Memorials of old Kent;

Memorials of
Old Kent

THE LIBRARY
. OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA

LOS ANGELES

J

Memorials of Old Kent

Christchurcu Gate, Canterhuky.

MEMORIALS OF
OLD KENT

EDITED BY

The Rev. R H. DITCHFIELD, M.A., F.S.A.

AND

GEORGE CLINCH, EG.S.

With many Illustrations

LONDON
BEMROSE & SONS LIMITED, 4 SNOW HILL, E.G.

AND DERBY
1907

[Ai/ Rights Reserved\

DA

(olD

TO
THE RIGHT HON.

The Lord Northbourne, m.a., d.l., f.s.a.

THE PRESIDENT OF

THE KENT ARCH^OLOGICAL SOCIETY

THESE MEMORIALS ARE

BY KIND PERMISSION

INSCRIBED

PREFACE

THE prominent position of Kent among the English
counties is universally admitted. For many
centuries it has been the high road of communica-
tion between the southern half of Britain (including
London) and the Continent, and it would be remark-
able if it did not possess a past full of historical
associations. Quite early in the Christian era^ — and,
indeed, in pre -historic times — Kent was the centre of
civilization and industrial activity. These are points
which are too well known to require anything more than
the slightest reference in this place, but they are sufficient,
it is hoped, to excuse some of the omissions in this
volume of Memorials. It was, of course, impossible
to deal with every phase of Kent's ancient and
brilliant story, and the Editors have, therefore,
endeavoured to make such a selection of subjects as would
fairly represent some of the more important and note-
worthy features. They have been particularly fortunate,
they feel, in securing the assistance of writers whose
special qualifications and researches have enabled them
to write monographs of real and permanent value. The
monastic, ecclesiastical, military, social, and political sides
have all received attention.

viii PREFACE

To the various contributors of articles the Editors
tender their sincere thanks ; and to the publishers, and all
others who have helped with suggestions, loans of
illustrations, etc., they are not less grateful.

December, 1 906,

CONTENTS

Historic Kent . . . .

St. Augustine's Abbey, Canter-
bury

Mediaeval Rood-Lofts and Screens
in Kent ....

Old Canterbury .

Kentish Insurrections .

Some Kentish Castles

Penshurst Place .
Hever Castle

Dickens and Kent

Chillington Manor House, Maid
stone ....

Romney Marsh in the Days of
SmuggHng

Seventeenth Century Church
Architecture in Kent

Refugee Industries in Kent

The River Medway and its
Mediaeval Bridges .

Index

Page
By the Rev. P. H. DlTCH-
FIELD, M.A., F.S.A. . 1

By Sebastian Evans, Jun. 19

By Aymer Vallance,
M.A., F.S.A. ... 44

By Philip Sidney . .110

By George Clinch,
F.G.S 132

By Harold Sands, F.S.A.,
M.I.Mech.Eng. . .150

By Philip Sidney . . 215

By the Rev. P. H. DlTCH-
field, M.A., F.S.A. . 228

By the Rev. Canon Ben-
ham, D.D., F.S.A. . 238

By J. H. Allchin . . 253

By George Clinch,
F.G.S 264

By J. Tavenor-Perry . 277

By S. W. Kershaw, M.A.,
F.S.A 298

By J. Tavenor-Perry . 320
331

IX

INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS

Christchurch Gate, Canterbury Frontispiece

{From a Photograph by the Phoiochromi^Co., Ltd.)

Facing Page
Kits Coty House . . (From a Photograph by George Clinch) 2

Ethelbert's Tower, St. Augustine's, Canterbury ... 20

(From an old Engraving)

Plan of Excavations at St. Augustine's, Canterbury . . 32-33

St. Augustine's Abbey : the Crypt, from the East ... 36

,, „ Norman Bench-end, Dormitory, and
Southern Side of the Crypt 38

St. Augustine's Abbey : South Side of the Crypt, and North

Side of the Chapter House ...... 40

Northfleet Church : Doors of Rood-Screen .... 50

Minster Church, Sheppey : Painted Beam .... 54

(From a Photograph by Aymer Vallance)

StaUsfield Church : Rood-Screen 64

(From a Photograph by Aymer Vallance)

Shoreham Church : Sketch of North-East Corner of Rood-Screen 66

,, „ Rood-Screen, Elevation of Southernmost

Bay, and Section through Screen and Loft . . . 68-69
Appledore Church : View from the Quire .... 74

(From a Photograph by Ay7ner Vallance)

Lynsted Church : Elevation of North Side of Nave . . 79
St. Alphege's Church, Canterbury : Sketch showing Remains of

Rood-Stair 85

Milton Church, near Sittingbourne : South-East Corner of Nave 90

Eastchurch Church, Sheppey : Detail of Rood-Screen . . 96

(From a Photograph by Aymer Vallance)
XI

xii INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS

Facing Page
Canterbury Cathedral : Stone Screen . . . . .104

(From a Photograph hy Valentine <V Sons^ Ltd., Dundee)

Rochester Cathedral : Stone Screen 106

West Gate, Canterbury (Frovi a Photograph by H. B. Collis, Canterbury)

"The Canterbury Weavers" „ „ „
The Death of Wat Tyler

(From an Engraving after the Picture by J. Northcote, R.A.)

Sir Thomas Wyatt

) 112
116
136

Sir Edward Hales

142

(From an Engraving published in 1825) I46

Dover Castle : Ground Plan

Canterbury Castle : Ground Plan ....
„ „ South Front and West Front

„ „ . . (FrojH an Engraving published in 1761

Rochester Castle : Ground Plan ....

„ „ General View of the Keep .

(From a Photograph by E. C. Voucns, Dartford)

Rochester Castle : Interior of the Keep

(From a Photograph by E. C. Vouens, Dartford)

AUington Castle : Ground Plan .....

Bayford Castle : Ground Plan

Colebridge Castle : Ground Plan ....
Early Map ot Canterbury, about 1570
The Hall, Penshurst Place : Exterior

Interior

160
165
166
) 168
172
174

176

177
179
182
212
216
218
228

5> >»

Hever Castle : the Gateway

(From a Photograph by the Photochrom Co., Ltd.)

Hever Castle, from the Gardens ...... 232

(From a Photograph by the Photochrom Co., Ltd.)

Gadshill, seen from the Garden 240

(From a Photograph by F. Frith £r' Co., Ltd., Reigate)
"The Leather Bottle," Cobham (From a Photograph by George Clinch) 242

Bleak House, Broadstairs . . „ „ „ 244

Restoration House, Rochester 246

(From a Photograph by the Plwtochrom Co.. Ltd.)

Eastgate House, Rochester 248

(From a Photograph by the Photochrom Co., Lid.)

INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS

Rochester Cathedral : West Front

(From a Photograph by the Photochrtm Co., Ltd.)

ChiUington Manor House : South Front, 1857 . . . .
„ „ the Long Gallery and Cloister,

from Garden

New Romney Church

Xlll
Facing Page

. 250

254

258

272

Upper Deal Church : West Tower {From a Drawing by j. Tavenor-Perry) 278

Charing Church : Benches .

Chiddingstone Church : South Porch

Groombridge Church : South Porch

Northfleet Church : West Tower

Plumstead Church : West Tower

Hollingbourne Church : the Culpeper Chapel ....

(From a Drawing by J . Tavenor-Perry')

West Tower and South Porch

(From a Drawing by J. Tavenor-Perry)

Interior, looking West

(Frotn a Drawing by J. Tavenor-Perry)

W^est Tower (From a Drawing by J. Tavenor-Perry)

Charlton Church
Plaxtole Church :

Plaxtole Church
Groombridge : Font . . m )> »
Kemsing Church : Font Cover „ „ „
The Blackfriars', Canterbury .

(From a Photograph by H. B. Collis, Canterbury)
St. Clement's Church, Sandwich (From a Photograph by George Clinch)

The Fisher Gate, Sandwich „ „ „

Hersfield Bridge
Yalding Bridge .
East Farleigh Bridge
Twyford Bridge .
Lodingford Bridge
Teston Bridge
Aylesford Bridge .
Twyford Bridge .

(From a Drawing by J. Tavenor-Perry)

280
280
282
283
286
287

288

290

290
295
296
302

320
322
322

324
326
328
328
329

HISTORIC KENT
By the Rev. P. H. Ditchfield, M.A., F.S.A.

OETS and poetasters have sung their sweetest
lays in honour of Kent's fair county — " the
Garden of England," as loyal Kentish men love
to call their beautiful and attractive shire.
Historians, too, love to dwell upon all the great events that
have taken place within its borders. The history of
Kent is in truth an epitome of the history of England —
almost all the great scenes presented in the drama of the
chronicles of England seem to have been enacted within
this important and ancient kingdom, or to have been
associated with it, from the time when Caesar's legions first
gazed on its white cliffs to the present day. The county
is rich, too, in the remains of the prehistoric folk — of
Palaeolithic man, who made his primitive weapons and
implements, hunted the woolly elephant, the Irish
elk, etc., and left behind the evidences of his presence
at Swanscombe and Greenhithe and other spots in the
Thames valley and other Kentish river-gravels ; of the
more civilised Neolithic man, whose sepulchral piles, like
Kit's Coty House at Aylesford, whose dwellings at Hayes,
West Wickham and Dartford Heath, and whose polished
celts and axes afford interesting objects for the study of
the curious antiquary.

The relics of the Bronze and Prehistoric Iron Ages are

very numerous and important. Of these much has been

written in learned treatises published in the transactions

of archaeological societies. And here I may remark that

B

2 Memorials of Old Kent

few counties can boast of a more learned and industrious
antiquarian society than the Kent Archaeological Society,
whose ArchcBologia Cantiana contains a mine of wealth
for all who desire to study the ancient records of this
historic county.

The dawn of history arose on this fair region of ancient
Britain when Cassar set sail from the Partus Itius, which
is usually said to be identical with Boulogne, and first
saw the white cliffs of Dover, and affected a landing at
Deal, as Mr. Vine demonstrates.^ There the first contest
was waged between the islanders and their formidable
foes. Cassar graphically tells the story of that landing,
and of the bravery of the standard-bearer of the Tenth
Legion, who, calling upon the gods for the success of his
venture, leaped into the waves, exclaiming, " Leap down,
soldiers, unless you wish to betray the eagle to the enemy ;
I at any rate shall have done my duty to the State and
my general." You may still see at low water the rocks
where the gallant Scaeva withstood single-handed the
attack of many foes, and then, wounded, trusted himself
to the waves and swam back to his comrades. Soon
followed that second battle, probably near Ring\vould,
when the Britons were practically victors, and with
shattered fleet and a reduced army the conqueror retired
from the inhospitable shores of Britain.

The details of his second venture are too well known
to be here recorded. Gradually the Roman power
extended itself, and here in Kent we have many evidences
of its mighty rule. There is the great road, Watling
Street, extending from Dover to London, passing through
Canterbury, Faversham, Sittingbourne, Rochester, Dart-
ford, and Greenwich. Canterbury was a great centre of
roadways. One leads southward to Lympne, and others
to Reculver and Ramsgate, and to Sandwich. Canterbury

1 Casar in Kent, by Rev. F. T. Vine, 1887.

Kits Coty House, Ayi.esford.

Historic Kent 3

was known as Durovernum, and was protected by walls,
as also were Rochester, the ancient DurobrivcB, and Dover,
then known as Diibris. A Roman -pharos or lighthouse
shed its gleam on the waves of the channel, and still
remains at the western end of St. Mary's Church in the
castle precincts. The massive walls of Reculver (Regul-
bium), Richborough (Rutupits), and Lympne (Partus
Lemattis), erected to guard the coast, bear witness to the
power of Roman sway and to the skill of Roman builders.
Numerous Roman relics of art and skill — houses, ceme-
teries, coins — have been found in the county, and proclaim
the extent of Roman colonisation and the large number of
the conquerors who settled in Kent's fair county.

When the period of the decline and fall of the Roman
empire set in, and the Roman legions, called to defend
the heart of that empire, could no longer keep in check
the turbulent Pictish tribes, the British King Vortigern
invited the Saxon freebooters, who were harrying his
coasts, to aid him against his northern foes. Thus the
coming of the English was inaugurated ; and Bede tells
that the Jutes, under Hengist and Horsa, came to Kent in
three long ships, and landed at Ebbsfleet, on the southern
shore of the Isle of Thanet, in 449. No spot in Britain
can be so sacred to Englishmen as that which first felt
the tread of English feet.^ " There is little to catch the
eye in Ebbsfleet itself, a mere lift of higher ground, with
a few grey cottages dotted over it. cut off nowadays from
the sea by a reclaimed meadow and a sea-wall." But the
scene has a wild natural beauty, and historical associa-
tions of the highest importance. There, in the Thanet
isle, the invaders rested, protected by the galleys that still
rode the high seas, and across the narrow strait of sea
were their new British allies, thankful that the kindly strait
saved them from a too close proximity to their formidable

1 Green. A Short History of the English People, p. 7.

4 Memorials of Old Kent

friends. The chronicles tell of the fight between the British
and English at Aylesford, when the former were defeated,
Horsa slain, and Hengist and ^sc, his son,^ obtained the
kingdom. Romance wove pretty stories to account for the
success of the pagan hosts, and Geoffrey of Monmouth
tells of the enamoured Vortigern meeting the beautiful
Rowen, daughter of Hengist, and of her pledging him
in a golden goblet of wine with the words " Lauerd King
wacht heil," and how Hengist gave her in marriage and
received in return the provmce of Kent.

Who were these war-loving hosts that conquered Kent ?
Bede calls them Jutes. They were of the same race as
the northern Goths, one of the noblest of the European
nations, and amongst them were numerous Frisians,
whose ancient laws declare that " the race shall be free
as long as the winds blow out of the clouds, and the world
stands." The trace of old British rule is preserved in the
name Kent, or Cantium, the only province of Britain that
kept its ancient title. The freedom-loving Frisians be-
queathed their national characteristic to their successors
in the land of their adoption. Through all the changes
of the Anglo-Saxon period, in feudal times and down to
our own days, they preserved their liberties, their peculiar
customs of inheritance such as gavelkind, and as Dryden
wrote —

Among the English shires be thou surnamed the free.
And foremost ever placed when they shall numbered be.

