to Robert Cecil Earl of Salisbury in respect he had married Elizabeth Daughter to William Brooke Lord Cobham and Sister to this last Lord Henry and She shortly after by marrying with ....... Fitz Gerald Earl of Kildare settled the present Interest of it in him and He and his Countess being embarked in a mutual and joint consent with the above-mentioned Earl of Salisbury passed away their Right in it about the year One thousand six hundred and eighteen to William
I find that in the seventh year of that King's Raign the said Lord Cobham sold the abovesaid Mannor to Sir Robert Reade then Serjeant at Law but after Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas who concluding in three Daughters and Coheirs Dorothy matched to Sir Edward Wotten of Boughton Malherbe Katharin wedded to Sir Thomas Willoughbie second Son of Christopher Willoughbie Lord Willoughbie of Eresbye and Margaret married to Sir Iohn Harcourt of Elnal in the County of Stafford this Mannor of St. Maries in her right descending to this Family the abovesaid Sir Iohn and the Lady Margaret his Wise did in the thirtieth year of Henry the eighth exchange the said Mannor of St. Mary Hall with Iohn Wiseman Gentleman for the Priory of Ronton in the County of Stafford since which Time the said Mannor hath continued in the Name of Wiseman and is at this instant in the Possession of Sir Thomas Wiseman of Riven Hall in the County of Essex Knight Newland is a Mannor Situated in St. Maries which was as high as can be traced by any Track of Evidence the Inheritance of Somer vulgarly now called Somers Richard le Somer made his Will as appears by the Records of Rochester in the year of Grace 1347 and died seised of this Place Lands in Halstow Higham Leigh and elsewhere and from him did it come down by the Channel of Descent to John Somer who was Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Raign of Henry the sixth who was a great Benefactor to the Priory of Christ-Church in whose Cloister the Armes of this Family remain insculped in Stone as a Memorial of his Beneficence the last of this Family who held this place was Sir William Somer who was thrice employed as publick Embassador to forraign States by Queen Elizabeth and he deceased without Issue Male so that his two Daughters matched to Sir Alexander Temple and Sir James Cromer became his Coheirs but this Mannor of Newland upon the Petition was united to the Demeasn of Temple whose Heir hath lately passed it away to the Treasurers of the Chest for sick and mained Seamen at Chetham Mershham in the Hundred of Chart and Longbridge was given by Siward and Mawde his Wife to the Monks of St. Augustins for support of their Diet which Concession of their's was afterwards confirmed as appears by the Book of Christ-Church by the Royal Authority of Edward the Confessor and so remained wrapped up in the Demeasn of the Church till the Dissolution of that Covent and then it fell into the Revenue of the Crown and King Henry the eighth in the thirty third year of his Raign settled it on the newly erected Dean and Chapter of Canterbury Quatherington in this Parish vulgarly called Quarington was the ancient Residence of the Blechendens till William Blechenden by marriage with Agnes Daughter and Coheir of ....... Godfrey of Aldington became in her Right Master of Simnells in that Parish and so left his Habitation at Mersham to enjoy his new Acquists at Aldington certainly they were very anciently Seated if not at this place yet in this Parish for I have seen the draught of a Pedigree knit together by Clarenceux Cooke wherein they are brought down from Nicholas de Blechenden who flourished here at Mersham in the Raign of Edward the first though I confesse the Evidences of Quarington reach no higher then Will. Blechenden who is made in the Pedigree to be Grandchild to the abovesaid Nicholas and who flourished in the Raign of Richard the second after the Blechendens the Cleggates of Canterbury became in our Grandfathers Memory to be Lords of the Fee but not long after alienated their Right in it to Eastday of Saltwood from whom the like Current of Succession wâ—fted it over to Knatchbull from whom the Right descended to Sir Norton Knatchbull a Person who for his Favour and Love to Learning and Antiquitie in Times when they are both fallen under such Cheapness and Contempt cannot be mentioned without an Epithete equivalent to so just a merit Mepeham in the Hundred of Totingtrough was given to the Monks of Canterbury for their supply of Dyet by Ediva the Queen Mother of the two Kings Edmund and Eadred as appears by the Book of Christ-Church in the year of Grace 861. Upon the suppression of that Fraternitie it increased by its Addition the Revenue of the Crown but it was suddenly after in the twenty ninth year of Henry the eighth restored to the Church and so continued till these infortunate Times chained it to the Patrimony of the See of Canterbury whose Arch-Bishops it seems had a speciall Regard to this place for William Courtney one of them re-builded the Church which by the Onsets of Time was shrunk into Dilapidation and Rubbish and erected likewise some Alms Houses here for the support and maintainance of the poor of this Parish The Mannor of Dodmore lies within the Circuit of Mepeham and was as high as the Beam of any Deed can discover to me the Possession of the noble and Knightly Family of Huntingfield Sir Peter Huntingfield by his Deed sans Date does demise it to his kinsman Walter Huntingfield and he by Deed likewise without any Date affixed to it passed it away to John Smith and he in the forty seventh year of Edward the third conveyed his Right in it by Sale to Richard Ideleigh from whom the Ideleighs of Easture in Chilham and Rollingin at Goodneston in East-Kent originally branched out But here the private Muniments of this place by whose Light I have walked break off so that I must make a Gap in my Intelligence and skip into the Raign of Henry the eighth In the ninth year of whose Government I find by the Court-Rolls of this place one Thomas Cavendish Esq to be possest of it from whom about the second year of Edward the sixth it went away to Henry Taylor afterwards within the Circuit of thirty years it was the Possession of John Giffard then of Walter Powre of Brenchley and after him of Henry Collins who in the year 1604. demised his Interest in it to Walter Kipping Gentleman of Kippings-Cross in Tuydley where they were resident before about five hundred year and now it is made by Dorothy Kipping his Daughter and Coheir part of the Patrimony of my Worthy and Ingenuous Friend Edward Darrell Esquire Dean-Court is likewise Seated within the Verge of Mepeham It was in elder times a Branch of that wide and opulent Estate which was marshal'd under the Signory of Twitham Alan de Twitham is enrolled in the Catalogue of those Kentish Gentlemen who were with Richard the first at the Seige of Acon Bethram de Twitham held it at his Death which was in the third year of Edward the third after Alanus de Twitham died seised of it in the twenty fifth year of the above-said Kings Raign and his Son Theobald de Twitham after him enjoyed it at his Death which was in the fourth year of Richard the second
old German practise is also asserted by Tacitus And that it was customary amongst the Danes Several Urns discovered in Jutland and Sleswick not many years since do easily evince which contained not only Bones but many other Substances in them as Knives peeces of Iron Brass and Wood and one of Norway a Brass guilded Jews-harp When this Custome of Burning of the Dead languished into Disuse is incertain but that it began to vanish upon the Dawning of Christianity as Vapors and Mists scatter before a Morning Sun is without Controversie but when the Light of it did more vigorously reflect like a Meridian Beam on all the gloomy Corners and Recesses of Paganism and Infidelity then this Use of Urn-Burial was wholly superseded and found a Tomb it self in the more sober and severer practise of Christianity And thus much shall be said concerning these Urns digged up at Newington The Mannor of Levenoke in this Parish ought in the last place to be taken Notice of but the Deeds being dispersed into the Hands of those who are Strangers both to this County and my Design I cannot give the Reader that satisfaction in this particular that I aime at Only thus much I can inform him that by an old Court Roll in the Hands of Mr. Staninough of this Parish lately deceased I discovered that in the Raign of Edward the third and Richard the second it was the possession of John Beau Fitz and it is probable by the Heir General of this Name it devolved to Arnold of Rochester and more to fortifie this some ancient Country people at my being there did assure me they had it by Traditional Intelligence from their Predecessors That that Knight purchased it of one Arnold but of that there is no certainty only this is positive that about the latter end of Henry the eighth that Knight enjoyed it and in this Name it remained until almost our Memory and then it was conveyed to Gouldsmith and he alienated it to Barrow whose Descendant having morgaged it to Mr. ...... Alston of London he very lately hath transplanted all his Right by Sale into Mr. ........ Lisle of Middlesex now deceased Nockholt in the Hundred of Ruxley was a Branch which was incorporated into the Revenue of the Lord Say William de Say died possest of it in the twenty third year of Edward the third and from this man was it transmitted to his Grand-child Geffrey Say who concluded in a Sole Daughter and Heir called Elizabeth who was married to William Fiennes Esquire and so in her Right was Nockholt united to the possession of this Noble Family from this man was Richard Fiennes descended who enjoyed this Mannor successively from him and married Joane the Sole Female heir of Thomas Lord Dacre of Hurstmonceaux in Sussex who was extracted from Edward Lord Dacre who was summoned to Parliament by the Title of Lord Dacre of Hurstmonceaux in the Raign of Edward the second and in her Right was this man summoned to Parliament by the Name of Richard Fiennes Lord Dacres in the Government of Henry the sixth And here did both the Barony of Dacre and the Inheritance of Nockholt continue till Gregory Fiennes Lord Dacres deceased in the thirty sixth year of Queen Elizabeth and left by Testament Margaret his Sister matched to Sampson Lennard Esquire he having no Issue Heir to his large possessions amongst which this Mannor was involved from Sampson Lennard who was created Lord Dacres in the second year of King James it is now come down by Successive Inheritance to be the instant Patrimony of his Grand-child Francis Lord Dacres the present Baron of Hurstmonceaux There are two other Mannors in this Parish but of small importance called Brampton and Shelleys-court or at Ockholt both which had Owners who engrafted their own Sirname upon them There is a recital in the Book of Aide of one John de Brampton who held Land at Nockholt and Ditton in the Raign of Edward the first From this Family Brampton came by a Female Heir to be the Inheritance of Petley who about the latter end of Henry the sixth conveyed it to Oliver alias Quintin and hath been for almost two Hundred years as appears by the Evidences now in the Hands of Mr. Robert Oliver of the Grange in the Parish of Leybourn in the Tenure and Possession of that Name and Family Shelleys Court called in the Evidences likewise at Ockholt was as high as the Raign of Edward the third as the originall Deeds now in the Hands of Mr. Rob. Austin of Bexley inform me the Inheritance of Shelley and remained united to the Possession of that Family till the Government of Queen Mary and then by Sale the whole Demise was passed away by Sir John Champneys Lord Maior of London by William Shelley the last of this Name at this place from whom it devolved to his Son Sir Justinian Champneys who left it to his Son Mr. Richard Champneys Esquire and he almost in the Remembrance of that Age we live in alienated his Concernment in it to the present Possessor Mr. Gooday of Suffolk Nonington in the Hundred of Wingham and Eastry hath diverse places in it of considerable Repute The first is Fredville called in old Deeds Froidville from its bleak and eminent Situation Times of an elder Inscription represent it to have been the Possession of Colkin vulgarly called Cokin who it is probable erected the ancient Fabrick and brought it into the Shape and Order of an Habitation this Family was originally extracted from Canterbury where they had a Lane which bore their Name being called Colkins Lane and likewise had the Inheritance or Propriety of Worth-gate in that City William Colkin founded an Hospital neer Eastbridge which celebrated his Name to Posterity and was called Colkin's Hospital he flourished in the Time of K. John and was a liberal Benefactor to the Hospitals of St. Nicholas St. Katharine and St. Thomas of Eastbridge in Canterbury as is recorded by Mr. William Somner in his Survey of that City Page 116. But to proceed John Colkin dyed possest of Fredvill the tenth of Edward the third and in his Posterity was the Title resident untill the latter end of Richard the second and then it was conveyed to Thomas Charleton and he by a Fine levyed the second of Henry the second transplants his Interest into John Quadring in whose Name it made its aboad untill Joan Quadring the Heir General of Thomas Quadring this man's Successor carried the Title along with her to her Husband Richard Dryland and he about the latter end of Edward the fourth alienated it to John Nethersole who by Fine levyed in the second year of Richard the third conveyed it to William Bois Esquire descended from I. de Bosco or de Bois so written in some old Copies of the Battle Abby Roll and in others R. de Bosco or de Bois who entered into England with William the Conquerour which William had Issue Thomas Bois who dying in the
Demeasne where it continued couched till Queen Elizabeth first granted it in Lease for Life to her Foster-brother Saunders so he was styled because his Mother had been her Nurse upon whose Decease it reverts to the Crown and King James upon his first Ascending the English Throne granted the Demeasne to Sir Edwin Sandys The Mannor was sold the 1630. to Mr. Edw. Bois Father to Jo. Bois of Betshanger Esq a Person who had performed some exemplary Service for him upon his first admission to the Scepter of this Nation which obliged him to this Concession from whom it is now by Descent transferred to his Grand-child Son to Colonel Sandys who in the late intestine Contests between the King and his two Houses received a mortal wound in a vigorous encounter betwixt him and Prince Rupert at Worcester of which some time after he languished away and deceased There was when Leland made his Survey of Kent which was in the Raign of Henry the eighth the Reliques of an old Stone-house which the Tradition of that Age did affirm to have been the Pallace of the above mentioned Eadbald And there was not many years before the same Author made this perambulation as he in the same Manuscript does assert a Wall broken down by which Hole or Inlet was discovered a little Cell or Chamber into which it opened where were found the Fragmentary Remains of two Children who had in that gloomy Repository been as was then conjectured for many preceding Ages been mured up and which did improve the wonder in one of these obsolete Skeletons was descried a stiff Pin of Latine Tikenhurst in this Parish now by Corruption of the first Etymology called Ticknes in elder Times was the Revenue of a Family known by that Sirname some of whom are Witnesses to Deeds of a very high Date now in the Hands of Mr. Richard Fogge of Dane-court in Tilmanston After this Family which had left its Name ingrafted upon this place was worn out which was before the Raign of Henry the sixth Little Mongcham was given by King Edbert under the Notion of 6 Ploughed Lands to the Abby of St. Austins the Stoddards from whom the Stoddards of Modingham near Eltham were originally extracted became Possessors of the Fee and in the Patrimony of this Family was the Title of this Place for several Generations involved till in our Grand-fathers Memory it was by Sale transplanted into the Propriety of Peyton of Knowlton so that it is in Right of that Purchase now incorporated into the Income of Sir Thomas Peyton Baronet who is the present Lord of the Fee Northfleet was alwaies a Branch of that Revenue which fell under the Spiritual Signory of Christ-church By the Pages of Doomes-day Book we may take a brief Prospect of what it was in the Time of the Conqueror Northfleet saies that Record in T. E. R. se defendebat pro VI. Sullingis nunc pro V. est manerium appretiatum XX. VII lb. That is Northfleet in the Time of Edward the Confessor did defend it self for six Sullings or Ploughed Lands but now that is in the Time of William the Conqueror only for five and upon the appraisment was rated at twenty seven pound and thus did it continue riveted by the Charters of several Princes which had confirmed the Patrimony of Christ-church in Canterbury into the Estate of the Church till that Whitlwind which arose in the Time of Henry the eighth threw it into the common Dissolution and then by publique Authority it was united to the Revenue of the Crown and there was fixed till the year One thousand six hundred and eight and then the Title was torn off Ifeild Well Cosington and Shinglewell are four small Mannors which are circumscribed within the Limits of this Parish They were in Ages of a more venerable Aspect the Patrimony of Hever of Hever William de Hever had a Charter of Free-warren granted to his Lands at Ifield and Shinglewell and other Lands in Northfleet in the ninth year of Edward the first which was renued to Thomas de Hever in the fourth year of Edward the third but he left no Heits male to enjoy this priviledge for he and his Name expired in Females whereof Joan one of his Coheirs was espoused to Reginald Cobham who was summoned to Parliament by Writt as Baron of Sterborough in the twenty second year of Edward the third and the other was matched to Iohn Brocas but his Estate at these above-mentioned places was upon the Partition annexed to the Patrimony of the Lord Cobham from which Family about the raign of Henry the fourth it came over to Iohn Rykeld who with his Son William Rykeld lyes entombed in Northfleet Church but it seems this last mentioned William deceased without Issue-male for Rose his Sole Daughter and Heir was married to Edward Limsey descended from Ralph de Limsey who held the Mannor of Budbrook in Warwickshire the twentieth of William the Conquerour as is testified by Dooms-day Bookâ— and this Man had Issue Iohn Limsey to whom Ifield Shinglewell and the other two places in right of his Mother did successively devolve But it seems the Title of Wells Cosington and Ifield did not long dwell in Iohn Limsey for in the first year of Richard the third he alienated them to Iohn Young from which Family in the middle of the raign of H. the eighth they came back again to acknowledge the Signiory of Limsey in whom again the Possession was as transitory as formerly for before the latter end of H. eighth they were conveyed to Rainsford from whom about the Beginning of Queen Elizabeth they were by Sale passed away to Alderman Garret of London and in this Family was the Inheritance lodged untill allmost those Times which fell under the Cognisance of our Remembrance and then they were disposed of by Sale to Child Derndale is another ancient Seat in Northfleet which in old Evidences some of which are not bounded with any date is styled Derendale as having in elder Times as it appears by old Deeds Possessors of that Name and when they had deserted the Possession which was before the latter end of Edward the third it became the Inheritance of William Wangford whose Son William Wangford was Serjeant at Law and a great Benefactor to Rochester Bridge and he being his Heir to this place in the fifteenth year of Henry the sixth passed it away to John and William Flucke from whom suddenly after it came over by purchase to Iohn Rouse descended from William Rouse of Birling whose Son Iohn Rouse demised Land in Northfleet as appears by an old Deed to Iohn Rouse in the thirty third year of Edward the third and this above-mentioned Iohn Rouse in the tenth year of Edward the fourth demised his Right in this place to Thomas Wombwell and Iohn Clifton Esquire and this Iohn Clifton dying without Issue in the year 1471 bequeaths his Interest in it by Will to Thomas VVombwell and
of Henry the third at the marriage of Isabell that Prince's Sister and it is probable that this VVill. de Valoigns dyed possest of Otham in the tenth year of Edward the first for his Name was VVilliam likewise as appears by the escheat Roll marked with the Number 54. after whom his Successor Stephen de Valoigns held it who was certainly a man of some important Account in those Times for he was one of the Conservators of the Peace in the raign of Edward the third After Valoigns the knightly Family of Pimpe was by purchase invested about the latter end of Richard the second both in the Possession of Otham and Gore-court and to this Name was the Inheritance both of Otham and Gore-court by a Chain of severall Descents successively united till at last the ordinary Devolution of purchase brought them over to Isley of Sundrich and within the Circle of this Family was the Propriety of them circumscribed till the second year of Queen Mary and then Sir Hen. Isley being fatally engaged and entangled in the unsuccessefull Attempt of Sir Thomas Wiatt could not unravell himself untill he had satisfied the Justice of that Queen with the forfeiture of his Life and augmented the Revenue of the Crown with the Confiscation of his Estate from which these two places as being parcell of his escheated Patrimony were by Patent soon after passed away to Sir Walter Henley one of the Serjeants at Law to the abovesaid Queen Mary who dying without Issue-male bequeathed Gore-court to Hellen his Daughter and Coheir who was matched to Thomas Colepeper and Otham to his Brother Thomas Henley from whom it is come down to Walter Henley Esquire who is the present Lord of the Fee but Gore-court was by Colepeper demised by Sale to Buffkin where after the Possession had for severall years been fixed it was almost within the Pale of our Remembrance by purchase made the present Inheritance of Tho. Floyd Esquire Stoneacre in this Parish is an Ancient Seat which for some Centuries of years has acknowledged no other Proprietary then Ellys but whether Burton in Kenington or this Mansion were the original Fountain from whence this Family did extract its first Etymology is incertain for once they had one and the same Possessor The Deeds that fortifie their Interest in this place reach as high as the Time of Edward the second and instruct us that Ellis which enjoyes it now is by a stream of many unintercepted Descents issued out from John Ellis who possest it then There was the Foundation of a Religious Seminary of Canons Praemonstratenses or white Canons begun at Otham by Ralph de Dene but the Situation of the Place being not accommodated to Health they were by Ela de Sackvil removed and transplanted into her new erected Priory at Begham where till the common Suppression they continued undisturbed and fixed Otteringdon in the Hundred of Eyhorne does represent to us in Prospect the Memory of a Family to whom it contributed in Times more Arcient both Seat and Sirname Ralph de Ottringden held it at his Decease which was in the fifteenth year of Edward the first Rot. Esc Num. 29. But in his Son Sir Lawrence de Ottringden both the Name and Male Line failed together for his Daughter and Heir brought it along with her to Peyforer who about the latter end of the raign of Edward the third was extinguished likewise by the same Fatality in Julian Peyforer who was his Heir General and she by espousing Thomas St. Leger Esquire intermixed the Right of this place with the Inheritance of this Family and who lies entombed in this Church with this Compendious Superscription endorsed upon his Grave-stone Hic jacet Thomas St. Leger de Otteringden qui obiit 1408. But a Revolution as suddain as the former quickly snatched away Otteringden from the Patrimony of this Name for by Joan who was Co-heir to the above-mentioned Thomas St. Leger it was rowled into the Revenue of Henry Aucher Esquire sprouted out from the Illustrious Stem of Aucher of Losenham and in this Family was the Interest of this place successively laid up till the Time of Queen Elizabeth and then the whole Demise was by Sale transmitted to Lewin in whom a Descent or two after the Male-Line determining the Female Heir brought it to Rogers of the West from whom the like Fatality hath lately devolved it to Charles Lord Mansfeld eldest Son to the Right Honorable William Cavendish Marquess of Newcastle Putwood is another Mannor in this Parish which in Times of elder Etymology did acknowlede it self to be under the Signory of a Family who extracted their Sirname from Vienne in Dauphine in France and in several Deeds without Date there is mention of William de Vienna who was invested in Land here at Putwood and Ospringe and in the twentieth year of Edward the third Lucas de Vienna paid respective Supply at the making the Black Prince Knight for Lands which he held at Putwood and Ospringe After this Family was dissolved and gone the Quadrings which was about the beginning of Richard the second were settled in the possession where after some small Residence of the Title it went away by Sale about the latter end of Henry the fourth to the Ancient Family of Goldwell of great Chart and here after it had made some cursory aboad the same Devolution cast it into the Inheritance of Dryland of Cokes-ditch in Feversham to whose possession after the Title had for many years cleaved it was transported by purchase into the Patrimony of Atwater so styled because it is probable this Family had formerly their Residence near some Fountain or Stream but their Original from whence they primitively issued was from about Ospringe for there I find Robert Atwater possest Land at his Death which was in the fifth year of Edward the third and in this Name did the Title of the place lie couched until the latter end of Henry the eighth and then by Sale it was incorporated into the Revenue of Sir James Hales but long it remained not thus mingled for the Fate of purchase untwisted it and not many years after threw it into the Possession of Sayer from whom in Times which almost bordered upon our Memory it was by Sale wafted over to Mr. James Hugison of Dover and he bequeathed it to a second Son whose Female Heir Mrs. Jane Hugison by lately matching with Mr. John Roberts Esquire eldest Son to Sir John Roberts of Canterbury hath entituled him to the Propriety of it Herst in this Parish was the Ancient Demeasne of Filmer and here were they seated until by matching with the Heir of Argall they were transplanted to East Sutton I have seen an old Court-roll relating to the Mannor of Monkton in this Parish which by the Antiquity of it seemed to commence from the raign of Edward the second although the Date which stood in the Front by the in urious Hand of Time was almost expunged and so hardly