It was the privilege of the men of Kent to lead the
van in the national army in time of war.

There is a distinction between the inhabitants of East
and West Kent. The former were known as the " Men
of Kent," the latter as " Kentish Men," and it has been
suggested that the division of the dioceses of Canterbury
and Rochester marks the ancient boundary between the

'^Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 455.

Historic Kent 5

two original settlers. In Eastern Kent the Gothic tribes
fixed their habitations, in Western Kent the Frisians made
their settlements.^

Many relics of the Saxon age have been preserved in
Kent. Saxon tombs have disclosed many a choice brooch
and elaborate ornament. Riinic inscriptions have been
found at Dover and Sandwich, and when Christianity
came to subdue the paganism of the Kentish folk, many
churches were erected which are still partly preserved
among the additions of later ages.

If Ebbsfleet is dear to the heart of the Englishman, as
the spot where Hengist landed, it is still more sacred to
us on account of the advent of Augustine and his com-
panions in 597, when they came to convert England to
the Christian Faith, ^thelbert was King of Kent at
that period, and a powerful ruler he was. Under his
sway Kent was the chiefest kingdom in England, and
Canterbury its chief city. The Saxons of Essex and
Middlesex bowed before him and acknowledged .^thel-
bert as their overlord. East Anglia and Mercia were
subject to Kent, whose king extended his sway as far
as the Trent and Humber. We can see him sitting with
his thanes on the chalk down above Minster, listening
to the sermon of the Roman missionary. It was not the
first time that he had heard the teaching of Christianity.
His queen. Bertha, the daughter of King Charibert of
Paris, was a Christian, and with her came her chaplains,

"i- Origin of the A^tglo-Saxon Race, T. W. Shore, p. i8i, etc. My
colleague, Mr. Clinch, takes a slightly different view of the matter. He states
in his Little Guide to Kent that " a ' Man of Kent ' is one born east of
the Medway, and the special honour of being associated with that half
of the county is supposed ta be derived from the tradition that it was
the men of that part of Kent who went out with green boughs to meet
the Conqueror, and obtained a confirmation of their ancient privileges.
The expression, ' a Kentish man,' does not apply merely to the inhabi-
tants of West Kent, but is used to imply a resident in Kent generally,
without reference to whether his birthplace is on the east or west of the
Medway."

6 Memorials of Old Kent

who were allowed to use the ruined British Church of
St. Martin at Canterbury for their services.

He was not, however, converted until a year
elapsed after the landing of Augustine, and then
thousands of Kentish men followed his example and
embraced the new faith, ^thelbert gave land at Canter-
bury for the building of an abbey, and assigned his palace
in that city to Augustine and his monks, retiring to his
new palace at Reculver. St. Augustine became the first
Archbishop of Canterbury — the first of a long line of
prelates whose influence in Church and State has been
indeed remarkable. In every period of the nation's
history the power of the occupiers of the metropolitan
see is shown — a power that is no longer confined to Great
Britain, but extends itself to every colony of our world-
wide empire. A cathedral church was built by Augus-
tine, but it is lost in the greater glory and beauty of
its successors. Rochester, too, became a Cathedra] city,
and a church was built there in 604, when Justus, one
of Augustine's band of missionaries, became its first
bishop. But troublous times fell upon the shire, ^thel-
bert's successor, Eadbald, relapsed into idolatry, and a
reaction against the new faith followed. Bishop Justus
fled to Gaul in 617, but was subsequently recalled by the
King. When Egbert died his brother Lothair usurped the
throne of Kent, and devastated the country, sparing
neither church nor monastery. Then Ethelred of Mercia
invaded Kent, spoiled the whole shire, and laid waste
Rochester. King Ine of Wessex overthrew the last sem-
blance of Kentish power. In 775 the powerful Mercian
king Offa fought a great battle at Otford, near Seven-
oaks, and extended his rule over the shire. Then came
the Danish rovers, who ravaged Kent and spoiled the
cathedrals and churches, and the land had little peace.

When Ethelred reigned in 10 12 the Danish fleet came
to Greenwich and laid there for several years, their army

Historic Kent 7

being entrenched on the high ground of Greenwich Park
and Blackheath. They over-ran the country, sacked
Canterbury, and brought back to Greenwich as a prisoner
Archbishop Alphege, who died at their hands a martyr.
To him is the present parish church dedicated. It was
woe to the Kentish men when Danish wolves were abroad.

When the Conqueror came the Kentish men preserved
their freedom ; perhaps they won it with the aid of the
green boughs with which they welcomed him, and their
spirited demand of peace with a recognition of their
ancient liberties, or war. But they did not escape the
domination of strong earthworks which William threw
up to overawe his new subjects. At Dover, Rochester,
and Canterbury there are remains of earthworks, and at
Tunbridge, Leeds, Allington, Chilham, Eynesford, and
Saltwood, later castles were built, which were terrifying
evidences of the power of the feudal rulers of Britain.

But the Norman builders were employed in other
structures, and new cathedrals at Canterbury and
Rochester, and many a noble village church, were erected
at this period, and in spite of subsequent restorations
still bear witness to the skill of the masons of that time.
Monastic houses began to multiply, and amongst the most
notable were the rival houses of St. Augustine's and
Christ Church at Canterbury ; Aylesford Friary, the first
Carmelite house in England ; the Benedictine houses of
Davington, East Mailing (a nunnery) and Rochester ; the
Cistercian Abbey of Boxley ; the Premonstratensian
Abbeys of St. Rademund and West Langdon ; and some
others.

On the death of the Conqueror, the barons, headed
by Bishop Odo of Bayeux, rose in favour of Duke Robert
against William Rufus. They occupied Rochester Castle,
and were besieged by the king. A plague broke out
amongst the garrison, and the castle was surrendered to
the king, and Odo banished from the realm.

8 Memorials of Old Kent

By far the most important historical event in the
history of the county was the murder of Archbishop
Thomas a Becket at his cathedral church in 1170. Of
the details of the martyrdom it is unnecessary to write.
Every one is familiar with the story. The event filled
Christendom with amaze. Becket was canonized, miracles
were said to have been wrought at his tomb, and then
began that long procession of pilgrims to the shrine, " the
holy blissful martyr for to seek," who made the old
British way a pilgrim's road, and by their offerings
increased the stores of the monks of Canterbury, and
enabled them to perfect their cathedral. Here Henry II.
endured discipline at the hands of the monks for his
share in the murder, and far-reaching were the effects of
that impetuous crime.

The old Watling Street, the great highway between
London and the Continent, has been often trod by royal
and important persons. We see Richard the Lion Heart
and his band of Crusaders riding along it on their way
to fight the Infidel, and many a brave troop of knights
and men-at-arms rode through the county to fight on
French battle-fields and secure the possessions of the
English crown.

King John had much to do with Kent. We find him
at Barham at the head of sixty thousand men in 1213.
He was at Chilham Castle during his struggle with the
Pope, and despatched from that place his adherents, the
Justiciary and the Bishop of Winchester, to meet Stephen
Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, at Dover, in order
to demand from him certain articles of concession.
Stephen Langton refused, and retired again to France. In
consequence of the violation of Magna Charta by King
John, the barons offered the crown to Lewis, son of King
Philip of France, who accepted it and landed in Kent with
a large army. The hireling soldiers of John refused to
fight against their French brothers, and the country,

Historic Kent 9

disgusted with the king, was in favour of Lewis. Canter-
bury Castle submitted to him ; Dover Castle, however,
remained loyal to its English monarch. On the death
of John, whose treasure was lost in the Wellstream, where
Mr. St. John Hope has ingeniously located it, Prince Lewis
was forced to relinquish all hopes of the English crown.
An English fleet set sail from Dover, as many other fleets
have done in times of national peril, and kept back the
French reinforcements, which were approaching the
English shore under the notorious pirate " Eustace the
Monk." Then did the men of the Cinque Ports show
their seamanship and bravery, as they have done in
many a gallant defence of our island. The story of the
Ports is one of the most fascinating in our English annals.

When war broke out again, and Simon de Montfort
led the revolting barons, he assembled a large army at
Barham and marched through Kent.

Landing at Dover in 1221, along the Watling Street
another little army came, bent on peaceful conquest — the
followers of St. Francis, the begging friars, who fixed
their abodes amid the meanest hovels of the town, and
strove to carry the message of the Gospel to the poor.

Crusaders have often traversed the old road on their
way to the Holy Land. Edward I., on his return, came
to the Castle of Tunbridge, and was sumptuously enter-
tained. Here also his son, afterwards Edward II., resided
for some time. Leeds Castle was also held by the first
Edward, who often visited there. It was for many reigns
the property of the queens of England, and many dis-
tinguished guests from across the seas rested there on
their way from Dover to London. The castle was
besieged by Queen Isabella in 1321, who had been
refused admission, and ultimately surrendered to the king.
It has been the home of many royal persons, the prison
of many others, and in the chapel the Duchess of
Gloucester was tried for sorcery by Archbishop Chichele.

lo Memorials of Old Kent

Many were the incursions of the French fleet on the
shores of Kent and Sussex, and gallantly did the men
of the Cinque Ports guard the coast. In 1295 the
foreigners attacked Dover. There was no entente cordiale
to restrain their ravages, and again and again they came
to plunder and destroy, if only they could escape the
watchful eyes of the Kentish mariners, who failed not
to pay similar attentions to the towns on the French coast.

Eltham Palace welcomed King Edward II. and his
bride Isabella in 1308, where they sojourned fifteen days.
This old palace appears to have been a home for royal
brides and a birthplace of princes. Isabella of Valois,
the queen of Richard II., and Elizabeth Woodville,
awaited here their coronations. Prince John, the second
son of Edward II., better known as " John of Eltham,"
was born here, and also Philippa, daughter of Lionel,
Duke of Clarence, and Bridget, the seventh daughter of
Edward IV. Three Parliaments were held here in the
time of Edward III., and a deputation from the House
protested here against the proposed invasion of France
by Richard II. Often did the old banqueting hall echo
with the sounds of furious debate and witness the brilliant
assembly of royal councils, and the prolonged feasts of
the usual royal Christmas entertainments.

Stilled was the sound of gaiety when the Black Death
swept through the shire, and carried off the labourers
in their hovels, the nobles in their castles, and the monks
in their monasteries. The harvest rotted on the ground,
sheep and cattle strayed through the fields, and none were
left to drive them. It was a terrible time of suffering,
which gave birth to that peasant revolt, the first flames
of which were kindled by a Kentish man, John Ball, the
" mad priest of Kent," as Froissart calls him.

When Adam dalf and Eve span,
Who was thanne a gentilman ?

was the burden of the cry which echoed through England.

Historic Kent ii

The first blow was struck in Kent. A tax-gatherer, who
had insulted a tiler's daughter, was killed by her enraged
sire. The spark ignited the gunpowder, and a mighty
conflagration ensued. Kentish men rushed to arms. John
Ball was in prison at Canterbury. All the men of the
city sympathised with the revolt. The gates were opened
to the insurgents, the archbishop's palace and the castle
sacked, prisoners released, and much private property
seized. But the story of Wat Tyler's rebellion and the
peasant revolt will be told hereafter in a subsequent
chapter, and need not be now repeated. One result of
the agitation of the time, and of a foreign invasion more
serious than usual, was the building in 1385 of the strong
castle of Cowling by Lord Cobham. It was sorely needed
to protect the coast, as French and Spanish foemen had
sailed up the Thames, captured Gravesend, and burned
and destroyed every town and village near the river bank.

With Cowling Castle is associated the name of Sir
John Oldcastle, who married the granddaughter of the
founder, and became Lord Cobham. He was a strong
supporter of Lollardry, and the castle became the head-
quarters of that fanatical sect. Here came the zealous
preachers of the new doctrines, and found protection in
spite of royal decrees and episcopal prohibitions, until at
length the vast revolt was crushed, and the poor lord of
Cowling was captured in Wales and burned m chains on
Christmas Day, 141 7.

The shire was prolific in revolts and risings. Another
forty years passed, when Cade's rebellion broke out. The
French war had ended disastrously. The close of the
Hundred Years War saw England stripped of all the fair
provinces in France, which English valour had held and
conquered, and only Calais remained. English folk were
furious, and especially the men of Kent. There was then
a large manufacturing population in the shire, men who
took a keen interest in the war with France, and were

12 Memorials of Old Kent

disgusted at the triumph of the French. Twenty
thousand men flocked to the banner of the insurgents,
under the leadership of Jack Cade, who called himself
Mortimer. They marched to Blackheath. The " Com-
plaint of the Commons of Kent " was presented to the
royal council, which contained no unreasonable demands.
It was rejected, and the Kentish folk defeated the royal
army in a pitched battle at Sevenoaks. On to London
the victorious rebels marched, slew Lord Saye in the
streets of London, a graphic picture of which deed hangs
in the hall of his descendant at Broughton Castle. The
council became alarmed, the " complaint " was listened
to, and granted. The rebels dispersed, promises were
forgotten, and Cade was killed by the sheriff ere he left
the county.

Just before this time was born in Kent a remarkable
man who was destined to revolutionize literature — the
learned printer, William Caxton. The county may well
be proud of her distinguished son. After his sojourn of
thirty-five years in Flanders we see him travelling along
the old Watling Street with his wains bearing his precious
presses and type to Westminster, where he set up his shop,
printed, traded, translated, and enjoyed the favour and
patronage of the nobles and great men of the age. He
loved his native shire, and spoke of " Kent in the Weald,
where I doubt not is spoken as broad and rude English
as in any place in England."

Henry VH. loved Kent, and frequently travelled
through the fair county, as the accounts of his privy purse
show. Canterbury often saw him, where he visited
the shrine of Becket, and gave 6s. 8d. to a heretic whom he
" converted."

At Greenwich we see rising the new royal palace
erected by Henry VII. on the site of the priory once
inhabited by the hero of Aglncourt, and by Humphrey,
Duke of Gloucester. This palace added new glories to

Historic Kent 13

Kent. Here were born Henry VIII., Queen Mary, Queen
Elizabeth, and many other royal personages, and here
Edward VI. died. Kentish palaces have added much to
the history of the shire. The old Greenwich palace,
which witnessed many brilliant scenes of royal splendour,
was pulled down by Charles II., who built a new palace,
which, by the gift of Mary, the queen of William III.,
is now the famous hospital for seamen.