and by Sale transmitts it to John Mew and from him about the latter end of Henry the fourth both these Mannors with all their Appendages were passed away to Iohn Tutsham and Nicholas Remkin of Eastmere but he determined in Alize Remkin his Sole Inheritrix who by matching with Thomas Rolfe of Tunbridge brought her Interest in Albans and Black-pits to be the Inheritance of that Family but long the Right of both these places continued neither in Rolfe nor Tutsham for about the beginning of Henry the sixth they were alienated by Sale to Thomas Stidulfe of Badsell Esquire and he by Deed bearing date 1463 that is about the third year of Edward the fourth settles them on his two Sons Robert and Henry Stidulfe and in the Deed there is a remembrance that they were purchased of Rolfe and Tutsham From Robert they descended to his Son Thomas Stidulfe who was Heir both to his Father and his Uncle but he concluded in a Daughter and Heir who was matched about the latter end of Henry the eighth to Richard Vane Ancestor to the right honorable Mildmay Fane now Earl of Westmerland who in Right of this Alliance now enjoys Black-pits but Albans was by Henry Vane Successor to the above-mentioned Richard in the year 1589 passed away to Roger Twisden of Roydon-Hall Esquire Grand Father to the instant Proprietary Sir Roger Twisden Knight and Baronet Eastmere is another Mannor in East-Peckham which acknowledged a Family called Remkin anciently to be its Possessors John Remkin was Father of Christian Remkin who held it as appears by an ancient Court-roll in the thirty fourth year of Edward the third and from him did it by paternal Vicissitude devolve to Nicholas Remkin in whom the male-line failed so that Alice his Sole Daughter became the visible Heir to his Estate and she by matching with Thomas Rolfe of Tunbridge knit this and other Land here at Great Peckham to his Patrimony but it did not long thus continue united for John Rolfe his Son in the sixth year of Henry the sixth conveys it to Richard Ruyton and he in the eighth year of the abovesaid Prince alienated it to William Hextall but he deceasing without Issue-male Margaret his Sole Daughter by her Inter-marriage with William Whetenhall originally descended from the ancient Family of Whetenhall of Whetenhall in Cheshire cast it into the Possession of that Name from whom it is now descended to my worthy Friend Thomas Whetenhall of Hextall Court Esquire Spilfted is a fourth Mannor in this Parish It was the Inheritance for diverse Ages as appears by the Evidences now in the Custody of Sir Roger Twisden of an ancient Family called Cayser the last of which Name who enjoyed this place was John Cayser who went out in Daughters and Coheirs one of which was wedded to Matthew Chetwind to whom this place upon the Separation of the Estate into parcells in his Wifes Right accrued and he after some small residence in the Possession passed away his Right by Sale in the one and fortieth year of Queen Eliz. to Roger Twisden Esq Grand-father to Sir Roger Twisden Knight and Baronet the instant Lord of the Fee a Person upon whom I need drop no other Character when I say that in these times when there is such a Damp and Astonishment by publick blastings and discouragements cast upon Literature He is both a Gentleman and a Scholler Here is likewise a Seat in Peckham very venerable for its Antiquity which in old Rolls is called Hextall Court and was the Mansion of Gentlemen of principal Account in this Track In a Deed without Date Simon de Hougham does demise certain pieces of Land to John de Hextall which lay within the Limits of the Parish of Hougham where anciently this Family enjoyed no contemptible Possessions as well as at East-Peckham The last of this Name at this place was William Hextall who dyed without Issue-male and left Margaret his only Heir who was matched to William Whetenhall Esquire in the raign of Henry the seventh descended from the ancient and illustrious Family of Whetenhall of Whetenhall in the County of Chester and so it was incorporated into the Income of that Family where it hath ever since remained so that it is now the present Inheritance of Thomas Whetenhall Esquire West-Peckham or Little Peckham in the Hundreds of Twyford and Littlefield was annexed to the Demeasne of the Knights Templars when John Colepeper founded a Praeceptory here for them in the year of our Lord 1 .... which upon the finall Extirpation and Dissolution of their Order here in England in the second year of Edward the second was granted to the Knights Hospitallers and was sometimes called a Praeceptory and sometimes a Commandry Now a Praeceptory was a Benefice in Kind and was termed so because this and all others of the same Capacity were possest by the more eminent sort of Templars whom the Chief Master created and called Praeceptores Templi A Commandry was some principal Mannor of the Knights Hospitallers wherein was placed some Brother of the Order who could not dispose of the Profits of it but was to mannage it only to the Use of the whole Fraternity deducting so much of the Revenue as might support his Livelyhood and Subsistence of which see more in Dr. Cowells Interpreter in his Notes and Comment upon the word Commaundry This upon the Suppression was by Henry the eighth in the thirty second year of his raign granted to Sir Robert Southwell afterwards of the Privy Councell to King Edward the sixth and Queen Mary who not long after alienated it to Sir Edmund Walsingham of Scadbery Lieutenant of the Tower from whom it came down by Descent to my Noble Friend Sir Thomas Walsingham his Great Grand-child who not long since passed it over by Sale to his Son in Law Mr. James Masters Oxenheath is an ancient Mannor in West-Peckham and was many Ages past the Demeasn of Colepeper Walter Colepeper dyed seised of it in the first year of Ed. the third Rot. Esc Num. And from him by Successive Transmission threaded together by many Descents did it devolve to ...... Colepeper who determined towards the latter end of Henry the seventh in three Daughters and Coheirs Margaret the eldest was matched to William Cotton of the County of Cambridge Joyce the second was wedded to Edmund Howard a younger Son of Thomas Duke of Norfolke who was Father to Katharine Howard one of the infortunate Wives of Henry the eighth and the third was espoused to Barham of Barham-court in Teston and these three Sisters shared his Inheritance and this upon the Partition was annexed to the Demeasn of Cotton whose Successor passed it away by Sale to Chowne of Faire-lane in which Name it did not long continue for Sir George Chowne in our Fathers Memory being desirous to abridge and contract all his Estate into the County of Sussex alienated this Seat to Nicholas Miller Esquire who upon his Decease bequeathed it to his
hold in Knights Service of him and his Successors which was very usual and customary for the Arch-bishops and other great Prelates to do until King Edward the first growing jealous of the Power and Grandeur of the Clergie who endeavoured by their Bounty and magnificent Donations to oblige both the principal of the Nobility and Gentry and chain them up by these extraordinary Engagements to their Devotion caused the Statute called Quia emptores Terrarum in the one and twentieth of his raign to be made which restrains and supersedes for the future all new Creations of Mannors But to proceed VVilliam de Cobham being thus enstated in this Mannor in Gratitude to the first Donor altered his Name from Cobham to Pluckley Sir Richard de Pluckley this mans Grandchild flourished in the raign of King Stephen and Henry the second and founded the Church at Pluckley and from this man did VVilliam de Pluckley lineally branch out in whom the Male-Line concluded so that Agnes his Daughter and Heir by matching with John Surrenden Esquire cast Pluckley into the Possession of that Name and Family where it had not long sojourned when the same Vicissitude brought it over to Haut for James Haut wedded Joan Heir General of John Surrenden and so became Possessor of Pluckley but in this Name the Title was as volatile and mutable as in the former for this man went out in Daughters and Co-heirs one of them was wedded to Gouldwell and Christian the other was matched to John Dering Esquire in whose Right he was entituled to the Signory of Pluckley Now if you will inquire where lay the ancient Land of Dering if my Assertion might be credited I should affirm that it was at Stamford by Hieth where they were Lords of some part of the little Mannot of Heyton for by an old Roll I find that Normanus de Morinis married Kineburga Daughter and Heir of Deringus and his Son as was Customary in those Times called himself Deringus de Morinis and matched with Elveva Sister and Heir of Alanus de Heyton and so was invested in the Propriety of the Mannor of Heyton from whom it successively came down to Richard Fitz Dering who was Son of Dering and great Grand-child to this man who was the first who deserted the Sirname de Morinis and assumed that of Dering and died possest of the Mannor of Heyton in the forty second year of Henry the third And from this Richard Fitz Dering is Sir Edward Dering Baronet now lineally extracted who is the instant Lord of Pluckley and Surrenden Dering where Sir Edward Dering Knight and Baronet not many years since deceased raised that elegant Structure as eminent for its Magnificence and Beauty as it is for its Contrivance and Curiosity Pevington was formerly a Parish and had a Church dedicated to St. Mary though it be now languished into Dis-use and grown an adjunct to Pluckley The Patrons as well as Proprietaries of it were the Pevingtons a Knightly Family who borrowed their Sirname from hence The first whom I meet with is Sir Ralph de Pevington who flourished here in the raign of King John and King Henry the third and was Father to Sir William de Pevington who likewise died possest of this Mannor in the fifty fourth year of Henry the third from whom descended John and William Pevington who dying without Issue in the seventh year of Henry the fourth Amabilia their Sister matched to John Gobion became their Heir and she lies buried in the Church of Austin-Friars at Canterbury and is mentioned to have been a liberal Benefactresse to that Cloister about the Time of her Decease which was 1405. and had Issue by him Julian their only Daughter who was about the twenty seventh year of Henry the sixth matched to William Brent from whom descended Thomas Brent in whom the Name and Male-Line together was extinguished so that Margaret Brent matched to John Dering was the visible Heir of his Estate amongst which this Mannor of Pevington was enwrapped which came down in Right of this Alliance to Sir Edward Dering Knight and Baronet who upon his Decease gave it after the Death of his Mother the Widow Dowager of Sir Anthony Dering to Mr. Henry Dering the eldest Son by his last Lady Malmains in Pluckley was the Inheritance of a Family of that Sirname Eleanor Wife of John de Malmins died seised of it in the fourteenth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 51. And after by Court-rols I discover Henry Malmains to be possest of it from whom it descended to Richard Malmains who died as the Date upon his Tomb-stone in Plukley Church discovers to us in the year 1440. and left John Malmains his Heir after whom I descry no farther mention of this Family at this place The next Family which succeeded in the Inheritance was Dering not by any Right derived from Haut for they had espoused the Heir of that Name before Malmains was extinguished nor could it be by any Female Heir atchieved for there were but two Co-heirs of this Branch of Malmains who were wedded to Monins and Gouldwell And if it be answered that Dering married the Heir of the eldest House To that I answer that Nicholas Malmains who was of the elder Line deceased in the twentieth year of Edward the first Rot. Esc Num. 15. and left only a Daughter and Heir who was matched to William de Grandison so that it is evident by the Premises that this Mannor of Malmains devolved to Dering the instant Proprietary not by any match of Haut or of this Family it self by any Female Heir or Coheir of Malmains but by Purchase only Shurland is the last place of Account It hath been the Patrimony of Betenham of Betenham in Cranbroke for many Hundred years Stephen de Betenham is mentioned in Court-rols which take their Rise or Date from the Government of Hen the third and certainly this is that Stephen de Betenham which is mentioned to be one of the Recognitores Magnae Assisae an Office of very great Importance in elder Times in those Pipe-rols which relate to the raign of King John and from this Stephen hath the Title of this place by a constant and even Chain of Ages threaded together into an unbroken Succession come down to Mr. Betenham who holds the present Signory and Possession of it Plumsted in the Hundred of Lesnes was in the year of Grace 960. given by King Edgar to the Abbot and Convent of St. Augustins in Canterbury as Thorne their Chronicler testifies under the Notion of four ploughed Lands which afterwards Godwin Earl of Kent violently tore from their Patrimony and setled upon his Son Tostius but it was restored to that Seminary by William the Conqueror and remained fastned to their Revenue until the rough hand of Henry the eighth by a publick suppression unlinked it and then it was by that Prince in the thirty sixth year of his raign granted to Sir Edward Boughton of