Of the dissolution of monasteries it is unnecessary to
write, or of its disastrous results on the great abbeys and
other religious houses, the churches and hospitals tTiat
abounded in Kent. That is a page in English history
which we care not to read too often.

The ravings and imposture of Elizabeth Barton of
Aldington (where, by the way, Erasmus once was vicar)
contributed to increase the monarch's antipathy to monks.
Styled the " Holy Maid of Kent," a subject of hysterical
fits, the tool of two iniquitous clerics. Masters and Bocking,
she made pretended revelations and uttered prophecies
against the innovation in religion, the royal divorce, and
the king. Her ravings were listened to, and the monks
and priests spread the stories throughout England, and
even Bishop Fisher, of Rochester, was carried away by
the strange delusion. The " Holy Maid " and all her
accomplices suffered the penalty of death, and, her impos-
ture was exposed. History tells of the shameful execution
of good Bishop Fisher, which was partly caused by the
wild ravings of the Kentish maid.

Henry VIIL, a Kentish man, loved the shire, and he
loved one of its fairest daughters, whom we shall meet
again at Hever Castle. Greenwich and Eltham frequently
saw him. It was at Eltham that Cardinal Wolsey took
the oath as Lord Chancellor, and here he gave the king
his princely palace of Hampton Court, and here the
" Statutes of Eltham " were devised for the better order-
ing of the royal household. Near here lived Margaret

14 Memorials of Old Kent

Roper, the daughter of one of Henry's victims — Sir
Thomas More.

Again in Queen Mary's reign the Kentish men were in
revolt. The cause was the dread of the Spanish marriage.
Sir Thomas Wyatt led the msurgents. A battle was
fought at Strood between Wyatt's followers and the
queen's army under the leadership of the Duke of Norfolk,
when the Kentish men won, many of the trainbands of
London deserting to the rebels with shouts of " A Wyatt !
A Wyatt ! We are all Englishmen." Six guns were cap-
tured, and soon employed in an attack by Wyatt on his
brother-in-law's castle of Cowling, which was defended
by Lord Cobham from eleven o'clock in the morning
until five in the afternoon ; but was at length forced to
capitulate. For his unsuccessful defence Lord Cobham
endured a short imprisonment in the Tower. The fate
of Wyatt and his luckless followers is too well known to
be here mentioned.

During the Marian persecutions many poor people
suffered in Kent for the sake of their religion, and died
bravely at the stake. In October, 1555, John Webbe,
Gentleman, George Rober and Gregory Parke were burned
at Canterbury. Two years later three men and four
women suffered in the same city. Maidstone was also
a place where martyrs were burned, and seven suffered
there, amongst whom was Matthew Plaise, a weaver of
Stone. Thornton, Bishop of Dover, and Archdeacon
Harpsfield, were the chief inquisitors, and their examina-
tions of the accused are set out in extenso in Foxe's
Bock of Martyrs. He tells also of the narrow escapes
of Thomas Christenman and William Watts, of Tunbridge,
and other sad stories of that unhappy time.

The wise policy of Elizabeth and her succour of both
Huguenots and Flemings, brought colonies of these dis-
tressed people to Kent, and Mr. Kershaw will tell how
they enriched the shire by their industries. The Cinque

Historic Kent 15

Ports afforded a refuge to the victims of Alva's persecu-
tions, and the sea-dogs of Kent levied heavy toll on the
Spanish trading vessels in the channel. Then came that
grand attempt to crush England with the Invincible
Armada, and when " the feathers of the Spaniard were
plucked one by one," as the galleons sailed the English
seas, the sea-dogs of Kent had a good share in the pluck-
ing, and when just across the narrow straits the great
Spanish ships rested off Calais, many a Kentish man took
pleasure in sending those fireships among them to com-
plete the confusion of the Dons.

Of Sir Philip Sidney and other members of his illus-
trious race, some account will be given later. During the
Civil War Kent was very loyal to the royal cause. In
the hour of gloom, when all seemed lost, and a re-action
set in against Cromwell and the Parliament, Kent, with
Essex and Hertford, rose in revolt in 1648 against the
Puritan regime, and off the coasts the royal standard
waved on the masts of the fleet. But the effort was
transitory. Fairfax and his troopers proved too powerful
for the hastily levied bands of insurgents, and soon the
Royal Martyr was led to execution.

There were great rejoicings at Dover when Charles II.
landed there in 1660, and made his triumphal progress
along the old road to Whitehall. Kentish men gave a
right loyal greeting, though afterwards they had cause to
sigh over his dishonoured reign. The tyranny of Charles
doomed to death Kent's accomplished son, Algernon
Sidney, on a charge of sharing in the Rye-house Plot,
and the shameful conditions of the Treaty of Dover, con-
cluded at a meeting between the king and his sister
Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans, whereby he sold himself
to the French monarch, show the extraordinary political
profligacy of the age. Kentish men beheld with shame
the bold mariners of Holland sail up the Thames, and the
burning of the English ships of war that lay at Chatham,

1 6 Memorials of Old Kent

while the king feasted with the ladies of his seraglio,
and amused himself with hunting a moth about the
supper table.

Kent also was concerned m the cowardly flight of
James II., who fled across the Thames one dark winter's
night, landed at Vauxhall, and then set out to Sheerness,
where a hoy awaited to convey him to France. At
Emley Ferry, near the island of Sheppey, the boat lay.
The sea was rough, and the master was afraid to start.
News of the king's flight spread like wildfire, producing
lawlessness and misrule. The rude Kentish fishermen
thought a Jesuit or some rich man was on board the
craft, and fifty of them boarded her and seized the passen-
gers, rudely hustling the king, and appropriating his
watch and money. They conveyed him to an inn, where
he was recognized. Sir Edward Hales, a Kentishman,
whose home was in the neighbourhood, had accompanied
the king, and he was much hated by the fisher folk, who
soon set to work to piflage his house and slay his deer.
The king was respected by them, but was not allowed to
depart. The Earl of Winchelsea, hearing of the king's
plight, hastened to him with a number of Kentish squires,
who placed him in a more convenient lodging. But the
fishermen would not let him go, and guarded well his
chamber. Piteously did he plead with them, but all in
vain. At length a messenger was sent to the council of
Lords, imploring aid. A troop of life guards was sent to
release the imprisoned monarch. They found him in a
pitiable state, and removed him to Rochester, and thence
he returned to Whitehall. When William arrived in
London, James was ordered to retire to Ham House ; he
preferred Rochester, where he was permitted to go.

History tells with shame the fright and cowardice of
the king, who, in spite of the advice of his friends, resolved
to seek safety across the seas. That was a strange sight
which was seen in the garden of the house at Rochester —

Historic Kent 17

the king stealing out at midnight, attended by Berwick, to
the banks of the Medway, where a small skiff was waiting
to take him to the Thames. There he boarded a smack,
and was soon on the way to France, much to the joy of
the Prince of Orange and his party. It was an ignominious
end to an inglorious reign.

Since that period Kent does not appear to occupy a
prominent place in the nation's history. The men of
Kent still showed their independent spirit and fondness
of rioting at the end of the eighteenth, and at the begin-
ning of the nineteenth century. At Maidstone there were
riots in 1798 in connection with the trial of Arthur
O'Connor, and forty years later the Boughton riots took
place, headed by a fanatic named Thorns, who was shot
dead by the military.

In the days of the smugglers the men of Kent were
not behind their neighbours of Sussex in the fearlessness
of their ways in running contraband goods, and in their
conflicts with the revenue officers.

When the great Napoleon threatened England, Kentish
men were alert and vigorous in preparing to resist the
invasion, and along the coast arose martello towers, which
were erected to defend our English shores. In the old
castle of Walmer, built by Henry VIII., the official
residence of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports,
passed away Napoleon's most powerful enemy, the great
Duke of Wellington.

Of the gallant sons and great men of Kent I have
no need to write. Their names are recorded in many
a page of history, and revered by their descendants. In
this brief survey of Kentish history I have attempted to
record only those great events which connected the shire
with our national annals, and to show the important part
which the men of Kent have played in the making of
English history. Brave, sturdy, independent, they have
left their mark on the character of our English race.
C

1 8 Memorials of Old Kent

Kent's geographical position has forced it into special
prominence, and in the Garden of England have bloomed
many precious flowers of chivalry and knightly prowess,
of brave deeds and patient suffering, which have helped
to form the garland of England's glory.

ST. AUGUSTINE'S ABBEY
CANTERBURY

By Sebastian Evans, Jun.

IHE early history of this great mitred Abbey may
be said to begin with the arrival, in the year
597, of the small band of missionaries headed
by Augustine, a monk of St. Andrew's at Rome,
sent by Pope Gregory to preach the Christian faith to
Pagan Saxondom.

Ethelbert, King of Kent at the time, had received
Augustine and his monks with great favour, had himself
been baptised, and had placed at the disposal of the
missionary an old Roman temple on the site of which
was founded Christ Church.

Whether because there was not sufficient accommoda-
tion at Christ Church for his monks, whether he desired
to separate them from the secular clergy, or whether, as
now generally seems to be accepted, burial was not allowed
within the city, Augustine prevailed on Ethelbert to
grant him a site outside the walls that he might found
a monastery which should serve as a burial place for
himself, for the Kings of Kent, and his successors. On
this site, therefore, outside the walls, and about midway
between Christ Church and St. Martin's Church, was
founded in the year 598 the Church of St. Peter and
St. Paul, but not until the year 613 was it consecrated by
Archbishop Laurence, and the body of Augustine, which
had lain since the time of his death in 605 outside the

19

20 Memorials of Old Kent

Church, was translated to his appointed burial place in the
north porch.

In the porch and church were also buried the bodies of
nine succeeding archbishops : — Laurence, MeUitus, Justus,
Honorius, Deusdedit, Theodore, Brihtwald, Tatwine, and
Nothelm.

On the death of Cuthbert, the tenth Archbishop, how-
ever, a dispensation was obtained from the Pope, and
leave from the King also, whereby burial for himself and
his successors was allowed in his own Cathedral of Christ
Church. Thus early was this monastery, always jealous
and a rival of the great neighbouring establishment at
Christ Church, robbed of one of its most cherished
privileges.

The twelfth archbishop, Janbert, was buried in the
Chapter House of the Monastery, by his own directions,
probably owing to the fact that he had been abbot before
he was appointed archbishop ; but he was the last arch-
bishop buried at St. Augustine's.

Of the kings and queens of Kent buried here may
be mentioned Ethelbert and his queen Bertha ; Eadbald,
the successor of Ethelbert, and his queen Emma ; and the
kings Erconbert, Lothaire, and Withred. Mulus, a
strange king, was also buried here. All these were most
probably laid in the south porch.

Ethelbert had royally endowed the monastery, and
from the first it had been the recipient of charters, privi-
leges, gifts of land, and other advantages, granted by
successive Saxon kings ; and it obtained also great and
unusual privileges from the See of Rome. The most
noteworthy of these latter was the great Privilegium of
St. Augustine. It is given at length by William Thorne in
his history of the monastery. The purport of this
" Privilege " was to exempt the monastery from episcopal
control, and though in the quarrels between the arch-
bishops and abbots it played an important part, there is
but little doubt that this document was spurious, and the

Ethelbert's Tower, St. Augusiine's Monastery, Cantekbuky.

(Front an Old EngraT'ing.)

St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury 21

product of a much later date. Not only did the monastery
continue to receive endowments and gifts from the Saxon
kings, but Canute, the Danish monarch, was a great bene-
factor to it, and it steadily advanced in splendour and
stateliness until at one time it was the most opulent and
important of any in the Kingdom.

After the death of Ethelbert in 616, the crown reverted
to his son Eadbald, who was a pagan, and the new
Christianity was in danger of total extinction until
Archbishop Laurence succeeded in convincing Eadbald
of the error of his ways.

The story is given by Bede that the archbishop, who
intended seeking safety in flight, repaired to St. Augus-
tine's, and ordered his bed to be prepared for the night
in the church, and that on his falling asleep St. Peter
appeared to him and scourged him for his cowardice. In
the morning, instead of continuing his intended flight, he
sought an interview with Eadbald, explained his dream,
and showed him the marks of the scourging, whereupon
Eadbald was convinced of the truth of Christianity, and
allowed himself to be baptised. However little we may
believe of such a story, it is certain that Eadbald, in the
grounds of the monastery, just to the east of the Abbey
Church, founded and built the Church of the Virgin, which
was consecrated in or about the year 618.

The first four abbots were companions of Augustine,
Peter being the first, who was said to have been drowned
in the Bay of Amflete on his return from France, whither
he had been sent on a mission by the king.

After the death of the sixth abbot, Nathaniel, in 667,
Hasted tells us there was a " vacancy " of two years, taking
his information from Bede and Thorne ; but Gervase, a
monk of Christ Church, mentions that Archbishop Theo-
dore appointed Benedict Biscop as abbot. Whether he was
ever abbot or not — and some modern writers are inclined
to agree with Gervase — there was an interval altogether
of four years before the appointment of Adrian, a native

22 Memorials of Old Kent

of Africa, in 671. Thorne speaks of him as "over-
shadowing all others by the brilliance of his knowledge
and understanding." For a considerable period he was
the companion of Archbishop Theodore, and assisted him
in his work of organizing the Christian Church in England.
He ruled the monastery for thirty-nine years, and died in
the year 708.

His successor, Albinus, was the first English abbot of
St. Augustine's, and a pupil of Adrian. It is to him, per-
haps, that we owe most of our knowledge of early English
Church History, as Bede tells us that it was chiefly
through the persuasion of Albinus that he undertook his
Ecclesiastical History, and from him he received his
information as to what transpired in Kent and the
adjacent counties.

Albinus died in 732, and according to Thome was
buried in Eadbald's Church of St. Mary, close to his
predecessor Adrian.

Very little is heard of the monastery for a period of
about two hundred years beyond the gifts of various
manors. The abbot was said to have been granted leave
by Athelstan to coin money, but it does not seem clear
in what reign this privilege was granted. Thorne mentions
that it ceased at the death of Abbot Sylvester in 1161,
and merely says that several of his predecessors enjoyed
the privilege.

In 955 there is another bull from a pope, John XIII.,
whereby he takes the monastery under his own protection,
and grants it exemption from the intermediate power of
the archbishop. This would seem to have been hardly
necessary if the monastery already possessed the " privi-
legium of St. Augustine."

During the next sixty or seventy years the abbey must
have suffered in some measure from the frequent and
serious incursions of the Danes. Three or four times was
the city of Canterbury attacked and plundered, and it
seems hardly likely that St. Augustine's, outside the walls

St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury 23

of the city, should have entirely escaped. The fourth
time, during the abbacy of Elmer, in the year ion, the
whole city was burnt, and even the cathedral did not
escape. St. Augustine's, however, was again immune from
the attack, and the historian of the abbey — Thorne — has
ascribed the fact to a miracle. One of the Danes was
said to have seized the valuable covering that he found
on the tomb of St. Augustine. On his endeavouring to
hide it, it stuck to his fingers, and he could not get rid
of it, which, when his fellows saw, they were so terrified
that they desisted from their pillage.

A far more likely story is that Elmer paid heavy
ransom for his monastery, as we may acquit him of the
charge brought against him by the Saxon Chronicle of
treachery, for after being made bishop of Sherburne he
returned to the Abbey of St. Augustine's to die, and was
buried in the Church there.

Ethelstan succeeded Elmer, and under him the
monastery received one of the largest gifts in land that
it ever possessed. This abbot was in high favour with
King Cnut, who would have appointed him to the see of
Winchester, but he refused the offer.

The convent of St. Mildred's, at Minster, had been
almost destroyed by the Danes, and it was the property
belonging to it, which consisted of quite half the Isle of
Thanet, that was bestowed upon the monastery. The
relics of St. Mildred which had been spared by the Danes
were also acquired by the Abbot, and as this saint was
one of the most popular in Kent, the possession of these
no doubt added largely to the fame of the abbey.

Ethelstan died about the year 1047, and was succeeded
by Wulfric II.

About this time the Abbey Church and monastic build-
ings seem to have been in a poor state of repair, perhaps
owing to some of the previous incursions of the Danes,
or from the fact that the Saxon Church had now been
standing some 450 years, and the other buildings only a

24 Memorials of Old Kent

little shorter period, for Wulfric obtained leave from the
Pope to enlarge and rebuild his church.

Towards the end of 1056 he commenced his work by
pulling down the west end of Eadbald's Church of the
Virgin, with a view of connecting it with the east end
of the abbey church, but his work was interrupted in
1059 by his death, which was ascribed by the people to
his having pulled down part of the Church of the Virgin
without asking for her sanction.

His successor Egelsin does not appear to have had
any hand in the rebuilding, and after quarrelling with the
archbishop, and incurring the displeasure of William I.,
he is said to have fled to Denmark, leaving his monastery
a prey to the Conqueror, who, after confiscating some of
its possessions, constituted Scotland, a Norman monk,
abbot in his stead.

Possibly through his friendship with Lanfranc, the
archbishop, Scotland was enabled to recover some of the
lost lands of the monastery, and generally to improve it.
He took in hand the work of enlarging the Church, which
had been begun by Wulfric, and finding all the buildings
in quite a ruinous state, he also obtained permission from
the Pope to pull the whole down and rebuild them entirely.

The bodies of the kings and saints were carefully
removed, and the work was proceeded with, but again it
was interrupted by the death of the abbot, and it was left
for his successor, Abbot Wydo, to complete the work.

In the year 1091 the new church was finished, con-
secrated by Archbishop Lanfranc, and the bodies of the
kings and queens, and various saints, were formally trans-
lated to their new resting-places. The body of Augustine,
so Thorne tells us, was translated with the rest, but at
night the abbot and some ancient monks placed the
remains in a stone coffin, which was hidden " in a place
in the wall under the east window." Owing to the fear
of thieves, or invasion, the matter was kept secret, the
hiding place was forgotten, and there the remains rested

St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury 25

till discovered 130 years later by Abbot Hugh III. It is
said that other relics of saints were hidden in various
places, which have not been discovered.

These relics are not the only things which were lost,
for it is said that the monks, who were in constant fear
of pillage during the raids of the Danes, not only hid their
saintly relics, but also their gold ornaments, of which they
appear to have had a goodly number, and the hiding places
of these were never found, owing either to the death of
the monks who knew where they were or their being
taken prisoners.

Wydo died in 1099 and was succeeded by Hugh de
Floriac or Hugh Flory, a warrior who had been engaged
in the wars of both the Conqueror and his successor, and
it was on the occasion of his visiting the monastery in
company with William Rufus that he first embraced the
religious life, and refusing to quit the monastery, became
a monk. Before his novitiate was ended Wydo died,
and on the monks sending Hugh to petition the king that
they might choose an abbot for themselves, the king
recognized his companion of the wars, and told the monks
that, novitiate though he was, he appointed him abbot,
and if they did not choose to at once accept him, their
monastery should be burnt to ashes. The monks sub-
mitted, much to their welfare as it turned out, for Flory
brought a large fortune with him, and gave many and
costly ornaments to the abbey.

He built the dormitory, the ruins of which may still be
seen, and which will be described later, and the chapter
house, but of this there is nothing remaining, as it was
pulled down and rebuilt about the year 1380.

Hugh Flory died in 1 1 24, and was buried in the chapter
house which he had rebuilt.

The succeeding abbot, Hugh de Trottescliffe, owed his
appointment to the fact of his having acted as chaplain
to Henry I., but the archbishop flatly refused to give him
the benediction in his own monastery. The abbot

26 Memorials of Old Kent

appealed to the king and the pope, and in spite of the
archbishop's protest, he duly received the benediction at
the hands of the Bishop of Chichester. Thus began the
long and costly wrangle between the abbots and the
archbishops with regard to episcopal jurisdiction.

One of the chief works of this abbot was to build the
Hospital of St. Lawrence as a sanatorium for the monks,
and an almshouse for their relatives. He raised the
number of monks to sixty, and created various offices in
the monastery for the more convenient carrying out of the
monastic business.

Hugh de Trottescliffe died in 1151, and was buried in
the chapter house opposite to his predecessor.

The quarrel between abbot and archbishop grew
acute when Sylvester, the successor of Hugh Trottescliffe,
was elected. Theodore, the archbishop, refused his bene-
diction, and the abbot refused the oath of obedience. The
abbot went to Rome, the pope confirmed him in his office,
and he returned to Canterbury with his letters from the
Papal See, but it was not till after the Archbishop had
delayed matters by various excuses from time to time that,
on a very peremptory rescript from the pope, the abbot
received the benediction. Nor was this all ; the arch-
bishop, highly incensed, excommunicated the whole
monastery, deposed the abbot, and prohibited services in
the church. Gervase says that at this time King Stephen's
queen used to worship at the abbey whilst the abbey of
Faversham was building, and owing to the silence imposed
on the monks, she used to send for the Christ Church
monks to come and worship. This may or may not be
true ; Gervase, it must be remembered, was a monk of the
rival establishment, and is only too ready to relate any
story tending to belittle St. Augustine's.

The two historians, Thorne and Gervase, indeed are
entirely at variance with regaxd to the history of Abbot
Sylvester ; the former saying that the abbot received the
benediction in his own monastery, while the latter gives

St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury 27

the abbot's oath of obedience at length, in which he says
that he promises the archbishop " Canonical obedience in
all things." This latter version is probably correct, as it is
confirmed by a manuscript still in the possession of the
Dean and Chapter, with the archbishop's seal attached.

Sylvester died in 1161, and there is a gap of two
years which is unaccounted for, as it was not till 1163 that
Henry 11. appointed a fugitive Norman monk named
Clarembald as abbot. But this being entirely against the
wishes of the convent, the monks refused to acknowledge
him, would not admit him to the chapter house, or permit
him to conduct services in the church. From the year 1 163
to 1 173, when he was deposed, the Abbey underwent a
time of serious trouble. Clarembald never received the
archbishop's benediction, and never took the oath of
obedience, possibly because Becket, the Archbishop, was
exiled from his see at the time. Gervase tells a story
that Clarembald was immediately concerned in the death
of the archbishop in that the four assassins conferred
with him on the morning of the murder, and perhaps
this may have had something to do with Thome's
assertion that this abbot was never counted in the list
of abbots, for the monks of St. Augustine's would be
unlikely to admit that their abbot had anything to do
with the martyrdom of St. Thomas.

In 1 168 a grievous misfortune befel the monastery,
for the greater part was destroyed by fire, and with it
many of the ancient charters, deeds of gift and manu-
scripts were burnt. The Church itself suffered, and the
shrine of St. Augustine and those of other saints were
badly damaged.

Clarembald, whether abbot or not, had the manage-
ment of the finances of the abbey, which he squandered
so recklessly that he left the monastery heavily in debt.
Eventually the monks appealed to the pope, on the ground
that " he was a bad man and had wasted the possessions
of the monastery," and he was deposed, much to the

28 Memorials of Old Kent

disgust of the king, who took the Abbey with all its
possessions into his own keeping for the next two-and-
a-half years, and it was only on the receipt of urgent
letters from the pope that he recognized Roger, a monk
of Christ Church, as abbot, and restored the monastery
to its own.

The election of a monk of Christ Church would seem
a curious policy, but this Roger was keeper of the altar in
" the Martyrdom," and there being a craze for mementos
of St. Thomas, it was thought by the monks of
St. Augustine's that they might thus obtain some of the
coveted relics, in which they were not altogether
unsuccessful.

Although hailing from Christ Church, Roger showed no
disposition to take the oath of obedience to the Archbishop.
The matter was referred to the pope, who, after hearing
Roger himself, and the emissaries of the archbishop,
decided in favour of the former, and decreed, moreover,
that in the future, if the archbishop refused to bestow the
benediction in the abbot's own monastery, the abbot should
repair to Rome and receive it from the pope himself. In
1 1 79, accordingly, Roger received the benediction from
Pope Alexander III., and though this was followed in 1182
by an agreement between the archbishop and the abbot
that the former should abandon his claim to the oath of
obedience, it by no means put an end to the quarrel
with the various archbishops, for on the death of Roger,
who had ruled for the long period of thirty-six years, his
successor, Alexander, demanded benediction in his own
monastery, refused the oath of obedience, and on the
archbishop's refusal to comply with such terms, repaired
to Rome and received benediction at the hands of Pope
Innocent III.

It would be tedious to follow the trouble between the
various archbishops and abbots with regard to episcopal
control. In spite of protestations from the primates, the
various abbots, by bribery or otherwise, obtained their

St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury 29

benedictions from the pope. In 1237 Archbishop Rich
brought matters to a head temporarily by an agreement
which was altogether in favour of St. Augustine's. It gave
the abbot the right of receiving benediction in his own
monastery, it exempted him from the oath of obedience,
and in return the abbot was to receive the archbishop when
he came to bestow the benediction as the representative
of the pope. But under successive archbishops the feud
continued, and it was not until 1397 that Archbishop
Arundel saw the futility of continuing the struggle against
the Augustinians, whose appeals to the various Pontiffs
were always successful. He therefore declared the monas-
tery exempt entirely from episcopal control, and subject
only to the See of Rome.

For the next one hundred years the prosperity of the
monastery steadily but quietly increased, various grants of
money by Adam de Kingsnoth, new buildings, new
cloisters, and a new refectory being chronicled, until we
come to the time of Thomas Fyndon, abbot from 1283
to 1309. He was the third prior of the monastery, and
received the benediction from the Bishop of London.
Under his abbacy the fortunes of the monastery may be
said to have reached their highest point. The abbot was
in high favour with the king, who made repeated visits
to St. Augustine's ; it had the direct support of Rome,
and its worldly possessions were immense. New buildings
were being undertaken of all descriptions. The new
kitchen, which took four years building, was finished at a
cost of ;^4I4 los., according to Thorne ; the roof of the
dormitory was again " new made," and stalls were built
in the choir. The abbot's chapel, a stone tower to the
church — probably the central one — were built, and other
buildings seem to have been completed. It was Fyndon
who built the great gateway of the monastery, which has
come down to us in its original state with some slight
restoration of the two towers.

Thorne records that during this abbacy an enormous

30 Memorials of Old Kent

feast was given to all the prelates of Kent, and to all judges
and lawyers at that time on circuit. The guests num-
bered some 4,500, and from the accounts of the price of
the various commodities consumed, it seems to have been a
considerable drain on the resources of the monastery. But
it was to Abbot Fyndon's successor, Ralph de Bourne, that
the credit or discredit attaches of supplying a gargantuan
feast. The " first " batch consisted of 6,000 persons,
and Thorne gives a detailed list of the fare provided which,
including as it does fifty-eight casks of beer and eleven
tuns of wine, and costing the equivalent of about £y,ooo
of our money, can only be stigmatised as wanton waste
of money, seeing that the last abbot left the monastery
in a somewhat impoverished condition by his extrava-
gance.

From this time the fortunes of the monastery began to
decline seriously, although there were considerable bene-
factions to it. In the time of this abbot, one Peter de
Dene made sumptuous gifts to the monastery, among
other things over one hundred vessels of silver ; and after
appointing the convent his sole legatee, he was allowed to
build himself a house within the monastery. For some
time this curious arrangement no doubt was much to the
advantage of the abbey, but Peter, whose main reason for
becoming a quasi monk, and taking refuge in the abbey,
was to avoid some political trouble, at length, finding that
trouble overpast, was anxious once more to return to the
outer world. Not being able to obtain the abbot's consent
to this, his only hope lay in being able to make his escape,
and with the help of his brother and the rector of
St. Martin's, he actually accomplished this. But his
freedom was of short duration, for after two or three days
he was found by the brethren and ignominiously brought
back. Peter, however, by some means or other, appealed
to the pope, who requested the prior of Christ Church to
enquire into the matter. The prior betook himself to
St. Augustine's, but on the first day was unable to find

St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury 31

his man, as the convent refused to produce him. On the
morrow he took two hundred men with him, with much
the same resuh ; and again on the third day he went, when
the monks produced a man who told the prior that he was
a monk, a monk he intended to remain, and that he had
no wish to leave the monastery.