Patent conveyed in the thirteenth of Richard the third to John Brockman In Times of a lower step that is in the reign of Henry the eighth I find it in the Possession of John Newland but whether by Purchase from Brockman or not for want of Intelligence I cannot discover And in this Family the Propriety continued until the latter end of Queen Elizabeth and then it was conveyed to Sir George Perkins from whom almost in our Memory the same Mutation brought it to confess the instant possession of Mr. ...... Aldridge of Tilers near Reding Rucking in the Hundred of Hamme in Ancient Records written Roking was by the Piety and Charitable Munificence of King Offa in the year seven hundred eighty and one given to the Prior and Monks of Christ-church and was in the Original Donation granted ad Pascua Porcorum for the Pasture of their Hoggs and it continued clasped up in their Revenue until the Tempest of the general Dissolution arose and overtook it for there being a Surrender of the Revenue of this Covent into the Hands of Henry the eighth in the thirty third year of his reign he united it to the Dean and Chapiter of Christ-church which he shortly after established and moulded out of their Ruines and here it continued until a late Storm arose again and tore it off Barbedinden is another eminent Mannor within the Boundaries of this Parish which had in Ages of a more Ancient Inscription Proprietaries of the same Denomination William de Barbodinden held it at his Death which was in the ninth of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 3. And left it to his Son and Heir John de Barbodinden who in the twentieth year of Edward the third as appears by the Book of Aid paid an Auxiliary supply for it at making the Black Prince Knight After this Family was extinguished Robert Belknap the Judge succeeded in the Possession of it and I do not find that though the Crown upon his Attaint seised upon much of his Estate that ever his Interest here was ravished away from him for he was in Possession of this place at his Death which was in the second year of Henry the fourth and disposed it by Will to his Son John Belknap who about the Beginning of Henry the sixth alienates it to Engham amongst whose Demeasne the Propriety of this Mannor had not many years dwelt but the Title was by Sale supplanted and cast into the Possession of Sir Matthew Brown Knight and his Son Thomas Brown Esquire in the last year of Edward the sixth passed it away by Sale to Anthony Lovelace Esquire Ancestor to Richard Lovelace who some few years since alienated his entire Concernment in it to the late Possessor Mr. Richard Hulse descended from the ancient Family of Hulse of the Borough of Hulse lying within Namptwich in the County of Chester S. S. S. S. SAltwood in the Hundred of Hene hath an open Prospect into the Ocean which flowed up much nearer then now it doth and imparted its Nature to its Name for in Latin it is written de Bosco Salso The Arch-bishops of Canterbury had here formerly a magnificent Castle which Time hath much dismantled and a Park well stored with Deere now vanished and gon Many Mannors in this Track are held of it by Knights Service which justly made it to be counted and called an Honour It was granted to the Church in the year 1096 by one Halden who for Grandeur and opulency was reckoned one of the Princes of England The Value and extent of it are more particularly set forth in the Records of the Church of Canterbury in the Conquerour's Time and they speak thus In Limwarlaed in Hundred de Hede habet Hugo de Montfort de Terra Mouachorum I Manerium Saltwode de Archiepiscopo Comes Godwinus tenuit illud tunc se defendebat pro VII Sullings That was Godwin Earl of Kent who by a possessory right held many Towns along this Coast nunc sunt V. tamen non Scottent nisi pro III. Et in Burgo de Hede sunt CC. XXV Burgenses qui pertinent huic Manerio de quibus non habet Hugo nisi III. Forisfacta for it lies in the Franchise of the five Ports and the King was to have their Serice est appretiatum XXVIII lb. IIII. This was Hugh Montfort who was one of those powerfull Men which entered England with William the Conquerour In the Time of K. Henry the second Henry de Essex Baron of Ralegh in that County Lord Warden of the Cinque-ports pro Tempore and the King's Standard-bearer in right of Inheritance held this Castle of the Arch-bishop who having in a leight Skirmish against the Welsh in Flintshire not only cast away his Courage but his Standard also was appealed of high Treason and in a legal Duell or Combate vanquished by his Challenger and being possest with regret and shame contracted from this Defeat shrouded himself in a Cloister and put on a Monks Cowle forfeiting a goodly Patrimony and Lively-hood which escheated to King Henry the second But Thomas Beckett acquainting the King that this Mannor belonged to his Church and Sea that Prince being beyond the Seas directed a Writt to K. Henry his Son the Draught of which is represented to us by Matthew Paris whither I referre the Reader for Restitution But in regard of new emergent Contests between King Henry the second and that insolent Prelate it was not restored unto the Church untill the Time of Richard the second The Castle was magnificently inlarged and repaired by William Courtney Archbishop of Canterbury in the Time of Richard the second as his Will doth declare and his Arms in Stone-work eminently demonstrate and remained after his Decease annexed to the Archiepiscopal Revenue untill Thomas Cranmer in the twenty ninth of Henry the eighth exchanged it with that Prince And his Son King Edward the sixth in the fourth year of his Raign granted it to Edward Lorâ— Clinton who not long after conveyed it to Mr. Henry Herdson whose Grandchild Mr. Francis Herdson passed it away about the latter end of Queen Elizabeth to Robert Cranmer Esquire by whose Daughter and Heir Ann Cranmer it devolved to Sir Arthur Harris of Crixey in Essex whose Son Sir Cranmer Harris not many years since alienated it to Sir William Boteler Father to Sir Oliver Boteler Baronet the instant Lord of the Fee There is an old vast Mansion House of Stone at Brochull in this Parish on the side of a Steep Hill which was the Seat and ancient Residence of a Family as eminent for Antiquity as any in this Track and extracted their Sirname from hence and were called Brochull who flourished here in Knights Degree and in some Parliaments in the Time of Edw. the third and Edw. the fourth sate there as Knights of the Shire Margaret the Wife of William builded or caused to be built an Isle on the Northside the Parish Church You may rove at the Time by
Inheritance of that Family and rested there until the first year of Henry the eighth and then it was passed away by Sale from Sir John Fogg Knight to Ralph Banister In Times of a lower Descent that is about the beginning of Queen Elizabeth I find it by Court-rols possest by Tucker who about the latter end of that Princess alienated his Concernment in it to Smith who in our Fathers Remembrance transplanted the Title by Sale into Doctour Fotherbie Dean of Cantorbury whose Son Mr. Charles Fotherbie continues now Proprietary of it Secondly Grove-place offers it self up to our Notice as being the Habitation of a Knightly Family called Grove who in old Deeds are sometimes written at Grove and sealed as appears by the Labells-affixed to their Evidences with three Escollops upon a Cheveron In the reign of Henry the sixth I find it devolved by Descent to Sir John Grove who was a great Benefactor to the Church of St. Peters in Sandwich where he lies buried with the Arms above-mentioned upon his Shield but not long after this Family determined in a Daughter and Heir who linked this Seat to the Inheritance of St. Nicholas who about the latter end of Edward the fourth conveyed it to Quilter in which Name it was resident until the latter end of Henry the eighth and then it was passed away to Linch and hath remained ever since incorporated into the Revenue of that Family so that at present it is come down to Mr. John Linch a Noble Confessor for the Interest of the Church and Protestant Religion There is a Family in this Parish called Omer which as appears by old Court-rols Tombs Deeds and other Evidences have been constantly resident almost four Hundred years Seasalter in the Hundred of Whitstaple did belong to the Priory of Christ-church but by whom it was given the Records of that Covent are silent only I find that it was part of that Revenue which supported their Diet and Table and likewise I discover that Pope Gregory the ninth in the tenth year of his Papacy by his Bull appropriated the Parsonage to the Priory above-mentioned and likewise was granted for the better improving their Lively-hood and Subsistence If you will see under what Notion it passed in the twentieth year of William the Conqueror Doomesday Book will inform you that it was valued upon the Terrier at two Carucats of Land and upon the Appraisment was rated at five pound This Mannor upon the Resignation of that Estate which related to the Convent abovesaid into the Hands of Henry the eighth was setled by that Prince on the newly erected Dean and Chapiter of Christ-church and there it remained until these calamitous Times Ellenden in this Parish belonged to the Abby of Feversham and was as the Lieger Book of that Covent informs me given to the Monks of that Cloister by John Ellenden and here it was incorporated and fixed until the publick Dissolution unhinged and unrooted it and planted it in the Crown and afterwards King Henry the eighth in the thirty fifth year of his Government granted it to Mr. Thomas Arden miserably afterwards assassinated by his Wife at Feversham and he the same year conveyed it to John Nedeham from whom it came over to his Son and Heir John Nedeham Gentleman and he in the thirty second year of Queen Elizabeth alienated it to Mr. Michael Beresford of Westerham who not long after passed it away to Sir George Newman Doctour of the Civil Law and Knighted in the sixteenth year of King James and from him by successive Right it is now descended to his Son and Heir George Newman of Rochester Esquire Seale in the Hundred of Codsheath was a Mannor which belonged to the Crown until the first year of King John and then it was passed away by Grant to Baldwin de Betun Earl of Albemard and Hawis his Daughter and Heir by matching with William Mareschall Earl of Pembroke incorporated it into his Demeasne but Gilbert Mareschall this mans Successor deceasing without Issue Roger de Bigod Earl of Norfolk in Right of Mawde his Mother who was Sister and Heir General to the abovesaid Gilbert was setled in the possession of this Mannor and he in the eleventh year of Edward the first by Gift or Donation transmits it to Otho Lord Grandison a man certainly of great power in those Times for as it appears Pat. 4. Edwardi primi he had a certain Agreement woven of sundry Articles and made between Henry the third and the King of Castile deposited in his Custody in the fourth year of Edward the first And in the fifth year of that Prince as appears Pat. 5. in seedulâ he had the Government of Jersey assigned to his Care during Life After this Family of Grandison went out which was about the Beginning of Richard the second for Thomas de Grandison dyed possest of Seale in the forty ninth year of Edward the third Parte prima Num. 62 the noble Family of Brian of Holoway in Devon was invested in the Possession and Sir William Brian or Briene for so he is styled on his Tomb dyed possest of it in the year 1395 and lyes buryed in Seale Church mailed in Armor with a Huntsmans Horn at his Head upon which the Conjecture of the Country is that he was a great Hunter when the Truth is it was placed there to signifie or denote the Tenure of some part of his Land which was in Cornage But to return the next Family which succeeded Brian in the Inheritance of Seale was the ancient Family of Fiennes and this as I find by some Court-rolls was in the reign of Henry the fourth and James Fiennes second Son of William Fiennes Esquire was the first of March in the twenty fifth of Henry the sixth summoned to the Parliament at Bury as Baron of Say and Seale but this place after this newly atchieved Honor continued not long in this Name for William Lord Say in the second year of Edward the fourth passed it away to Geffrey Boleyne Grand-father to Sir Thomas Boleyne who was made Knight of the Garter and Treasurer of the Kings House in the fifteenth created Viscount Rochford in the seventeenth and lastly raised to the Earldome of Wiltshire and Ormond in the twenty first of Henry the eighth but his infortunate Son George Viscount Rochford being beheaded and leaving no Issue it devolved to Queen Elizabeth in Right of Queen Anne her Mother one of the Sisters and Coheirs and she in the first year of her reign passes it by Grant to her Kinsman Henry Cary whose Grandchild Henry Cary Earl of Dover alienated it by Sale to Richard Sackvill Earl of Dorset who passed it away in our Fathers Memory to Richard Smith vulgarly called Dog Smith and he not many years since deceasing without Issue bequeathed the Fee-simple of it to St Thomas Hospital in Southwarke Hall-place in Seale is a second place of Account It was in the thirty sixth year of Edward the third as an
him off cartied with it so deformed an Aspect in those times which were wholly consecrated and offered up to a superstitious Adoration of his memory and contracted so black a Character on those who were interessed in his extra-judicial ruine that Randal Fitz-Vrse fled into Ireland and there altered his Name to Mac-Mahon which in Irish imports as much as the Son of the Bear upon his recess Robert de Barham his Kinsman entred on his Estate here at Terstan and from him did it descend by paternal Devolution to his great Grand-child John de Berham who was by Henry prior of Christ-Church created publick Notary of the Diocess of Canterbury in the year 1309 an Office of as much Eminence as it was of Trust and Concernment and which the abovesaid Henry received by Commission to invest any with whom he should discover to be fortified with Abilities proportionate to so illustrious an employment from Bassianus de Alliate Count Palatine of Millaine and he again was impowered and commissionated to grant it to any whom he should judge meet to receive it by Authority delegated and transmitted to him originally from the Emperour and it is probable that it was the above mentioned John de Berham or his Son who paid an Auxiliarie supply for his Lands at Terstan as appears by the Book of Aid at the making the Black Prince Knight in the twentieth year of Edward the third and in that Roll kept in the Exchequer wherein there is mention of all those of this County who paid respective Aid in the fourth year of Henry the fourth at the Marriage of Blanch that Monarch's Daughter there is a Recital of Nicholas Berham who contributed a supply for his Lands at Terston and from him by an un-interrupted Line of succession was the Title of this place conducted down to Thomas Berham Esquire who determined in a Daughter and Heir called Anne Berham who by her intermarriage with Sir Oliver Boteler descended from an ancient Family of that Name in the County of Bedford made this Seat which had been so many centuries of years in the Tenure of this Family alter its Proprietary and become the Patrimony of another Name Sir Oliver Boteler had Issue Sir William Boteler Knight and Baronet who fell a Sacrifice to the late King's Quarrel whilst he vigorously asserted his Cause and Interest at Cropredy Bridge but left Issue the instant Proprietary Sir Oliver Boteler Baronet whose Ancestors in Bedford hire were descended from Thomas Pincerna who flourished in the reign of King John and did Seal with a Covered Cup with this Inscription as appears by the old Deeds of this Family encircling the Seal Sigillum Thomae Pincernae and it is possible was chief Butler to the abovesaid Prince from which eminent Office of his his Successors assumed the Sirname of Boteler Tenham contributes and affords a Name to that Hundred where it is placed but is of more Eminence and repute since it was given to Christ-Church in Canterbury at the Intreaty of Athelard by Cenulfe K. of the Mercians by the Estimate of twelve Plough-Lands for the like Proportion of Land in Ballance to the exchange in Creges Emeline that is