It seems from this story that the abbot must have
been rather hard pressed for money, and having got hold
of a wealthy man, he and his convent meant by hook or
by crook to keep him, and no doubt the man who answered
the prior of Christchurch was put up in place of the real
Peter de Dene. As far as can be made out, he died at
the monastery, and according to Thorne, who gives his
will at length, dated 1322, it profited by the fortune he left,
which included a large collection of books.

A serious loss to the abbey and to the Church generally
was the passing of the Statute of Mortmain in the
seventh year of Edward I., by which private persons were
debarred from leaving their estates to the abbey without
the special license of the king. This put a stop in a great
measure to the accumulation of property by the Abbey,
and though various schemes were tried, such as claiming
exem.ption from tithes and procuring privileges, the
monastery sadly missed the benefactions of the laity.

Another blow to the abbey, and one costing about
£600, was a rising of tenants in the Isle of Thanet, who
refused to pay their dues, and when the abbey distrained
for them, about six hundred men attacked the Manor
Houses at Mmster and Salmeston, and did enormous
damage, and the rioting was not put down without the
intervention of the authorities.

Abbot Ralph de Bourne died in 1334 after ruling the
monastery for twenty-five years.

The next abbot, Thomas Poncy, of Poucyn, received
benediction at Avignon, at a cost to his monastery of
^^148, as Thorne gives it, or fully £"3,000 of our money.
It is possibly one of the reasons for the decline in the

32 Memorials of Old Kent

finances of the monastery, and therefore of the fortunes
of the abbey generally, that the various abbots had to
proceed to Avignon or Rome to obtain the benediction
of the popes. It will be remembered that the convent
prided itself on being subservient to Rome alone, but this
can hardly have been an unmixed blessing.

Between the years 1334 to 1349 Abbots Poncy, William
Drulege, and John Devenisse all died, and as each had to
receive the benediction from the pope, the finances of
the monastery were again seriously drawn upon.

We have seen the expenses of Thomas Poncy ; those
of William Drulege are not mentioned, but those of John
Devenisse were serious indeed. This man was a monk
of Winchester, and was elected by that convent to be
their bishop. For some reason or other this was against
the wishes of Edward III., and at his entreaty the pope
cancelled the election, but promised Devenisse some
preferment if he stayed with him. The death of William
Drulege taking place at this time, the pope gave the post
of abbot to him. In the meantime, however, the monks of
St. Augustine's had chosen their own abbot, and both
they and the king resented the pope's nomination. The
result was that the king refused to restore the temporalities
of the abbey to Devenisse, and he was even compelled to
reside at Nackington, some two miles away. He returned
to the pope at Avignon, in the hope of getting some
settlement of his affairs, but died there in 1348 without
being in any way successful. His expenses to the monas-
tery amounted, according to Thorne, to i^ 1,000 and more ;
modern equivalent about :^22,000.

Thomas Colwelle, who succeeded, ruled the monastery
wisely for the space of twenty-seven years, so possibly he
may have retrenched a little. Thorne mentions that during
this abbot's time the three bells named Austin, Mary, and
Gabriel, as well as four in the tower, were cast.

The expenses of Michael Peckham, the next abbot,
although spared going to Avignon for the benediction,

PLAN OF EXCAVATIONS

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CANTERBURY

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CANTERBURY

St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury 33

amounted to no less a sum than £i,ooS 13s. 8d., and it was
probably owing to this that the affairs of the monastery
during his tenancy were in a more parlous state than ever.

The buildings of the monastery, however, were kept in
repair through the generosity of the sacrist, Thomas
Ickham, and the chapter house was rebuilt after lying
more or less in ruins for fully fifty years. The ruins of this
chapter house may still be seen, and from the style of
architecture it is evident that it was built at this period,
circa 1380.

The story of William Welde's accession to the abbacy
is one long series of troubles and delays. Shortly after
the death of Peckham he was elected by the monks, and
Thorne, to whom we are almost entirely indebted for our
history, was himself despatched to the pope to sue for
his sanction to the election. But in spite of protestations,
gifts, and various representations, it was not till thirteen
months had passed that the pope considered the case, and
even then cited the abbot-elect to appear before him.
This again caused further delays and expenses, so that
before the abbot was finally installed, a period of two years
and two months had elapsed. The expenses, as may be
imagined, were extortionate ; they are given at length in
Thorne, and were so great and so burdensome to the
monastery that the king himself was prevailed on to forego
half of what was due to him.

However badly off the monastery might be, it cannot
be said that Abbot Welde was niggardly in his hospi-
tality, for he entertained Richard II. on the enthroniza-
tion of Archbishop Arundel, and some few years before
that monarch had made the abbey his resting-place with
the greater part of his court.

No doubt the monastery had to pay for the kingly
friendship, for Hasted tells us that on two occasions the
Abbot came to the rescue when money was wanted.

Abbot Welde died on the 12th June, 1405, and with
his death all detailed history of the monastery also comes

D

34 Memorials of Old Kent

to an end, for William Thorne, whose history takes us
as far as 1397, died at about the same time.

The abbey itself does not appear to have produced
any other historian of note except Thomas of Elmham,
who died about 14 14; but although he seems to have
collected a vast amount of material, his actual history does
not take us beyond the abbacy of Wydo, and the conse-
cration of the Abbey Church in logi. Goscelin, who was
a monk of St. Augustine's in 1098, and wrote a life of
St. Augustine, gives no detailed history of the abbey.
Thorne mentions Thomas Spot or Sprott, and says that
he himself is indebted to him for some of his history.

Hasted gives a list of ten more abbots, but there is
not anything to note in the abbacy of any of them, until
we arrive at that of John Essex, or Foche, the last abbot.
He succeeded in the year 1523, and was abbot till the time
of the dissolution of the abbey in the year 1538.

In the cathedral library is his register, which was kept
by the precentor, William Selling, but it shows little
except that the abbey was in sore straits for money, as
there are items such as the sale of twenty-five pieces of
plate, and the borrowing of two sums of iJ^ioo and i^6oo,
and later on another sum of i^i20.

We come now to the actual dissolution of the monas-
tery. Parliament, some two years before, had sanctioned
the dissolution of the lesser monasteries, and three years
later all those who had not voluntarily submitted were
suppressed.

The deed of surrender, which is printed at length in
the Decern Scriptores, is dated in the chapter house,
July 30th, 1538, and it gives over "the abbey, the site
and precinct of it, the debts, chattels and goods, manors,
houses, lands, advowsons, and churches, and all other
possessions whatsoever and wheresoever situated," to the
king for his use and that of his heirs for ever.

This document was signed by the abbot and thirty
monks, all of whom are supposed to have been pensioned.

St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury 35

The names are given in Hasted's History of Kent, who
remarks on the curious difference between the names of
the thirty monks who signed the deed of surrender and of
those who received pensions.

After the Dissolution, some of the abbey buildings
were transformed into a palace for the king, more to serve
as a halting-place on his way from London to the coast
than as a royal residence, though Queen Elizabeth is said
to have resided here in 1573 for several days, and held
court.

It does not seem to have remained a royal palace for
any length of time, for though, as mentioned, Elizabeth
stayed here, it had been granted, some years previously,
to Henry, Lord Cobham, on whose attainder it passed into
the hands of Robert Cecil, and from him to Lord Wotton,
whose son Thomas was in possession of it at the time of
his death in 1630. His widow continued to reside here
till she died in 1658. Her daughter Anne had married
Sir Edward Hales, and this marriage entitled him to the
estate, as she was co-heiress with her sisters to the
property of Sir Thomas Wotton, and this presumably was
her share, consequently the whole of the site of the
monastery, as well as about one thousand acres of land
adjoining, passed to the Hales family.

The property after this fell into the hands of various
holders, and no doubt the whole of it became more and
more ruinous and neglected, until at the beginning of
the nineteenth century very little was left intact except
the great gateway, which owed its existence to the fact
that the large room formed a convenient vat for a local
brewer. Perhaps it is as well to recall the words of
Hasted in his History of Kent, who, writing in 1799,
says : —

So little is the veneration paid at this time to the remains of this
once sacred habitation, that the principal apartments adjoining the gate-
way are converted into an alehouse, the gateway itself into a brew-
house, the steam of which has defaced the beautiful paintings over it.

36 Memorials of Old Kent

The great courtyard is turned into a bowling green, the chapel and the
aisle of the church on the north side into a fives court, and the great
room over the gate into a cock pit.

From this state it was rescued by the exertions of
Mr. A. J. B. Beresford Hope and Dr. Edward Coleridge,
who acquired the greater part of the site for the erection
of the present Missionary College.

How far the old buildings were restored or adapted to
their present uses is stated in a paper contributed by
Mr. Beresford Hope to the fourth volume of Archceologia
Cantiana, lest any of them should prove a " pitfall for
future antiquaries."

The ruins of the eastern portion of the abbey church,
the chapter house, the dormitory and infirmary stand in
a field adjoining the college, and remained in private
hands till the year igoo, when they were rescued chiefly
by the efforts of Canon Routledge, who with Lord North-
bourne, Mr. St. John Hope, and Mr. Bennett Goldney,
acted as trustees for several antiquaries and friends, who
subscribed for the purchase and subsequent excavation
of these most interesting remains.

Part of the ruins of the chapel of St. Pancras are in
the same field, and part in the field adjoining, belonging
to the Kent and Canterbury Hospital. These were first
taken in hand, and excavations which had been com-
menced some sixteen years before by Canon Routledge,
but could not be continued, owing to the churlishness of
the then owner of the field, were completed. A full and
interesting account of this chapel of St. Pancras has been
given by Mr. W. H. St. John Hope in volume xxv. of
ArchcBologia Cantiana.

Owing to these excavations, therefore, it was not till
April, 1 90 1, that attention was turned to the ruins of
St. Augustine's, and operations were commenced under
the superintendence of Canon Routledge, and the more
immediate care of the present writer.

It seemed advisable to endeavour first of all to discover

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St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury 37

what remained of the great abbey church, so the work
was begun at a point which was thought to be the
extreme east end, and this turned out to be the case.
At the outset rising ground to the west was encountered,
but what originally appeared to be masses of fallen
masonry turned out to be earth dug from the foundations
of a malthouse in the neighbourhood, and shot here some
twenty years before by the descendants of the same
brewer who had used the great chamber of the gateway
as a vat.

The excavations disclosed the foundation walls of a
rectangular chapel about forty feet long and twenty-one
feet wide, but this had evidently been an addition some-
where about the end of the fifteenth century, and may
possibly have been built by John Dygon, the last abbot
but two, as his coffin was discovered in the centre of the
chapel. He ruled the monastery from 1497 to 1509.

Inside this chapel, at the east end, was a fallen mass
of masonry of early date, showing on both sides the face
of a wall of flint and rough stone. Possibly this may
have been a vestige of Eadbald's Chapel of the Virgin,
which stood on or about this site.

Continuing to excavate westwards, the most interest-
ing part was brought to light, this being no less than
Abbot Scotland's crypt which he built about the year 1080.
Professor Willis mentions that there are five eastern crypts
founded before 1085, namely, Canterbury, Winchester,
Gloucester, Rochester, and Worcester. To these, there-
fore, must now be added St. Augustine's, the crypt under
notice. It is very imperfect, all the vaulting having gone,
and most of the ashlar facing from the piers and walls,
but enough remains to show that Thome's description of
a church on a grand scale with a crypt beneath is correct.
The picture of the east end of the Norman church from
Thomas of Elmham's history, which is preserved in Trinity
Hall Library, Cambridge, also may be said to be fairly
correct as showing the eastern apse of the church with its

fc.

38 Memorials of Old Kent

three chapels. Whether the various shrines depicted are
correct it is now impossible to say, as these were above
ground level, and not a trace remains.

The crypt was about 71 feet long by 66h feet wide,
and resembles in a marked degree that at Gloucester,
which was built by Abbot Serlo at about the same date.
Between the two centre piers of the apse was discovered
the grave of Abbot Scotland and his coffin plate, on which
was engraved : —

Anno ab incarnatione domini mlxxxvii.
Obiit Scotlandus Abbas V idus Septembris.

The central chapel leading out of the apse, the Chapel
of the Virgin " in Cryptis," is in a fair state, with the
remains of an altar-block in the middle. The north and
south chapels leading out of the apse have their altar-
blocks against the wall, and are slightly smaller than the
central one.

The south transept is mostly in the grounds of the
hospital, but the northern one, with an eastern apsidal
chapel, has been brought to light, is of the same date as
the crypt, and about three to four feet of the walls of the
chapel are standing above ground level. North of this
transept, and between it and the chapter house, is a vesti-
bule or parlour, about 17 feet 6 inches square, which at one
time probably formed a slype or passage leading into the
monks' cemetery ; later one end was blocked up, making it
into a room, and there is reason to believe that the library
of the monastery was overhead. North of this again, and
in the field, is the chapter house, but very little remains
above ground. It was finished about 1380, and no trace
of the earlier one, built by Hugh Flory about 1 120, is to be
seen. Eight abbots were buried here, but none of their
graves have yet been found. To the north again of the
chapter house is another small chamber, with an entrance
to the dormitory undercroft. To the west of this under-
croft is a fine piece of Norman bench end, so that this is

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St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury 39

no doubt part of the dormitory also built by Flory about
1 1 20. Only the north end wall of this dormitory remains
above ground ; it was one of the largest in the country,
measuring 204 feet long by 44 feet wide.

All the conventual buildings of this abbey were on
the north side instead of being, as is more usual, on the
south ; but otherwise the arrangements corresponded with
those of most Benedictine abbeys. The cloisters, built
about 1276 by Nicholas Thorne, which are in very fair
preservation, are to the north of the nave of the church,
with the chapter house leading out of them on the east,
and the refectory and kitchen, of which nothing is now
left, on the north side. On the west was the abbot's
lodging.

The Church had three towers, two at the western end
and a central one. The latter was built in the time of
Thomas Fyndon, about the year 1300, but only part of
the bases of the piers are to be seen. The north-west, or
Ethelbert's tower, as it was called, must have been a very
fine example of late Norman work, judging from prints of
the eighteenth century. It suffered at the hands of the
wiseacres of the town in 1822, who had it battered down
as some parts were considered unsafe!

The great gateway has already been mentioned. To
the south of this were the guests' and pilgrims' buildings,
which are still in a good state of preservation. They
include a hall, a chapel, a kitchen, and other rooms under
the hall, and were probably built by Thomas Fyndon
about the end of the thirteenth century.