the Isse of Elmely by Crogdepe that is the water which parts the Royaltie of Swale between Tenham and Feversham And in the Patrimony of the Church did it lie wrapt up till the suppression of all Frieries Abbies and other Religious Convents by Henry the eighth and then Thomas Cranmer finding that the spreading Demeasn of the Church was in danger to be torn off by the tallons of Avarice and Rapine he to mortifie the growing Appetite of Sacrilegious Cormorants in the first of December and in the twenty ninth year of that Prince's Government exchanged it with the Crown and thenceforth it was accounted a Limb of the Royal Revenue until King James by grant invested Sir Iohn Roper in it and presently after created him Baron Roper of Tenham in Gratitude it seems for that Service he performed in being the first who openly proclaimed him King in the County of Kent and by successive Derivation from him does his great Grand-child Christopher now Lord Roper of Tenham not onely possess the Dignitie but the Royaltie of this Mannor likewise There is another Seat in this Parish called Frogenhall which in elder Times had the repute of a Mannor though since by Disuse that Character is almost shrunk away from it That it was a Mansion of the Frogenhals is most evident for Richard Frogenhall was seised of it at his Death which was in the thirty third year of Edward the third and Thomas Frogenhall was his Son and Heir who resigned up his Interest in it with Anne his Daughter and Heir to Thomas Quadring and not long after by the same Mutation was the Interest of it by this man with his Daughter and Heir Joan Quadring given up to Richard Dryland Esquire who likewise not many years after going out in a Daughter and Heir called Katharine she by being wedded to Reginald Norton Esquire by that Conjugal Union knit Frogenhall to the Interest of that Family where after it had been some Ages fixt it was by purchase brought to be the Inheritance of Greene who upon what Exigent or Occasion I know not in the Conveyance is called Greene alias Norton but in this Name it made no permanent Residence for even in our Memory from Greene by Sale the Title and Right of it was translated into Clerke Tenham had the Grant of a Market procured to it on the Tuesday and a Fair to continue yearly three dayes at the Assumption of the Virgin Mary by Boniface Arch-bishop of Canterbury as appears Pat. 44. Henrici tertii Memb. 37. Tenterden in the Hundred of Tenterden had its denomination as some vulgar Phansies conjecture from the tenderness of the Soile adjacent to it but indeed it was in elder and more true Orthography written Theinwarden that is the Thanes or Theins Ward or Guard in the Valley for it was very probable it was subservient to that Signory or Dominion which the Governour of Andredswaldt so called by the Saxons but Anderida by the Romans did exercise and pretend to in this Track of the County Now if you will question where this Castle of Anderida or Andredswaldt was placed I answer it was upon Reding-hill not far removed from this place a Fortress in those Times of eminent Value and Reputation though since by the multiplied Onsets of Time upon it it lies forgotten in its own neglected Ruines yet though this be languished away both in Fame and Fabrick Tenterden has sundry Seats in it which may make it eminent enough First Heronden resigns it self up to an Inquisition though now it be scattered into severall parcels yet anciently it was collected as into one Name so into one possession likewise and the ancient Ordinaries in the Heralds Office do assign a Coat to this Name something proportionate to it that is an Heron rising upon its
wing and gaping for Breath but when Time began to invade this Family and break it into parcels one part of this Seat was sold to Sir John Baker Predecessor to Sir John Baker who is now the possessor of it but the other parts of it stayd longer in this Name for Heronden not long since sold some part of it to Mr. John Austin lately deceased and the Remainder was passed by the same conveyance to Mr. Short Pitlesden is the second which requires our Notice it gave Seat to a Family so called which remained in possession of it till Stephen Pitlesden died and left a Daughter and Heir whose Name was Julian who by marrying with Edward Guldeford made this parcel of the Revenue of that Family and here without any Interruption was the Inheritance planted till Iohn Guldeford Esquire transferred his Right by Sale to Sir Iohn Baker one of the Privy Councel to Queen Mary whose Grandchild Sir Iohn Baker Knight and Baronet Father of Sir Iohn Baker Baronet now of Sisingherst in Cranbroke did some years since alienate the possession of it to Mr. Jasper Clayton of London Mercer Lights Notinden and East Asherinden are two other Mannors in Tenterden which belonged partly to a Chauntry founded here by Iohn Light and partly to Brooke near Wye and were upon the suppression of the One and Dissolution of the Priory of Christ-church to which Brooke related granted by Henry the eighth to Sir Iohn Baker Atturney General to that Prince Edward the sixth and Queen Mary and from him are they now devolved by paternal Right to Sir Iohn Baker of Sisingherst Baronet There is a place in this Parish called Finchden which in our Grand-fathers Memory was purchased by Sir Edward Hales Ancestor of the Family of Finch from which Mr. Edward Finch now of Tenterden is originally descended which in Times of an elder Character gave Sirname to a Family called Finchden one of whom called William de Finchden was Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench in the Time of Edward the third and sometimes in the old Law-books which have an Aspect on his reign is written Finchden and sometimes contractedly Finch and it is probable the Name was originally Finch only Den was added to it which was customary and usual in elder Times because this Family had their Dwelling in some Habitation whose Situation was near some Valley Tenterden was governed by a Port-reve or Bayley as the original Patent informs me from the thirty sixth year of Henry the sixth until the forty third year of Queen Elizabeth and then it was by Patent from that Princesse ordered to be governed by a Major and Jurates and so it hath ever since continued I had almost forgot Elarinden which is the last place of Note in Tenterden and celebrates it self to be parcel of the Mannor of Frid or Frith in Bethersden and was involved in that Revenue which did confess the Signory of the Noble Family of Mayney and was found to be in the possession of John de Mayney at his Decease which was in the fiftieth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 39. and lay couched in that Demeasne which related to this Name until the reign of Henry the sixth and then it was passed away to Darell and remained involved in the Patrimony of this Family until the seventeenth year of Henry the eighth and then it was alienated by John Darell Esquire to Sir John Hales one of the Barons of the Exchequer and from him by a Devolution of successive Descent is it now come down to Sir Edward Hales of Tunstall Baroner Tilmanston in the Hundred of Eastrie has divers Seats within the Verge and Boundaries of it not only of Reputation and Account in Respect of their own Antiquity but likewise in Relation to those Persons who were possest of them First there is North-court and Dane-court both were anciently under the Dominion of one Person and continue interwoven still though they have borrowed these several Names in Respect of their opposite Situation John de Sandherst made a Claim of Liberties in North-court the sixth year of Edward the first Christian his Daughter and Heir was married to William Langley of Knowlton who in her Right possest this Mannor and by a new Insâ—ection had the former Liberties exemplified the thirty seventh year of Edward the third Pat. 37. pars prima Memb. 21. and after that the possession of this place had by an even Line of Descent been drawn thorough this Family it did at last by an Heir General devolve to Peyton and by a Derivative Title from him does Sir Thomas Peyton of Knowlton Baronet hold the instant enjoyment of it But Dane-court was passed away by Langley to Fenell and from him by the like Transition it came over to Thomas Cox Customer of Sandwich and he by Sale invested the Interest of it in Fogge Ancestor to my Noble Friend Richard Fogge Esquire now Possessor of Dane-court a Person to whom for that Intelligence he has contributed to me in Relation to the Noble Families of Crioll and Valoignes whose Heirs General matched with Fogge and who formerly by those Alliances annexed a vast Revenue in this County to this Name I am signally obliged South-court in this Parish was in Times of eldest Inscription as appears by a Survey of this Parish taken in the eighteenth year of Edward the third and which lies now in the Hands of Mr. Anneslow Gardiner of Haling in Croyden Sir John de Tittesden but certainly the possession was not long resident here for not long after I find the Lord Martin of Devon to be Proprietary of it from whom in the reign of Henry the sixth the Right of it was by Sale conducted down to John White after made Sir John White a Merchant of the Staple at Canterbury and when this Name deserted the possession of this place the next who succeeded in the subsequent Series was Cox from whom by purchase the Right came into Fogge and from that Name by the Fate of Sale was it made the Inheritance of Peyton from whom by Communicative Derivation and Descent it is incorporated into the Demeasne of Sir Thomas Peyton Toniford in the Hundred of West-gate did afford both Seat and Sirname to a Family which came under that Appellation and there is mention in the Book of Aide of John Toniford who lived here about the beginning of Edward the third but this Family was worn out about the latter part of that Prince's Reign And the next in Order who was Lord of the Fee was Sir Thom is Fogge who flourished here in the reign of Edward the third and Richard the second and after it had been for sundry Descents fixt in this Name and Family the Interest which they had here was by purchase brought over to claim Vane for its Possessor where likewise the Title was as unstable for not many years are consumed since it was alienated from their Revenue and made by Sile the Demeasne of Captain Collin
it was by a Revolution of the same Nature and Semblance transplanted into Sonds from which purchase Sir George Soâ—â—s Knight of the Bath now derives his Right and Inheritance in the Mannor and Signory of Town-place VVilderton in Throuley was eminent formerly for being marshalled under the Revenue of Giles Lord Badelesmer Father to Bartholomew Lord Badelesmer who by his opposing of Edward the second at Leeds Castle forseited this and his Life together to the offended Justice of that Prince but when his Sons Barth and Giles Lord Badelesmer were by Edward the third restored to their former Dignity and likewise to a principal part of his Estate this was folded up in that Restitution for when these above-mentioned Brothers deceased without any lawfull Issue their Sisters were found to be their Coheirs and Margery one of them being married to William Lord Rosse brought this to a piece of his Revenue from whom by Sale it went into the possession of Lewknor of Bodshead in Challock And when this Family was devested of it the Inheritance was by purchase setled in Evering descended from the Everings of Everings-court in Alkham by Dover where after it had some years found a continued Residence the Name and Title dissolved together for Edward Evering left only Mary Evering his Sole Heir who matching with John Upton Gentleman that Alliance fixed Wilderton in the Possession of that Name and part of it was in some years subsequent to this Match sold away to Arnold Terrey of this Parish but the Residue is yet constant to the Interess of Mr. Vpton of Feversham a person in whom the Scholler and Gentleman are so evenly mixt as to a Composition of Perfection that it is yet a Question which of them is the most predominant There was a religious House in Throuley which was a Cell to St. Bertins at St. Omer in Flanders but when Henry the fifth perceived the ill Consequences of having Fraternities and other religious Cells and Covents in this Nation which had in a manner their dependances upon other States contrary peradventure in Interess and Affection to this he suppressed this and many other of the like Condition and out of their Ruines and Revenue he erected the magnificent Monastery at Shene whose first Foundation entitles it self to his Piety and Munificence Thurnham in the Hundred of Eyhorne was the Patrimony of an ancient and Knightly Family of that Sirname made more eminent by the production of Sir Robert de Thurnham a person of considerable Account in the reign of Richard the first which Prince he accompanied to the holy War having before his designing himself to that Quarrel disposed his Estate to pious Uses whereof this at Thurnham was setled on the Colledge of Lingfield in Surrey and having thus disroabed himself of his secular Inheritance he with much Vigor and Alacritie assumed the Crusado or Vow to rescue the Sepulcher of our Saviour out of the possession of Infidels which resolution he so nobly prosecuted that he offered up his Life as an Oblation to the Justice of that cause which he had before so generously asserted After his Decease this remained cloistered up in the patrimony of the Colledge of Lingfield untill the general suppression and then growing parcel of the royal Revenue it lay there until King Edward the sixth granted it to Sir Edward Wotton whose Anceftor Sir Nicholas Wotton was invested long before in some part of this Mannor which did acrue to him in the reign of Henry the fourth by Joan Sole Heir of Robert Corbie and from this Sir Edward above mentioned was it entirely transmitted to his great Grand-child Thomas Lord Wotton who having setled it in Marriage on his eldest Daughter Katherin Wotton matched to Henry Lord Stanhop she by Sale hath lately given up her right to Mr. ..... Godden of London Binbery is an eminent Mannor in this Parish which as high as the Testimony of any either publick or private Evidences can instruct me did own the Signory of Northwood Roger de Northwood held it