West of the refectory was the stone court, and bound-
ing this on the west side was the abbots' great hall, of
which some of the undercroft may still be seen, as the old
remains have been carefully preserved and worked into
the present building. It was built in the latter half of
the thirteenth century. The undercroft is now used as
the college museum, and the hall above as the library.

From a Cottonian manuscript in the British Museum,

40 Memorials of Old Kent

" The Customary of S. Augustine's Monastery at Canter-
bury," which has been transcribed for the Henry Bradshaw
Society by Sir E. Maunde Thompson, we gather the
valuable information as to the dimensions of the various
buildings. This manuscript is supposed to have been
written during the latter years of Abbot Ralph de Bourne,
1330 to 1334, who succeeded Thomas Fyndon, one of the
largest builders and restorers ; so that with the exception
of the chapter house the buildings should have been at
that time complete and in good condition. The list is
given as follows : —

Length of the church, iii ulnae = 333 feet.

Width of church with "chambers," 24 ulnae = 72 feet.

Width of the nave without chambers, loj ulnae = 34 (?) ^ feet

Length of Chapter House, 29 ulnae = 87 feet.

Width of Chapter House, 11 ulnae = 33 feet.

Length of dormitory, 68 ulnae = 204 feet.

Width of dormitory, 14 ulnae 2 feet = 44 feet.

Length of Domus Necessariorum, 64 ulnae=i92 feet.

Width of Domus Necessariorum, 8 ulnae = 24 feet.

Length of studies, 34 ulnae and 2 feet=i04 feet.

Width of studies, 3 ulnae and 2 feet=ii feet.

Length of Refectory, 33^ ulnae= 103^ (?) feet.

Width of Refectory, 13J ulnae = 4i^ feet.

The length of the Cloister is missing, also the width,
but these are respectively 120 feet and 115 feet.

Taking these measurements, and comparing some of
them with the ruins of the present day, it will be seen
that the length of the church does not include the
Eastern, or Dygon's chapel, which extends about another
42 feet.

The chapter house would be the one built by Hugh
Flory, as the present ruins measure three feet wider, or
36 feet, and would be that finished about 1380. There
are not any remains above ground of the domus neces-
sariorum, which may have been annexed to the east wall
of the dormitory.

To the south-east of the abbey church, in the field
belonging to the hospital, is a large mound, on which was

St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury 41

once the campanile, or bell tower, but when it was
erected is not recorded — probably by one of the Norman
builders, as it certainly existed before the middle of the
thirteenth century. It must have fallen into disrepair, for
there are numerous bequests and gifts towards the expense
of rebuilding it in the latter half of the fifteenth century.

We are indebted to another manuscript in the Caius
and Gonville Library, also published by the Henry Brad-
shaw Society, for a description of some of the bells as
they existed about the middle of the thirteenth century.
There were four bells in the campanile, two larger and
two smaller ; there were four, two larger and two smaller,
in the tower, " ante gradus," which would probably mean
the choir steps, and therefore the central tower ; and four
in " the tower," probably Ethelbert's tower. There
were also several named bells, but which tower they were
in, or whether some of them were the same as mentioned
above, it is impossible to say. There were two Absolons
(major and minor), two Richards (major and minor), two
" Bubanti," two Pilcheres, one Matheus, one Wulfric, one
Resecodt, and " Sunesdeies belle." Thorne says that
Thomas Ickham, in 1358, gave three bells, Austin, Mary,
and Gabriel, the latter costing 42 marks ; and before his
death in 1391 he gave four bells in the choir (the tower
" ante gradus "), two great bells in the campanile, and two
in the tower at the end of the church. So it would seem
that many of the bells mentioned about a century before
had been re-cast. Two other bells were also given, one
by Adam Kingesnoth and one by Abbot Peckham.

The abbey possessed three common seals, though there
are originals or casts of at least another ten belonging to
various abbots, priors, treasurers, etc., of the monastery.
The earliest is a common seal of the abbey of the eleventh
century, and represents Augustine robed in the " pallium,''
half length or seated ; the figure is indistinct, and bears
the inscription : — " Sigillum Sancti Augustini Anglorum
Apostoli." The second seal bears on one side the figures

42 Memorials of Old Kent

and names of St. Peter and St. Paul, and the inscription : —
" Hoc Sigillum factum est Anno Primo Ricardi Regis An-
glorum." On the other side, Augustine is seated in a stone
chair, in full archbishop's robes, and the legend reads: —
" Sigill Ecclesie Sancti Augustini Cantuarie Anglorum
Apostoli." Diameter 2f inches. The third seal, a large
one measuring 2>k inches in diameter, represents on one
side what may be the abbey church and the baptism of
Ethelbert, with figures of St. Peter and St. Paul under
canopies above, with the legend " Sigillum Monasterii
Beatorum Apostolorum Petri et Pauli Sanctique Augustini
Anglorum Apostoli Cantuarie." On the other side is
Augustine seated under a canopy with figures on either
side of him, and the inscription " Anglia qt. Domino
Fidei Sociatur amore hoc Augustino debetur patris
honore."

The arms of the abbey were: — Sable; a plain cross,
argent.

At the time of the surrender the net yearly revenue of
the monastery, as given by Dugdale in his Monasticon, was
only ;^ 1,274, though it possessed over 19,000 acres of land.
In the year 1544 Henry VIH. acknowledges having re-
ceived plate, jewels, and other ornaments, but what could
have become of all the valuables which must have be-
longed to such a stately and magnificent house it is hard
to say. No doubt, as the funds grew smaller and smaller
under the later abbots, property of all sorts was sold or
given as security, but of relics of saints, of which there
must have been a fine collection, no mention is made.

The library at the end of the fifteenth century
consisted of 1,784 MS., according to a catalogue in the
possession of Trinity College, Dublin ; but at the time of
the Dissolution the number was not over 600, and of
these some 150 have been traced by Dr. James as being
in the hands of various public libraries and colleges.

From some minutes from the ancient records in the
Chamber of Canterbury we read, under the year 1 542 :

St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury 43

On the dissolution of St. Augustine's Monastery, the city are supplied
with building and paving stones from its ruins, on paying a trifle to the
gate keeper !

Its ruins of to-day only too well shew to what an
extent quarrying operations went on. In addition to this,
certain persons were granted letters patent by James I.
in 161 8 to search any of the dissolved abbeys for treasure
supposed to have been hidden, and there is ample evidence
that St. Augustine's was thoroughly searched, and the
graves rifled of anything valuable.

In reviewing the history of this once magnificent abbey,
it is impossible not to feel regret that the fabric of an
institution, founded at the time of the revival of Christi-
anity in England, should have been so ruthlessly swept
away.

Pathetic indeed must have been the scene when the
abbot and his companions visited for the last time the
" Corpora Sanctorum," and finally handed over to the
despoilers the shrines and relics of the saints, the tombs of
kings, and all that they and their predecessors had held
sacred for nearly a thousand years.

MEDIAEVAL ROOD-LOFTS AND
SCREENS IN KENT

By Aymer Vallance

MONG other researches into the life and
manners of the past, none is more engrossing
than the study of mediaeval religion. Nor is
it possible to form a correct picture of the
appearance of a pre-Reformation church without realis-
ing the most prominent features of its interior, to wit,
the rood on high and the loft and screen underneath
it. To piece together, then, the scattered records avail-
able on this subject in respect of Kent, is to supply a
neglected chapter of no mere provincial interest, but
one that, since the county was, from the days of
Augustine, the seat of the primatial See of English
Christianity, belongs to the histo'ry of our country at
large.

Wills of individuals, inventories of church goods,
and churchwardens' parish accounts are, necessarily,
mines of information on the subject ; but the most
valuable and unimpeachable documents of all are the
buildings themselves. The importance cannot be over-
rated of studying at first hand the actual fabrics, all
the more precious because, like the Sibylline books, they
are, alas! a perpetually diminishing quantity year by
year, owing to unscrupulous falsification on the part of
pretended " restorers," as owing also to reckless oblitera-
tion of ancient landmarks to gratify the reigning whim
and fashion of the moment.

44

Medieval Rood-Lofts and Screens in Kent 45

Among these the most mischievous is that of festal
" decorations." The bad taste of piling " decoration "
upon what is already itself supremely ornamental might
be passed over with the contempt it deserves but that
it is fraught with active harm. That being so, language
fails to condemn it in terms strong enough. Within living
memory these temporary decorations used to occur at
Christmas only ; but nowadays so favourite a pastime have
they become with irresponsible ladies and curates, that they
are indulged in at Easter, Ascension Day, Whitsunday,
and Trinity Sunday as well, the full height of extrava-
gance culminating in the autumnal orgy of the " Harvest
Festival." The consequence is that screens and other
ancient woodwork, which have survived the wrack of
four or five centuries, are now threatened with rapid
extinction ; medieval mouldings and carvings — it is no
exaggeration to say it — literally bristling with nails and
tin tacks, the wood itself being bruised and chipped and
pierced and split in a way that no householder would
dream of treating the furniture in his own private
dwelling, nor suffer anyone else to treat it. It is lament-
able to reflect what all this involves ; so many pairs of
unskilled hands being let loose to work what damage
they may with hammer and nails half a dozen times per
year, year after year, to the woodwork which is the
venerable heritage from our fathers. The disastrous
process, if and wheresoever persisted in, can end in only
one result — the disappearance from ancient churches of
the inestimable treasure of their wood fittings, which, once
destroyed, can never, for all time, be made the same
again that they were.

But, not to anticipate, attention must briefly be
directed to the genesis of the rood-screen. To go
back, then, to the fourth century, when Constantine
(whose mother, Helena, a consensus of tradition
declares to have been of British birth) sat on the
throne of the Roman Empire. For hardly before

46 Memorials of Old Kent

that date, when the fury of persecution was spent,
did Christians, hiding hitherto in caves and cata-
combs, feel secure enough to set apart, above ground,
buildings of their own for congregational worship ; but
well-nigh from that time onward may two main and
broadly divergent types of church be said to have co-
existed. The first is that of the Basilica, in its origin,
of course, entirely Pagan ; but such that came to be
adopted as present ready to hand, and also as preferable
to the classic temple, because of the latter's necessary
and intimate association with heathen worship. But so
soon as ever the Christian religion became, so to speak,
rooted in the soil and spread hither and thither, it
asserted itself by evolving, out of its own necessities, a
different form of building, peculiarly appropriate to its own
spiritual instincts. The original type continued, while
at the same time the newer, which for distinction may
be denominated the mystery type, developed.

In the latter, as contrasted with the Basilican, the
interior, instead of being thrown open to afford a vista
from end to end, was subdivided, its sanctuary screened
off by at least one partition from the western or more
public portion of the building. The mystery type is of
universal rule from the White Sea shore to Abyssinia,
both in the Orthodox Church and in all the separated
communions of the Eastern rite ; and although the same
uniformity is not to be found throughout Western Chris-
tendom, in our own land, at any rate, the mystery ideal
prevailed during centuries prior to the Reformation.
The fullest expression of the type in the West is
embodied in the cruciform church, with its structurally-
bounded quire ; but to this same type no less the simple
parallelogram, under one continuous roof, such as is
common in parts of Wales, for example, belongs, seeing
that there it would always be divided athwart its length
by a screen from side to side of the building.

Ecclesiastical ceremonial is so conservative a thing

MEDIi^VAL ROOD-LOFTS AND SCREENS IN KENT 47

that very often the antiquity of a usage is testified by its
survival in slightly altered form ; rites now peculiar to
occasions or seasons of extra solemnity having formerly
been of daily occurrence. Such innovations as did from
time to time gradually obtain recognition had a twofold
tendency, not towards total abolition of old customs,
but, on the one hand, curtailing them for practicability
in ordinary workaday use, and, on the other hand,
relegating them in their fulness to rarer opportunities ;
at the same time attaching to them a mystical signification
not originally theirs. Thus, the vesting of a priest at the
altar, which must have been the general practice in old
days before vestries existed, has now become stereotyped
into a ceremony peculiar to a bishop when he formally
pontificates. Again, to take an illustration that directly
relates to the present subject, another custom, itself now
extinct, but in mediaeval times of invariable observance in
Western Europe, was that of completely shutting off the
high altar from the nave by an enormous sheet or curtain
suspended in the quire, from the first Sunday in Lent to
the Thursday in Holy Week. In England this custom had
become an institution at least as far back as the reign of
King Alfred, who, shortly after his great victory over the
Danes in the year 878, ordained a fine of one hundred
and twenty shillings as the penalty for tearing down a
Lenten veil in church. The bare fact of such a severely
repressive measure being called for proves that a per-
manent veil must have been already long since obsolete,
when the temporary one could be so determinedly resented
that there were persons who would not scruple to drag
it down by force, unless restrained by the terrors of the
law. No doubt, however, this solemn Lenten veiling
represented what had been the more primitive mode of
separating, all the year round, the sanctuary from the
body of the church. And so, when later usage restricted
the veil to Lent only, a permanent substitute, in the shape
of a screen, with a door to pass through it, at the quire

48 Memorials of Old Kent

or chancel entrance, still kept up the ancient tradi-
tion.

From the first planting of Christianity in Kent, or
even from the days of King Alfred, to the eleventh or
twelfth century, leaves a long gap to fill ; but, unhappily,
no authenticated specimen of a chancel-arch of pre-
Norman date survives in the county. The few Norman
chancel-arches yet standing show, for the most part, the
straitness of access to the chancel maintained. The size
of the chancel-arch is indeed a fair index of date.
" Early Norman churches," says Rev. G. M. Livett, " had
small arches like that remaining in West Farleigh
Church " ; whereas in later Norman work the arch
is of increased size. Thus, at St. Margaret's-at-Cliffe,
near Dover, built probably about 1160, "the architect
. . . with admirable foresight of the incoming fashion
of erecting a rood at the entrance of the chancel, designed
a wide-spanned and tall chancel-arch." Further examples
show what developments took place and what alternatives
to wooden screen-work were resorted to in the separation
wall itself. At Frindsbury Church, near Rochester, is
a round-headed chancel-arch, whose narrow dimensions
no less than its plainness denote it to be an early Norman
work. Here the solid wall-spaces to left and right of
the opening have, in after times, been pierced and
squints inserted, to reduce the barrier between nave
and chancel. In a later and more florid example of
Norman, namely, that of Barfreston Church, the chancel-
arch is flanked by a lower one on either hand. These
side arches are recessed, but, if at any time pierced by
smaller openings, can never have been wholly open into
the chancel, since the dimensions of the latter and of the
nave do not correspond ; the chancel being internally
13 ft. 7 in. wide, the nave 16 ft. 8 in. However, from
blind arcading to pierced is only one step that would
follow by easy and natural evolution. A later and
very curious example of a mural screen, which seems to

Medieval Rood-Lofts and Screens in Kent 49

date from about the middle of the fourteenth century, is
in a church near Folkestone, Capel le Feme, where in
the wall between the nave and the chancel is an open
arcade of three two- centred arches, springing from
octagonal shafts. The upper part of the wall is per-
forated above the central arch, which is 8 ft. 6 in. high,
by another, 6 ft. high by 5 ft. 6 in. wide, of depressed
round-headed form. The outer order of its moulding
shows traces of colour. The purpose of this opening, as
Rev. G. M. Livett has pointed out, was obviously to afford
a setting for the rood and its accompanying figures. The
fact of a quantity of Norman material being used up
with later in this arch looks as though the whole existing
arrangement had immediately succeeded the original one
of a Norman arch dividing nave and chancel. Four
moulded stone corbels on the western face of the wall at
the level of the summit of the labels of the triple arcade
mark the position of the brackets that once carried the
now demolished rood-loft.

Rarely though such screens as that at Capel le Feme
occur, it finds in some sort a parallel in the case of
Westwell Church. Of the thirteenth century, this
example is of earlier style than the last named, but it
was not so certainly intended for a chancel-screen. It
extends from the northern to the southern arcade, and
itself consists of an arcade of three trefoil-cusped arches
on two cylindrical columns, 16 ft. 10 in. high, including
the capitals. Viewed from the nave, with its pair of
circular panels, one in each spandril on either side of
the central arch, the crown of which is higher than
the two others, the effect is that of a homogeneously
designed screen ; but, from the east, the tall shafts,
rising almost to the level of the spring of the groined
roof, seem rather a contrivance adopted from the struc-
tural necessity of helping to sustain the thrust of the
heavy chalk and stone vaulting, unsoundly built, without
adequate abutment for its support. That there was a
E

50 Memorials of Old Kent

timber rood-loft erected subsequently, and that it traversed
the building from wall to wall, is proved by the entrance
to the rood stair being in the wall on the north, in a
line with the stone screen. It is also evident from the
sawn-off stumps and traces of connecting beams inserted
between the columns of the stone arcade, that the latter
was at some time or other adapted to rood-screen require-
ments ; but whether it should be regarded as having
belonged, from the outset, to the category of rood-screens
is open to doubt. At the ruined church of Reculver,
across the chancel opening was an arcade, if not itself
Roman, at any rate on Roman foundations, which, more-
over, comprised an apse. Again, at the little Romano-
Saxon church of Bishop Justus and King ^thelbert,
built between the years 604 and 616 at Rochester, the
foundations, which lie principally beyond the area of the
present Cathedral at the north-west corner, indicate
that a similar colonnade stood between the body of the
building and its apsidal eastern portion. The same
features have been traced at Lyminge Church (founded in
633), and in the ruins of the ancient Church of St. Pancras,
Canterbury. Possibly, therefore, the Westwell arrange-
ment would represent rather a survival of the Basilican
type, or — shall I say? — a compromise between the latter
and the mystery type of Christian church. The whole
subject opens up a train of interesting questions well
worth investigating, and such that make the wanton
destruction of Reculver Church at the hands of
early nineteenth century vandals all the more deplorable
as the severance of a link with the past which
posterity could by no means afford to lose. The two
columns from Reculver recovered, thanks mainly to the
instrumentality of the late Mr. Roach Smith, were subse-
quently set up in the open, hard by the north side of
Canterbury Cathedral. Their face is indented with holes
for the insertion of transverse bars or beams, just like
the columns at Westwell. However, in any event, the

NORTHFLEET ChURCH.

DOORS REMOVED llETWEEN 1836 AND 1847 FROM THE ROOD SCREEN.

After a Drawing, dated 1828, l>y IVitliaiii Xwopeny.

Medieval Rood-Lofts and Screens in Kent 51

instances of the peculiar structures at Reculver, Westwell,
and Capel le Feme are, all three, uncommon exceptions ;
nor, indeed, was it after such precedents as theirs that
the development of the rood-screen proceeded. By far the
more usual plan in Kentish churches, as also in fact
throughout England, was that of a single chancel-arch
in stone, its entrance guarded by an openwork screen
in wood.

Now, whether or not the most ancient screens did
consist, as it has been conjectured, of interlaced withes
of wattle or trellis-work, it is not possible, at this dis-
tance of time, to tell. At any rate the earliest extant
instance in the country, that at Compton, Surrey, bears
no trace of such origin ; but is, on the contrary, an
unmistakable attempt to render in wood the salient
architectural features of stone construction — the column
and the arch. The county of Kent contains in situ no
parish church rood-screen of an earlier date than that
at Northfleet, which is of the fourteenth century. From
the appearance of its lintel -beam I am disposed to believe
that this was a case where the rood, instead of being
placed aloft on a separate beam at a higher level than
the screen, was fitted directly on to the top of the screen
itself. On the other hand, from the thirteenth century
fragment of carved oak beam at Doddington, it looks
as though, at the church there, the rood-beam was
detached and quite distinct from the structure of the
screea A painted beam, also of the thirteenth century,
at Minster in Sheppey — if it was indeed the rood-beam —
would seem to imply that the same arrangement existed
there in the Priory Church of St. Sexburga.

But however this may have been is a detail. The
one invariable object that rose conspicuous above all
else, above rood-screen and above the later rood-loft
also, the object from which — because of its crowning and
surmounting both — both derived their name, was the
great rood itself. Unless this be understood no true

52 Memorials of Old Kent

conception can be formed of the aspect of a mediaeval
church in England, nor will it be possible to appreciate
the immense difference that the loss of the rood and its
adjuncts has wrought. The date of its earliest introduc-
tion belongs to the immemorial past, but countless
references to it in ancient documents, and particularly
in wills containing directions for the testator's body to
be buried in such or such a church before the Cross, or
bequests to be devoted to its service and beautifying,
bear witness that, from at least the end of the fourteenth
century down to the closing years of the reign of
Henry VIII., in every church or chapel in the land the
rood was as indispensable almost as the font or the altar.
Called by various names, such as the high cross, great
cross, greatest cross, high crucifix, great crucifix, good rood,
high rood, and great rood, it always pourtrayed Christ,
with outstretched hands attached to the cross, the usual
accompaniments being a figure of the Blessed Virgin on
the one side and of the Beloved Disciple on the other.
Instances are not unknown where other figures beside
were added to this group, as at Canterbury Cathedral,
where there were represented on the beam some of the
Heavenly Hierarchy ; and from a bequest to " the All
Hallows light on the Rood-loft " at Stone, by Dartford,
and another for two lights " to stand before the images
of the holy Rood at Tudeley and All Hallows," the two
being thus coupled together, it would seem as though
at both places. Stone and Tudeley, the emblematic image
of All Saints was placed on the rood-beam together with
the rood itself. But normally the great crucifix stood
between the Mary and John only. The scale of the figures
would be determined by the dimensions of the particular
building in which they were set up, but it cannot be very
far wrong to assume that, except in quite small churches,
they would not be under life-size. Not to be dispropor-
tionate, in the case of large buildings they must have
exceeded life-size.

Mediaeval Rood-Lofts and Screens in Kent 53

Occasionally, where the opening between the nave
and chancel was low, as in the instance of the Norman
chancel-arch at Frindsbury already referred to, the rood
must have been placed over the summit of the arch, with
the nave's eastern wall for background. Sometimes,
again, as possibly at Fordwich, the top of the arch was
boarded in and the surface so formed made a setting
for the relief figures. But, beyond doubt, the preference
was for detached figures, the rood, with its flanking
images, reared in majestic isolation and silhouetted
against only the receding perspective of the quire. So
commonly, indeed, was this plan adhered to that often, in
order to give effect to it, the chancel-arch was rebuilt,
as in the case of Gillingham Church, on a larger scale
than theretofore ; or was even done away with altogether
in some churches, as at Milton by Sittingbou-rne, and
likewise at Rainham.

Among earlier references testamentary proof is
furnished of the existence of a rood in each of the
following parish churches at, or shortly after, the dates
specified: — At Snargate in 1368; Cliffe-at-Hoo in 1413 ;
Kingsdown, near Wrotham, in 142 1 ; Ash next Ridley
in 1423-4; Lydd in 1430; Cowling in 1434; Higham
in 1441, and at Minster (Sheppey) in the same year;
Wouldham in 1442 ; Halsted, Offham, and St. Mary's,
Sandwich, in 1444: all these being prior to the middle
of the fifteenth century. From 1450 onwards, until the
attacks on images began in 1538, mention of roods
occurs with such frequency that to recapitulate here
the individual cases would make an unduly long cata-
logue. Of the numerous legacies on record the wording
does not always make it plain whether the testator
meant to provide for fresh work to be carried out, or
for the upkeep of an existing rood and its votive lights.
Thus, in the case already cited, of Cliffe-at-Hoo, in 141 3,
the rector, Nicholas de Ryssheton, makes a bequest to
the images of the crucifix and Blessed Mary ever virgin

54 Memorials of Old Kent

and St. John Evangelist above the loft; in 1499 "our
lady upon the beam " at Ash next Ridley receives a
bequest from William Hodsole ; and in 1523 the "good
rood " at Milton by Gravesend is likewise remembered.
There are, however, examples enough of explicit instruc-
tions for the erection and decoration of roods. Thus,
in 1 44 1 a bequest was made for the painting of the cross
(already mentioned) at Minster in Sheppey ; in 1465
towards the painting of the image of the crucifix and
of the images of St. Mary and St. John in St. Margaret's
Church, Rochester; in 1471 towards the painting of the
crucifix at West Wickham, on condition of the work
being done within a year; in 1472 for the painting of
the "greatest cross" in Hythe Church; in 1491 "to the
Rode werks of the Church " at Gravesend, and, in the
same year, " to the reparacion and gilting of the Cross "
in East Peckham Church ; in 1 506 " to the gilding of
the image of the crucifix and of Blessed Mary and St.
John Evangelist" at Brenchley ; in 15 13 for the making
of the image of the crucifix at Capel ; in 15 17 "to bye
a crucifix with a pictor of our Lord thereupon and to
be set in the midst of the rood-beam " at Ryarsh ; and
some time between the twenty-fifth and thirty-first years
of Henry VIII. (i.e., between 1533 and 1539 — the exact
date is uncertain, because the manuscript pages contain-
ing the reference in the parish accounts have become
displaced) the churchwardens of Hawkhurst were, at their
request, refunded for the amount expended by them in the
gilding of the rood " now fynyshed and donne."

The rood and its attendant images were all alike,
and each individually, shrouded in solemn wise with
close-drawn veils during Lent ; coverings as to whose
colour there does not seem to have been any uniform
rule. Of the " Rode cloth for Lent," which, in the third
year of Henry VIII. (1511-12), is known to have been
in existence at Edenbridge, the colour is not recorded ;
but at Minster in Sheppey in 1536 there were "2 Rode

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Mediaeval Rood-Lofts and Screens in Kent 55

clothes, one of crimson velvet and another of red sylke."
From the general inventory taken of church goods in
Kent in 1552, it appears that at that date there were
several further examples, which had not been got rid of ;
as, for instance, at Braboume, where a cloth, of colour
unspecified, is recorded, " that laid over the Rood " ; while
amongst a set of white hangings for the rood and rood-
loft at Postling, obviously the covering for the rood in
Lent must be included. At the same date also was " one
cloth for the Rood somtyme painted," at Downe Church ;
and another, for the same purpose, of " stayned linen "
at Chislehurst ; but whether the item, also at Chislehurst,
of " one piece of red velvet for the Cross on Good
Friday " refers to an additional cloth for the same pur-
pose as the foregoing examples, I very much doubt. The
Lenten covering for the great rood must not be con-
founded with another object, which is among the
commonest items in lists of mediaeval church goods, to
wit, the "cross cloth," seeing that it was a distinct thing
and that it served a totally distinct purpose. The " cross
cloth," then, also sometimes called a " banner cloth," was a
flag or streamer of coloured stuff, embroidered or painted,
attached to the processional cross. The custom, alluded
to in the opening words of the ancient hymn, Vexilla
regis prodeunt, yet survives in the very conservative
rites of the Dominican Order, the velum crucis varying
en suite with the liturgical colour of the day. Repre-
sentations of such a banner are familiar enough, it being
usually pourtrayed hanging from the cross-staff held
by the Agnus Dei, and in the hand of our Blessed Lord
in His Resurrection

One of the strangest records, judged by modern
English notions, is that which tells of a pair of silver
shoes fixed to the feet of the Christ upon the rood at
St. Andrew's Church, Canterbury (inventory dated 1485).
But this is not without its counterpart in the image,
itself a rood, though always called the Holy Face of

56 Memorials of Old Kent

Lucca. It is said that to swear thereby was a favourite
oath of King WilHam Rufus ; in which case the Luccan
image would be at least as old as the middle of the eleventh
century. Its feet are encased in silver shoes, it is said,
to preserve them from being worn away by the repeated
kisses of pilgrims. The crucifix at Lucca is clothed in a
long robe down to the ankles ; it has the head crowned
with a lofty crown, and is, moreover, collared and girdled
with richly-jewelled ornaments. Another phase of this
kind of homage prompted the boy, St. Edmund Rich,
who subsequently grew up to be, from 1234 to 1240,
Archbishop of Canterbury, when at Oxford he placed
a ring on the finger of Our Lady's sculptured image in
the University Church. To be touched, however — as who
is not ? — by this beautiful story of an undergraduate's pure
devotion, is to admit the principle which underlies the
one manifestation of the same instinct as also the other
alike. Beside the practice of decking images with
crowns and jewels, that, too, of dressing them up, even
to the extent of changes of garments for festivals and
ordinary days, is of no mean antiquity, and albeit
frowned on in Rome itself, has continued in many places
in Catholic countries down to the present time.