at his Death which was in the thirty fifth year of Edward the third and so did his Successor Roger Northwood in the last year of Henry the fifth But after this I do not find it long constant to the Interest of this Family for about the beginning of Henry the sixth I find by some ancient Court-rolls that it was passed away to Iohn Thwaits and he in the eighth year of that Prince conveyed his right in it to William Gascoigne in which Family the Title continued until the beginning of Edward the fourth and then it was transplanted by Sale into Cut or Cuts and in this Name the Interest of this place was constantly lodged until the beginning of King James and then it was demised to Sir Samuel Lennard of West-Wickham whose Son Sir Stephen Lennard is at this instant by paternal Right invested in the possession of it There was a Dysastrous Accident happen'd here at Binbery and it was this as the Tragedy is represented to us out of the old Evidences of the Lord Wotton The Lady Northwood in the Time of Edward the third standing on the precipice or hanger of a Hill to see a Fox digged out which had earthed himself there the Foundation being loose and Sandy sunk under her and the hanging Hill shot down so much earth upon her that she was stifled to Death with the unequal pressure e're they could disengage her from that weight which crushed her into this early Ruine Upon the Brow of the Hill not far removed from this place are the Ruines of an ancient Fortress called Godward Castle which Mr. Darell in his Tract De Costellis Cantii conjectures might borrow its Name from Godar dus a Saxou whereas it is more probable it did extract its etymology from the goodness and eminence of its situation as those Intrenchments at Stowting derive their Denomination from their tenable force and fortitude and certainly this is adequate to reason and its own elevated position it being so setled that it did not onely secure the way which led from the Roman Colony at Newington by Rainham but it is possible was a speculatory station much in use amongst the Romans to survey the Approaches of enemies in the Valley below Aldington Septuans in Thurnhem was the Cradle of an ancient Family of that Sirname * Ex Rot. penes Ed. Dering Mil. Baronettum defunctum Robert de Septuans is inserted in the Register of those noted Kentish persons who were engaged with Richard the first at the Siege of Acon * See Rot. Pipe de Scutagio Wallia Rob. de Septuans his Son was embarqued with Henry the third in his expedition against the Welch in the forty second year of his Reign Sir Rob. de Septuans was his Son and Heir who was honoured with that Dignity by Edward the first for his exemplary Service performed at the Siege of Carlaverock in the twenty eighth year of that Prince and he
was father to Will. de Septuans who was seised of it when he deceased which was in the twenty fifth year of Edw. the third but it seems it was not long permanent in the Tenure of this Name for immediately after the Gowers had it and Iohn Gower when he died was in the enjoyment of it which was in the forty third year of Edward the third from whom not many years after it was by purchase transported to Iohn Brockhul Esquire and with the Demeasn of this Family did the right of this place many years appear to be interwoven till Anne Daughter and Heir of Henry Brockhull married to Sir Iohn Taylor and then both the Name and Estate were swallowed up in this Family where the possession for sundry Ages remained till lately it was conveyed by Sale to Freake issued out from the Freakes of the County of Dorset who by marrying the Darghter of Sir Thomas Colepeper of Hollingbourne has planted himself in this County There was a Castle anciently in Thurneham which as Darel affirms in his Tract de Castellis Cantii had both its Name and Foundation from Godardus a Saxon being called Godard Castle which is so despicable an Heap that not the least Crums or Fragments continue of the Ruines which might signifie to us the lest symptome of its former strength and Grandeur Tunstall in the Hundred of Milton did about the twenty ninth of Henry the third confess it self to be under the Dominion of Walter de Grey who was Lord Paramont of this place but long did not remain invested in the Signory of it for in the forty fourth year of Henry the third I find Iohn de Burgh descended from Hubert de Burgh in the possession of it and he that year by the favourable compliance of that Prince obtained a Charter of Free-Warren to his Mannors of Norton and Tunstall but before the latter end of Edward the first this Family had deserted the Inheritance of this place and then the next which succeeded proprietarie of it was Thomas de Brotherton Earl of Norfolk who ending in Daughters and Co-heirs Margaret one of them being first matched to Iohn de Segrave and afterwards to Walter de Mayney descended from VValter de Meduana or Mayney who held twenty Knights in this County in the reign of Henry the third brought this to be the Demeasn of her second Husband Walter de Mayney a person on whom the Beams of Majestie reflected with so vigorous impression that he was summoned to sit in Parliament as Baron in the reign of Edw. the third and in whom that Prince reposed so great a confidence that as Daniel represents to us in his Chronicle he and his Son Edward the Black Prince fought under his Colours in a private Habit against Monsieur de Charmy a Frenchman near Calais in Picardy in the twenty third year of his reign and deceased full of Fame and of Years in the forty fixth of that Prince but determined in Anne Mayney his Sole Inheritrix who by matching with John Hastings Earl of Pembroke linked this Mannor to his Inheritance but he dying in the thirteenth year of Richard the second Reginald Grey and Richard Talbot were found to be his Heirs and they bring a pleading in the fifteenth year of the Prince abovesaid against John le Scroope who pretended some Title to his Estate and having rescued it from collateral Claim about the beginning of Henry the fourth conveyed it to Sir Robert Knolles who in the seventh year of that Prince passed it by Fine then levied to Sir William Cromer Lord Maior of London his Son William Cromer Esquire who was Sheriff of Kent in the twenty third year of Henry the sixth and was afterwards in the twenty seventh year of that Prince barbarously assassinated by Jack Cade whilst he endeavoured to impeach that Arch-Incendiarie in his March towards London He married Elizabeth Daughter of James Fiennes Lord Say and Seal by whom he had Issue Sir James Cromer Father of Sir Will. Cromer who was Sheriff of Kent the ninteenth year of Henry the seventh and the first year of K. Henry the eighth and George Cromer who was Arch-Bishop of Armagh in Ireland This Sir William had Issue James Cromer Esquire from whom descended Will. Cromer Esq his Son and Heir who was Sheriff of Kent the ninth and twenty seventh of Q. Elizabeth and had Issue Sir James Cromer of Tunstall Knight Sheriff of Kent in the second year of K. James in whom the Male-line determined so that Francis his Daughter by his first Wife matched to Sir Mathew Carew Elizabeth his Daughter by his second Wife wedded to Sir Iohn Steed of Steed-hill and Christian born likewise by that Venter married to Sir Iohn Hales eldest Son to Sir Edward Hales of Wood-Church became his Co-heirs Upon the partition of the Estate Tunstall was shared by Sir Iohn Hales from whom it is now descended to his Son and Heir Sir Edw. Hales Baronet who lately hath begun to erect upon the ancient Foundation a Frabrick of that stupendious Magnificence that it at once obliges the eye to Admiration and Delight Vfton is a place of Repute Seated in this Parish but it is raised up to a higher estimate since we find it was anciently parcel of the patrimony of Shurland for Robert de Shurland had a concession by Charter of Free-Warren to sundry of his Lands in Kent amongst which there is a recital of Vfton afterwards in Times subsequent to this by the Heir General of Shurland it was cast into the possession of Cheyney and Will. de Casineto for so this Name is rendred in Latine Records or William Cheyney held it at his Death which was in the eighth year of Edward the third and after for many Descents it had layn included in the Interest and proprietie of Cheyney it was by a Daughter and Heir put into the Demeasn of Astley from whom again the like flux of Circumstances bore away the Inheritance and transferred it to Harlackenden the instant Lord of Vfton Gore-Court in this Parish in Times of elder Derivation was the Seat of a Family whose Sirname was At-Gore and sometimes in ancient Court-rolls written De la Gore called so from their Habitation which was situated near some publick way Gare Gate and Gore importting no more in the Saxon Dialect then some common passage But to proceed Henry At-Gore held Gore-Court when he deceased which was in the thirty first year of Edward the third and for several Generations was the Inheritance knit to his Name till the common Fatalitie of Time brought it to expire in Alice Gore the Heir General of this place and of Iohn Gore the last of the Male-line who enjoyed it and she disposed of her Concernment in it to Will. Croyden in which Family after the possession had resided it was alienated to Wood descended from the Woods of Muston in Hollingbourne in whom the right of Gore-Court continues still invested Tunbridge gives Name to that
as a Limb of the Estate thus acquired who in the fiftieth year of his reign setled it on the Abby of St. Mary Grace on Tower-hill of his Foundation and Endowment and having remained treasured up in the Revenue of that Cloister untill the general suppression it was then plucked off and by King Henry the eighth granted in the thirty first of his Reign to Thomas Green Esquire whose Descendant in our Fathers memory passed away his Concernment in it to Apsley Ham Sharpenash and West-court are three little Mannors situated within the Circuit of this Parish and were parcel of that Patrimony which related to the Abby of St. Augustins which upon the Dissolution of that Fraternity the vast Demeasn which appertained to it being more hainous in the Eyes of Henry the eighth than those Crimes and Offences though peradventure of a Complexion dark enough which were charged upon the Covent He I mean the Prince abovesaid ravished them away from the patrimony of the Church to incorporate and interweave them with the Revenue of the Crown where their Title and proprietie was not long lodged for K. Hen. the eighth conveyed them by Grant to Will. Hach descended from Hach of Aller in Devon who not long after passed them away to Tho. Green Esq written in his Deeds alià Norton where after the possession of them had some years continued the Interest of all these Mannors was by the Mutation of Sale transported into Aldersey Ancestor to Captain Terry Aldersey of Swanton Court in Bredgar now Lord of the Fee and Signory of these above recited places W. W. W. W. WAldershare in the Hundred of Eastry was in elder Times the Seat of an eminent Family called Malmains John de Malmains is recorded in an Ancient Roll of those Gentlentemen which entred England with William the Conquerour and engaged with him at the Battle of Battle John de Malmains as Mr. Fuller in his Ecclesiastical History does represent to us was Standard Bearer to the Norman Footmen and was joyned by William the Conquerour as an Assistant Knight to Otho one of the Monks of Ely Henry Malmains is registred in the Bed-roll of those Kentish Gentlemen who assisted Richard the first at the Siege of Acon See more of this Family of Malmains in the Catalogue of Sheriffs John de Malmains is registred in the Pipe rolls amongst those who were Recognitores Magnae Assisae in the reign of K. John a place of that Latitude of Trust and Authority that those who managed it were frequently selected out of the chiefest Knights and most eminent Gentlemen of the County Sir Nicholas de Malmains was engaged with Edward the first at the Siege of Carlaverock in Scotland in the twenty eighth of his reign and for his worthy undertaking there received the Dignity of Knighthood and from him did Waldershare descend to Nicholas de Malmains who died possest of this and much other Land in the twenty third year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 160. and from him descended Henry Malmains his Grand-child who dying about the beginning of Henry the fourth without Issue Male left his Estate here at Waldershare to Agnes his sole Daughter and Heir matched to Thomas Goldwell of Great Chart yet had this Henry a Kinsman called Thomas Malmains Son of John Malmains who had a considerable share of this Mannor of Waldershare which by his Heir General devolved to John Monins Esquire who about the beginning of Henry the sixth purchased all that Demeasn and Interest which Tho. Goldwell was entituled to here and so became sole Lord of Waldershare This John Monins was descended from John Monins who in the twentieth year of Edw. the third held Lands at Swink-field as appeats by the Book of Aid by the Title of Esquire and was allied to William Monings or Monins for in old Records they are written so promiscuously who was several times Knight of the Shire for Norfolk as appears by the Record in the Tower whose Title is De Expensis Militum in the time of Richard the second and John Monins this Mans Son was a person of so eminent Notice in this County that he obtained an Indulgence under the Seal of Sixtus the fourth bearing Date 1474 to carry along with him a Priest and a portable Altar for celebration of divine Offices in his necessary Journeyings and John Monins this Man's Grand-child and Son of Robert compounds with Tho. Hobbys in the twentieth year of Hen. the seventh for ten Marks as part of his Fine to be excused from being made Knight of the Bath at the creation of Henry his Son Prince of Wales Edward Monins Esq was Justice of the Peace for Kent the latter part of the reign of Henry the eighth and he was Ancestor to Sir William Monins who was made Knight and Baronet the twenty ninth day of June in the ninth year of K. James by the Name of Sir William Monings of Waldershare and from him is not onely this Title but likewise the signory of this Mannor now devolved by paternal right to his Son and Heir Edward Monins Baronet Walmer is a Member of Sandwich and so in no Hundred It was one of those principal Seats which owned the jurisdiction and signory of the noble and spreading Family of Crioll written frequently likewise Keriel The first whom I find to be possest of it was Matilda de Criol Widow of Simon de Crioll and she in right of Dower was in possession of it at her Death which was in the fifty second of Henry the third Rot. Esc Num. 34. The next of this Name whom the Beams of publick Record represent to me to be possessor of it was Nicholas de Crioll who enjoyed it at his Death which was in the thirty first of Edward the first Rot. Esc Num. 39. In Ages of a nearer Approach unto us Iohn de Crioll in the forty ninth year of Edward the third died seised of it and so did William Keriell in the first year of Henry the fifth Rot. Esc Num. 21. and left it to his Son Sir John Crioll of Sarre in Thanet who as an old Pedigree of this Family informs me was in eminent Command under Henry the fifth in his successful Expedition into France having the Conduct of several Kentish Squadrons at the Battle of Agincourt and died laden more with Honour then with Years in the ninth year of Henry the sixth and left Sir Thomas Crioll or Keriell Knight of the Gatter Heir both of his Estate and Virtues of whom because our Chronicles speak so much I shall not be silent He was Governor of Gourney in Normandy in the ninth year of Henry the sixth under John Duke of Bedford the Regent not farre from which Place he defeated the Earl of Britaine and in that discomfiture slew six Hundred and took two Hundred Prisoners In the fourteenth year of Henry the sixth the Duke of Burgundy infested Crotoy with a Siege which being successefully raised by the Lord Talbot Sir Thomas Keriell
Prince made the Inheritance of Mr. John Buckler who about the beginning of Edward the sixth passed it away to Sir William Damsell emploid as Agent from that Prince to the Crown of France and he going out in four Daughters and Coheirs one of them by matching with Burston made it upon the disunion of the the Body of the Estate into parcels a Limb of his patrimony and remained so until our Fathers remembrance and then it was conveyed to Moil of Buckwell and was not many years since conveyed by Robert Moile Esquire alienated by Sale to Sir Thomas Finch afterwards Earl of Winchelsey Father to Heneage Finch Earl of Winchelsey now Proprietary of it Raymonds is the last place of Account in Wye which afforded a Seat and gave a Sirname to a Family so called and were eminent in this Parish many hundred years since as being Stewards to the Abby of Battle for Lands near this place and it is probable this place was the original Seminary or Fountain from whence the Raimonds of Essex Norfolk and other Counties in this Nation deduced their primitive Extraction But to advance in my discourse this Family of Raymond having long since abandoned the Signory of this place it hath been for sundry Descents the Inheritance of Beck and is still entituled to the propriety of one of this Name and Family Y. Y. Y. Y. YAlding in the Hundred of Twyford It was in old Saxon Orthography written Ealding from the Watry Situation of the Meadows It was made eminent by being parcel of the Inheritance of the Earls of Gloucester whose Sirname was de Clare under whose Signory it remained till Gilbert de Clare Earl of Gloucester and Hertford who deceased in the eighth year of Edward the second and left Margaret de Clare his sole Heir who was married to Hugh de Audley who became in right of his Wife Lord of the propriety of Yalding and Earl of Gloucester likewise but enjoyed neither no considerable space of Time for he died in the twenty first year of Edward the first and left no Issue Male so that Margaret Audley became his Heir who by matching with Rafe Earl of Stafford cast it into his patrimony and he at his Death which was in the forty sixth year of Edward the third in her right was found to be possest of it and in this Family did the Inheritance fix it self till the reign of Henry the eighth and then Edward Stafford Duke of Buckingham descended in a direct line from the abovesaid Rafe Stafford having by his own improvidence and miscarriage laid himself open to the Malitious Assaults of Cardinal Wolsey He by blowing of wild Conjectures into the Ears of King Henry the eighth blew up the fire of his rage into that height and fury that nothing could extinguish it but the Blood of this Peer poured out by an untimely Effusion upon the Scaffold upon whose infortunate Decease his Estate by Forfeiture and Escheat devolved to the Crown And K. Henry the eighth suddenly after granted Yalding to his Kinsman Hen. Somerset E. of Worcester whose Father Charles Somerset he in the seventh year of his Government by a new Creation had adorned with that Title from whom not long after it was by purchase incorporated into the Patrimony of Nevill Baron of Aburgavenny whose Successor is John Nevill both in the Barony and in the Inheritance of Yalding Woodfold is a place not to be declined without some Consideration because it was a place formerly of no contemptible repute for Anselmus de Quintin originally issued out from the ancient Family of Boupton in Wiltshire held it in the twentieth year of Edward the third by the fourth part of a Knights Feee as the Book of Aid testifies at the making the Black Prince Knight and here after the Possession divers years had resided it shrunk away from this Family and by purchase was carried into the Inheritance of Burton where likewise it was some Generations settled till the same Vicissitude made it as inconstant here as it had been to the former Family and by Sale transported the right of it to Vane a younger Branch of Vane Earl of Westmerland in whose Name and Posterity the Patrimonial Interest of it continues still wrapt up Lodingford is another mannor in Yalding which belonged to the priory of Bermondsey and upon the Suppression of that magnificent Cloister was annexed to the revenue of the Crown but made no long abode there for Henry the eighth granted it to Tho. VVood Esquire and he not long after alienated it by Sale to George Fane Esquire Ancestor to the right Honourable Mildmay Fane now Earl of VVestmerland the instant Lord of the Fee Yalding had the Grant of a Market to be observed there weekly procured to it by Hugh de Audley and a Fair to continue three Days yearly viz. the Vigil the Day of St. Peter and Paul and the subsequent to it as appears Pat. 12. Edw. secundi N. 57. The Description of the ISLANDS ELmeley is an Island not farre removed from Feversham but yet is situated in the Hundred of Milton it was in elder Times parcel of the Demeasn of Peyforer Fulk de Peyforer held it at his Death which was in the fifth year of Edward the first from whom it was transported by Descent to his Son Fulk de Peyforer who likewise was in possession of it at his Decease which was in the ninth year of Edward the second but before the latter end of Edward the third this Name and Family was shrunk into a Daughter and Heir called Julian who by matching with Thomas St. Leger annexed that Interess that Family had in this Island to his Inheritance and from him the like Vicissitude carried it off to Hen. Aucher who had espoused Joan his Coheir but before the latter end of Hen. the fifth his right in Elmeley was by Sale transplanted into Cromer of London who likewise before had purchased some proportion of Estate which the Heirs of * Sir Rob. Knolles Feoffee in Trust for Grey and Talbot passed away 1000 Acres in Elmeley to Sir Will. Cromer 7. Hen. 4. Hastings had in this Island by a right deduced from Mayney for Sir VValter de Mayney Knight of the Garter died the forty ninth year of Edward the third and left onely a Sole Daughter and Heir called Anno who by matching with John Hastings Earl of Pembroke brought Tunstall and much other Land here in Elmeley and elsewhere to be the patrimony of that Family But to proceed Elmeley being thus entirely made the Demeasn of Cromer continued linked to this Family many Descents until Sir James Cromer the last of this Name almost in our memory died and left three Daughters and Coheirs surviving for Martha the fourth died unmarried to share his Estate Frances was matched to Sir Mathew Carew Elizabeth married Sir John Steed and Christian espoused Sir John Hales and so these three dividing Elmeley the Descendants which claimed from Carew and Steed have
which menaced it upon the removal of the Body of St. Mildred in the year 1116 obtained from Henry the first a Charter to hold a Market weekly at his Mannor of Minster which by disuse and intermission shrunk into neglect and oblivion But the greatest blow which was given to it was the final suppression of the abovesaid Abby and then it was rent from that Covent and came to own the Signory of the Crown and was lodged in its revenue untill the ninth year of King James and then it was with the appendant Mannors of St. Johns St. Peters and St. Laurence granted to Sir Philip Cary and John Williams Esquire whose Sons and Heirs Sir John Williams and John Cary Esquire do now divide the Inhetitance of it Sheriffs-court in this Parish but more anciently styled in old Records Sheriffs-hope was the possession of Reginald de Cornhill who had the Custody of this County so long that it was almost hereditary to him so that he lost his own Name and assumed that of le Sheriff from whence this place borrowed the Appellation of Sheriffs-hope but this could not so fence-in the title or chain the possession to this Family but that about the Beginning E. the third it came to confesse the Corbies for proprietaries and Robert de Corbie held it at his death which was in the thirty ninth of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num 9. and had Issue Robert Corbie in whom the Male-line was wound up so that Joan his Daughter and Heir by matching with Sir Nicholas Wotton twice Lord Maior of London annexed it to the demeasn of that Family and from him did the title by an unintercepted Current of Descent glide down to Thomas Lord Wotton who setled it in marriage upon his eldest Daughter Katharine Wotton wedded to the Lord Henry Stanhop and she not many years since conveyed it by Sale to Mr. Hen. Paramour lately deceased Brother to Mr. Thomas Paramour now Lord of the Fee Monkton is a Mannor that almost from the first Infancy of Christianity in this Island was wrapped up in that demeasn which was under the Signory of the Monks of Christ-church in Canterbury and as the Book of Christ-church informs me was given to that Church by Ediva or Edgiva mother of Edmund and Eadred or Edred both Kings in the year 961. And if you will see how it was rated in the Conquerours time the Pages of Dooms-day Book will inform you Monkton says that Register est Manerium Monachorum sanctae Trinitatis that is Christ-church est de Cibo eorum in tempore Edwardi Regis se defendebat pro XX sulling is nunc se defendebat pro X VIII est appretiatum XL lb. This upon the surrender of the patrimony of Christ-church by the Monks of that Cloister into the hands of Henry the eighth in the twenty ninth year of his reign was by him not long after enstated on his new erected Dean and Chapiter of Christchurch and continued untill these Times annexed to their Revenue Monkton had Liberty to keep a Market weekly which was obtained by Grant from Henry the sixth in the seventeenth year of his Rule by John Salisbury then Prior of Christ-church Stonar is the last place to be taken Notice of in this Island and although it be a Parish now without Inhabitants and a member of the Cinque-ports belonging to Sandwich and hath not enough left of its former Buildings to direct you to its original Situation yet was it formerly a Haven-Town and had a Fair held there yearly five Days together before the Feast of the Translation of St. Austin which was granted to this place in the year 1104. In the reign of William Rufus about the year 1090 there arose a Suit in Law between the Londoners and the Abbot of St. Augustins to whom this Mannor was given with the residue of that revenue which belonged to the Nunnery at Minster by King Canutus upon the translation of the Body of St. Mildred to that Cloister as touching the right of the Haven of Stonar wherein by the favourable Aid of the Prince the Citizens as Spot Chronicler to that Abby reports had the overthrow But the utter ruine and subversion of the Town happened in the year 1385 about the ninth of Richard the second at what time the French with 18 Sail of Gallies designing to infest the Maritine parts of Kent landed and layed this Town of Stonar in Ashes which ever since hath found a Sepulcher in its own Rubbish And accuses the bad Government of Sir Simon de Burley the then Lord Warden of the Cinque-ports and Constable of Dover-Castle as cheif Author thereof For when his demands were utterly refused and denyed and not suffered to have the inestimable Ornaments and Riches of St. Thomas Beckets shrine and the Jewels of St. Augustins removed to Dover-Castle upon pretence of safe-keeping them there then he grew slack and remisse in securing the Sea-Coast and Isle of Thanett so that when the Abbot of St. Augustins had raised a considerable Strength of his Tenants about Northburn and bending towards the Island endeavoured to have passed over at Sandwich Sir Simon de Burley would not permit him so that he was constrained by a long and redious March all Night to go about by Fordwich and Sturrey into the Island and made such vigorous resistance that the Enemies fled to their Gallies without doing any farther prejudice to the Islanders Then Sir Simon procures the King to send out his Mandate under the great Seal of England requiring all that had Lands or belonged to Sandwich to be Commorant there and to find competent Arms according to the Quality of their Estates and Faculties upon pain of Imprisonment and Forfeiture of all they had to loose And sends in the Kings Name to the Abbot to remove with his Forces from Thanet to the Guard of Sandwich as a place of more Importance But the Abbot saith Thorne that continued the Chronicle of Spot neither astonished with the power of the Enemy nor seduced with the Inticements or terrified with the Menaces of the Traytor Burley remained in the Island to defend his own and his Tenants possessions After this there is nothing observable at this place untill the Suppression of the Abby of St. Austins and the Resignation of its Revenue into the hands of Henry the eighth when this Mannor with the rest of their demeasn having improved the patrimony of the Crown it was in the fourth and fifth of Philip and Mary granted to Nicholas Crispe Esquire from whom it is now descended to Mr. Nicholas Crispe his Successor the instant Lord of the Fee There was in elder times a Guard assigned for the security of the passage between Sandwich and Stonar for I find that Ed. the second granted VVill. Turke for Life in the seventh year of his reign the passage between Stonar and Sandwich and the Perquisites and Emoluments emergent from it which Grant was in the eighteenth
Clifford lineally descended who almost in our Fathers Remembrance passed away his Interest here to Sir Coniers Clifford and the Lady Mary his Wife Widow of Southwell whom he had made joynt purchaser with him in the Conveyance after whose Decease she was remarried to Sir Anthony St. Leger of Ireland by whom she had Issue Sir Anthony St. Leger now of Wierton House in Boughton Montchentsey who by a Right derived from a Donation of his Mother divided the Mannor of Bobbing with his two half Brothers Henry and Coniers Clifford all whom not many years since by mutuall and joynt Consent alienated the whole demise to Sir Edward Duke of Cosington and he not long after passed away his Right in it by Sale to Sir Richard Gurney of London from whom the same Vicissitude and Conveyance hath now brought it to be the Patrimony of his Brother in Law Captain Henry Samford Esquire Borden in the Hundred of Milton hath nothing memorable in it but the Mannor of Criolls and Poyles for they were alwaies united together and were parcell of that spreading Demeasne which fell under the Signory of Bertram de Crioll and he dyed possest of them in the twenty third year of Edward the third and left it to John Crioll his Son and Heir who dying without Issue Joan his Sister and Heir Generall brought this and much other Land to be possest by her Husband Sir Richard de Rokesley but he likewise deceasing without Issue the same fatal Vicissitude brought it by Joan sole Daughter and Heir to be the Patrimony of Thomas de Poynings in which Family the Title flowed with an uninterrupted Current untill it devolved to Sir Edward Poynings who dyed in the twelfth year of Henry the eighth without Issue lawfully begotten and as it appears by the last Inquisition taken after his Decease in the fourteenth year of that Prince without any respective Kindred that could legally entitle themselves to his Estate so this Mannor escheated to the Crown and was granted by the abovesaid Prince to Sir Thomas Wiat who lost it again upon his attainder in the second year of Queen Mary but was restored again by Queen Elizabeth in the twenty fifth year of her Reign to his Son George Wiat Esquire only for life for the Reversion thereof was by King James by his Letters Patents bearing Date the fifteenth Day of June in the sixteenth year of his Reign granted to Thomas Hooker and Jo. Spencer Gentlemen who joyn after in a fine and settle it on the Heirs of Mr. George Wiat in the second year of King Charles Sir Francis Wiat was found to be his Heir who with his Ladies Consent Dame Margaret Wiat did by good and sufficient Assurance in Law not many yeers since convey it to Isaac Seward Gentleman Sutton Barne is a little Mannor in this Parish remarkable only in this that Roger de Savage Son of Sir John Savage obtained a Charter of Free Warren to it in the fifth year of Edward the second and continued with the Name untill the Heir Generall carried it away with Bobbing to Clifford in which Family it remained untill the latter end of Henry the eighth and then it was passed away to Platt Ancestor to Mr ....... Plat of Borden who now enjoys the Inheritance of it Bonnington in the Hundred of Street did anciently appertain to the Knights Templars and being found in the Register of their Demeasne at their total Suppression which was in the second year of Edward the second it was in the seventeenth year of that Princes Rule by a new Provision made by Act of Parliament setled on the Knights Hospitallers or of St. Johns of Jerusalem and so lay enwrapped in their Patrimony which was wide and spacious in this Track untill the Reign of Henry the eighth and then by the Suppression of this Order it was made parcell of the Royall Revenue untill the abovesaid Prince in the thirty fifth year of his Government granted it to Sir Thomas Moile and he not long after conveyed it by Sale to Sir James Hales of the Dungeon neer Canterbury from whom it devolved by successive Right to his Successor Sir James Hales who almost in our Memory alienated his Interest in it to Sir William Man of Canterbury Singleton is another Mannor in Bonington which was the Inheritance of a Family which anciently extracted its Sirname from the abovesaid Parish and was called Bonington of which Family was Ni. de Bonington who paid respective Aid for this Mannor at making the Black Prince Knight after this Family was extinguished which was about the Beginning of Richard the second the Breslands a Family who were Owners of a plentifull Estate in East Kent were entituled by Purchase to the Possession of this Mannor and continued in the Tenure of it untill about the latter end of Henry the fourth and then it passed away as appears by some ancient Court Rolls to Cobbe whose Arms viz. Argent a Cheveron between three Cocks Gules if not assaulted by the barrous rudenesle of these Times stand in old coloured Class both in the Churches of Bonington and Limne But to proceed Singleton had for several Generations and Ages been folded up in that Demeasne which related to this Family it was carried down by the Vicissitude of Time to Edward Cobbe Esquire who about the Beginning of Queen Elizabeth deceased without Issue male and so both this Place and Cobbs place in Aldington became the Inheritance of Sir John Norton of Northwood by matching with Alice sole Daughter and Heit of the abovesaid Edward and from him did it transmit it self by Descent to his Successor Sir Thomas Norton of Northwood who dying without Issue male Elizabeth his Female Inheritrix brought this to be parcell of that Estate which acknowledges the Signory of Sir James Hales now of the place or Court called the Dungeon neer Canterbury Brookland in the Hundred of Aloesbridge anciently was wrapt up in the Patrimony of a noble Family called Passeley whose Seat was at Thevegate in Smeth Edmund de Passeley is the first whom in publick Record I discover to have been possest of it as appears by an Inquisition taken after his Decease in the nineteenth year of Edward the second Rot. Esc Num. 57. but the aboad of this Family at this Place was no longer then untill the end of Henry the fourth and then it was by John Passeley alienated to the Lord Cobham of Sterborough and here was the Tenure and Title more transient and volatile then in the former Family for Thomas Lord Cobham of Sterborough dyed in the eleventh year of Edward the fourth and left it to his sole Daughter and Heir Ann matched to Edward Borough afterwards in her Right Lord Borough of Sterborough and Lord of this Mannor and in this Family was it fixed untill Thomas Lord Borough Grandchild to the abovesaid Edward about the middle of Queen Elizabeth passed it away to Eversfield of Sussex from whom by as quick a Transition it was
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
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
at the Marriage of Isabell that Prince's Sister In Times which were immediatly subsequent to the departure of this Family from this place that is in the Government of Henry the fourth I find by an Ancient Court-roll the Moores to have been possest of it and kept it in their Inheritance until the reign of Henry the eighth and then it was conveyed to Gibbons of Rolvenden from which Family about the beginning of Queen Elizabeth as appears by the Court-rols now in the Hands of my Learned Friend Mr. Kilbourn it went away to Hay or Hays of Sussex and in this Name it remained until that Time which bordered upon our Fathers Remembrance and then it was alienated to Everden or Everinden descended from the Everindens of Everinden-house in Biddenden where they are recorded by the private Deeds of that place to have been resident many Hundred years until in the second year of Queen Mary it was passed away by Sale to John Mils Ancestor to the present Proprietary But to proceed the Continuance of this Family at this place was but brief and transitory for not many years since it went away by Sale from this Name to Muns where the Inheritance still continues Fresingham sometimes written Fersingham and vulgarly called Frensham is the last place of Account in Rolvenden It had in the twentieth year of Henry the third as appears by Testa de Nevill a Family of that Name which was its Possessor for John de Fresingham or Fersingham held it then and paid for it after the Rate of the fourth part of a Knights Fee at the Marriage of Isabell that Prince's Sister And in this Family did it remain until the latter part of Edward the third and then the Vicissitude of Purchase brought it to be the Demeasne of Norwood and in this Name was it resident until the reign of Edward the fourth and then as appears by the old Rols of this Mannor it was conveyed to Guldeford and Sir Henry Guldeford upon his Decease gave it to his second Son Sir George Guldeford from whom it descended to his Grand-child Sir Edward Guldford who about the beginning of King James passed it away to Mr. Fowle who bequeathed it to his second Son Mr. ...... Fowle who sold it to Sir Edward Hales Knight and Baronet Grand-father to Sir Edward Hales who possesses the instant Signory and Fee-simple of it Hole in this Parish was a Seat which had Owners of that Sirname for in the year 1340. Henry at Hole demises this place-by Deed to his two Sisters Honor and Alice but for many Descents last past Edmund Gibbons was of this Family who founded the Free-School at Benenden and setled 30. l. per Annum for its endowment it hath been the Patrimony of Gibbons who held Land in this Parish in the year 1326. and was the Seminary or Original Seed-plot whence all of that Name and Family in Kent primitively sprouted forth and though Sir William Segar did assigne to Mr. Gibbons of Westcliff A Lion Rampant between three Escollops and to this Family A Lion Rampant between three Ogrises as their Coat-Armor yet in ancient coloured Glasse at Hole now the Inheritance of Colonel Robert Gibbons the paternal Coat of this Family is represented to have been Or A Lion Rampant Sables charged with an Escarbuncle Pomettee and Flourette of the first which I mention that this Family now of Hole might receive no prejudice by his Mistake or inadvertency Fersham in this Parish was as appears by some dateless Deeds the Patrimony of Sir John de Fersham Stephen de Fersham this mans Successor in the eleventh year of Edward the third found a man at Arms for Guard of the Sea Coasts which implies he was of eminence in those Times In Times of a latter Date that is in the reign of Henry the fourth I find it possest by Guldeford and remained with the Revenue of that Family until the latter end of Queen Elizabeth and then it was passed away to Dike of Sussex whose Descendants by their Trustees and Commissioners not many years since conveyed their joynt-Interest in it to Mr. Thomas Bromfeild of London Merchant Old Romney in the Hundred of Langport is eminent for two or three places which lie within the Confines of it which are both of Spiritual and Secular Concernment The first is Agne-court and Orgarswike not distant by any considerable Difference of space from this Town and which was once a Parish entirely in it self until it is probable the unhealthful Situation made the Inhabitants vary their Station and dislodge which were both given by Offa King of the Mercians in the year seven hundred eighty and one to the Prior and Monks of Christ-church ad Pascua Porcorum say the Records of that Covent that is for the feeding or grazing of their Hoggs And it is possible that the Foundation of this Grant was the profuse Effusion not only of Christian but of Innocent Blood which had been so prodigally wasted to be subservient and ministerial to the ambitious Interests and Passions of the above-mentioned Prince and though peradventure he had endeavored to wash off those Crimson Stains which stuck upon his Hands besmeared with the Blood of Ethelbert King of the East-Angles and others with penitential Pears yet he deemed that an insufficient Expiation to assoil himself from his contracted Guilt unlesse he made his Compunction more visible and conspicuous by a Munificent Manifestation both of his Piety and Charity together Bere or Berry-court in Old Romney for it carried the first Appellation in very Old Evidences is a Mannot which hath contracted a Reputation from those large Quit-rents and other Services which appertain unto it rather then from the Dimension and extent of its Revenue which is but narrow and circumscribed Nicholas de Bere held it in the twentieth year of Henry the third as appears by an old Court-roll which hath an Aspect upon that Time He was Son of Richard de Bere who was one of the Recognitores Magnae Assisae an Office of a wide circumference of Trust in that Age in the second year of King John in the great Controversie which was started between Richard de Garwinton and Theobald de Twitham concerning Land at Ilding in Kingston In the twentieth year of Edward the third I find that Robert Forneaux Robert Atwood and Thomas Tutwise had some Interest in Berry-court and paid respective Aide for it as the Book of Aide informs me at making the Black Prince Knight But before the beginning of Richard the second I find the Title wholly concentered in Belknap for Sir Robert Belknap the Judge did not only hold it in the first year but likewise in the tenth of that Prince at what Time being attainted and banished by the Malevolent Concurrence of some ambitious Lords whose Influence like a Confederacy of Malignant Aspects in the Stars combined to Ruine him this by Escheat was invested in the Crown and was by Royal Concession as appears by the Original