However, it is not often that one finds among
Kentish records such explicit mention of the practice
as the following bequest, dated 1523, to Rochester
Cathedral: — "To the Rood at the Jesus altar, two
yards of velvet, price 20s., to make a garment." The
inventory taken of church goods in Kent in 1552
mentions as then existing at Chilham Church a " cotte "
for the rood, made of green satin of Bruges. This
m.antle would, of course, be forfeited under the commis-
sion of 1 6th January, 1553, in accordance with the plan
agreed upon between King Edward VI. and his council
on 2 1st April of the year preceding.

Among Kentish Roods at least three had the repu-
tation of wonder-working, to wit, those at Ashurst and

Medieval Rood-Lofts and Screens in Kent 57

Gillingham Churches, and, more famous than either, that
at the Cistercian Abbey of Boxley. Whether this last,
commonly known as the Rood of Grace, was actually the
High Rood itself, is not clear. The name, analogous
to that of Rood of Pity, which meant what is now
called a Pieta — that is, a representation of the Dead Body
of Christ, laid, before the entombment, in the lap of His
sorrowful Mother — possibly suggests that the Rood of
Grace was not strictly a crucifix, but a figure of our Lord in
some other stage or aspect of His Passion. Indeed, if
Lambarde is to be taken literally, the situation of this
venerated image would necessitate its being quite dis-
tinct from the High Rood. In his Perambulation of Kent,
Lambarde relates how the Rood of Grace was, in the
first instance, brought to Boxley, a stray horse, with
the crucifix tied to its back, walking into the Abbey
Church and halting at a certain pillar there, whence no
power availed to move the image. At the same time it
must be remembered that at the date of its destruction
Lambarde himself was not two years old. He had no
personal knowledge, therefore, but had to rely on what
he learned of the affair from others. And such was his
animus that he was only too eager to retail every scrap
of scurrilous gossip — the more preposterous the fable,
the more effective for his purpose — that might be
calculated to bring contempt and ridicule upon the
practices of the old religion. Lambarde does, however,
so far exonerate the monks of Boxley as to own that
this mediaeval Frankenstein's creation was none of their
devising, but a figment due to the ingenuity of a certain
mechanic taken prisoner by the French during the wars
of English aggression. Nor was it inconsistent with the
temper of a people who, on a false charge, could
condemn Jeanne D'Arc to be burnt alive in the holy
name of religion, to be unscrupulous enough to condone
other kind of fraud in things sacred. Lambarde says : —

58 Memorials of Old Kent

The cunning carpenter of our country compacted of wood, wire, paste
and paper, a rood of such exquisite art and excellence that it not only
matched in comeliness and due proportion of the parts the best of the
common sort, but in strange motion, variety of gesture, and nimbleness
of joints, surpassed all other that before had been seen ; the same being
able to bow down and lift up itself, to shake and stir the hands and
feet, to nod the head, to roll the eyes, to wag the chaps, to bend the
brows, and finally to represent to the eye both the proper motion of
each member of the body, and also a lively, express and significant show
of a well-contented or displeased mind ; biting the lip and gathering a
frowning, froward and disdainful face when it would pretend offence ; and
shewing a most mild, amiable and smiling cheer and countenance when
it would seem to be well pleased.

An interesting- reference to this image occurs in a letter
(undated, but of some time between 15 15 and October,
1529) addressed by Archbishop Warham from his manor
at Otford to the Lord Chancellor, Cardinal Wolsey.
Writing at the suit of the Abbot and brethren of Boxley,
who were being sore pressed to pay a levy demanded of
them by the Crown, the Archbishop endeavoured on
their behalf to obtain from Wolsey some respite and
forbearance to enable them to discharge it. " Forasmuch
as the . . . place is poor and much seeking is thither
to the Rood of Grace from all parts of this realm, I
should be loth," says the Archbishop, " if I might choose,
to interdict the place or to put the fruits of the same under
sequestration." And he concludes by expressing his
confidence that, if only the delay he entreats be granted,
the Abbot will not fail to fulfil his obligations, " or else
it were a pity that he should live much longer to the hurt
of so holy a place, where so many miracles be showed."
The Abbot and brethren of Boxley are known to have
owed money to a predecessor of Archbishop Warham's,
Cardinal Bourchier, whose will, executed three days
before the testator's death at the end of March, i486,
cancels the debt and directs that the debtors' acknow-
ledgment of the same be handed back to them. The
above incidents combine to prove that the Rood of Grace

Medi/eval Rood-Lofts and Screens in Kent 59

cannot have been the lucrative property which its enemies
made it out to be.

The will of one William Stubbs, in 1529, contains a
bequest of I2d. to the Rood of Grace, but whether is
meant thereby the image itself at Boxley, or another
one of the same style in the testator's own parish church
at Borden, near Sittingbourne, is not clear from the
context.

Stow's Annals record the demolition of the Rood of
Grace in the year 1538. It was on Sunday, 24th Feb-
ruary ; the occasion, the delivery of a sermon at Paul's
Cross by John Hilsey, successor in the See of Rochester
to Cardinal Fisher, victim of judicial murder in 1535-
The new bishop had been selected because, as ex-prior
of Dominicans, he could safely be relied on to sustain,
with all the obduracy of a renegade, a policy in every
way subversive of his predecessor's. Hilsey's party, then,
after the Rood of Grace had been torn from Boxley, and,
in the words of J. R. Green, " paraded from market to
market and exhibited as a juggle before the court,"
caused it finally to be brought to St. Paul's for the express
purpose of giving point to the episcopal discourse.
Whereupon such was his lordship's invective, and to such
a pitch of ribald frenzy did he stir up the passions of the
mob, that then and there they fell upon the image and
broke it, nor, the preacher egging them on, did they desist
until they had entirely plucked it to pieces.

The Rood of Grace appears to have been equalled
very nearly by the rood at Ashurst. According to Lam-
barde's account, it was reported of the latter image that
it " did by certain increments continually wax and grow,
as well in the bush of hair that it had on the head, as
also in the length and stature of the members and body
itself." Although this rood of " rare property " was, as
Lambarde expressly states, no longer in existence at
the date of his writing, 1570, still he records that in old
time it rendered the place, else obscure, so glorious that

6o Memorials of Old Kent

" many vouchsafed to bestow their labour and money
upon it." In this connection may be quoted the will,
dated 1524, of Sir Martin Cristofer, who, referring to
Ashurst, directs " that the coat with all such brooches
and rings as be thereon set before the Blessed Rood,
remain during my life, and after my decease I will that
they be bestowed to most honour of God and the said
Rood by the discretion of Mr. William Waller and the
wardens of the said church for the time being."

In contrast to the two above-named, the rood at
Gillingham was, if less astounding as a portent, a
medium rather of active beneficence ; and, as such, became
an object of " common haunt " and pilgrimage. However,
the corpse of a man unknown being washed ashore at
Gillingham and buried in the churchyard there, notwith-
standing Our Lady, conscious of his having died in a
state of grievous sin, had already caused the body to
be rejected from the precinct of her church at Chatham,
brought with it so great defilement that thenceforward the
Rood of Gillingham " that awhile before was busy in
bestowing miracles, was now deprived of all that his
former virtue . . . This tale," continues Lambarde,
"•received by tradition from the elders, was long since
both commonly reported and faithfully credited of the
vulgar sort, which, although happily, you shall not at
this day learn at every man's mouth (the image being
now many years since defaced) yet many of the aged
number did lately remember it well."

The above words were written in 1570, by which date
Queen Elizabeth having been twelve years on the throne,
it is not to be supposed that any considerable number of
roods had escaped the fate of the wonder-working ones.
It was naturally upon these, as affording the most
vulnerable point, that the onset first commenced.

But not to anticipate, in the later middle ages, the
normal setting or substructure of the rood would comprise
a screen surmounted by the wide platform and gallery of

Medieval Rood-Lofts and Screens in Kent 6i

a rood-loft. The latter extended without exception across
the chancel opening, and also in a large number of
churches across the entire width of the building from wall
to wall. Under these circumstances the parochial church
screen and loft constituted a far more imposing structure
in proportion to the size of the building than the
corresponding screen or screens were known to do in
any cathedral church. In fact the parish church rood-
loft, in as far as it fulfilled in its own person the functions
of both the pulpitum and the rood-screen of monastic
or cathedral interiors, became the equivalent of the two
combined. Such, then, was the aspect and such the
importance of the rood-loft at the final stage of its
development. It would almost seem as though there
were periodic impulses, fashions, waves, currents — call
them what one will — which successively controlled the
direction of church-furnishing liberality and trained it
into this or that channel at one period, and at another
period into another. Thus, in the twelfth century a
Judaising movement introduced seven-branched candle-
sticks, the fourteenth century is distinguished for the
production of Easter sepulchres, and the fifteenth century,
or rather the last half of it, for having inaugurated the
rood-loft-building movement. There is no question but
that lofts had been erected previously to the reign of
Edward IV. ; yet it was certainly then that the greatest
spread of the demand occurred, which practically trans-
formed ecclesiastical interiors throughout the land, causing
new lofts to be erected in all churches which had not a
loft already, and, in churches which had, on a larger scale
of magnificence than theretofore.

A series of bequests and other records, ranging from
the early explicit mention of a " soller " for Cliffe-at-Hoo
Church in 141 3 down to 1521, enable the approximate
dates of between twenty and thirty Kentish rood-lofts
to be ascertained. It is known incidentally that the
church of Kingsdown, near Wrotham, had its loft
{camera crucifixi) in 1421 ; and although in the case

62 Memorials of Old Kent

of some others — as, for instance, of Ruckinge, in 1480,
Hadlow in 15 10, and Swanscombe in 1517 — the bequest
says merely " to the rood-loft," without specifying
whether making or maintenance is intended, in other
cases, again — e.g., those of the bequests for beam or loft-
painting — it may usually be assumed that the woodwork
referred to must have been some time, maybe months,
maybe years, prior to directions being given for its
colour decoration. Thus, at Shome, between the date
of the bequest towards the erection of the rood-loft in
1485, and its painting in 1491, is an interval of six
years ; the painting of the high beam there being
provided for in the meantime, in 1490. On the other
hand, a bequest for the new painting of the rood-loft
at Wingham in 1508 speaks of the rood-loft itself as
new at that date. The date of the bequest to the rood-
loft painting at Elham is 1464 ; Hythe, 1472 ; Sitting-
bourne, 1473-4; 3.nd both Burham and Cowden, 151 1.
At Cuxton Church the painting of the rood-beam was
provided for in 1503. A new loft was made for St.
Mary's, Sandwich, in the year 1444 or thereabouts. In
1468 is recorded a bequest to the new soller before the
crucifix at Cudham Church ; in 1471 towards making the
rood-loft at Throwley ; and another in the same year
for the same purpose at Frindsbury, followed two years
later by another bequest to the making of the new beam
there. A testator making a bequest " to the new work
of the rood-loft in the two aisles" of Ashford Church
in 1472, it is evident that the principal or central section
of the loft there had been already provided for, if not
actually erected and in regular use. A bequest in 1521
"to the making of the Rood-loft at the North Door" at
West Wickham, probably refers to a similar extension
of an existing loft across the north aisle there. In the
case of six other churches explicit bequests were made
toward the work of rood-loft making : thus, Murston in
1473; Westerham in 1474, ''ad oferacionem de Rood

Medieval Rood-Lofts and Screens in Kent 63

loft"; and Seal in 1492. As for Higham, in 1500, a
bequest runs : " I will that the masters of the work of
the rood-loft have 20 shillings towards the edifying of
the same " ; and a benefactor of St. Nicholas', Rochester,
in 1 502, by will leaves a like sum " to the making of the
rood-loft according to the patron " (pattern) " of Richard
Sutton there." At Tunbridge Church either procrastina-
tion on the part of the authorities, or some other obstacle,
appears to have hindered unduly the erection of a rood-
loft — at least, so one would be led to suppose from the
phrasing of two bequests towards this purpose. In 1483
one, John Byschop, senior, leaves 3s. 4d. to the work of
the rood-loft in Tunbridge Church " when they make
it " ; and on 6th April live years later, i.e., in 1488,
John Fane, another testator, more peremptory than the
former, leaves " 10 marks to the structure of the rood-
loft thereof, on condition that the churchwardens build
it within two years." Not that this was an altogether
unprecedented stipulation, only, in this case, taken together
with the previous testator, Byschop's, direction, it seems
to acquire extra significance. On the other hand, that
must have been an early loft which, in Stone (by Faver-
sham) Church (itself now in ruins), had already come to
require repairing in 1474. The same remark applies to
the " soller of the Holy Cross " at Yalding ; towards the
repair thereof a benefactor made a bequest in 1496. So,
again, must the rood-loft in Eastry Church have been
of considerable age by 151 1, seeing that at Archbishop
Warham's visitation in that year it was found to have
fallen, owing to neglect, into so serious a condition of
disrepair that the churchwardens, as responsible for the
scandal, were peremptorily ordered to amend it before
the next Christmas, under pain of excommunication.
Another incident of the Archbishop's visitation was that
the churchwardens of Hartlip presented one John
Adowne as owing £6 to the painting of the rood-loft
in their parish church. The churchwardens' accounts of

64 Memorials of Old Kent

Smarden Church show that 1508 was the date of the
rood-loft being erected there.

And now as to structure and plan. I have already
remarked on the fact of early wood screens imitating
the appearance of stone masonry. Nor was it otherwise
with the later screens. To the last they always reflected
the architectural style of the period. But, underlying
the outer ornament, the fundamental construction was of
the soundest and most severely workmanlike — genuine
timber framing of oak or chestnut, joined and held
together by wooden pins or trenails ; while braces in pairs,
meeting together at the upper extremities, form the
arches of the open fenestration. Each of these arches,
or bays, is subdivided into vertical lights by moulded
mullions, or muntins, which are grooved from the top
downward to the level of the springing. And into
these grooves are fitted panels of pierced and cusped
ornament, constituting by a combination of very simple
units in each bay the appearance of a Gothic traceried
window, with batement lights in the head. The dignified
severity of design, as exemplified in the Eastchurch and
Hernhill screens, and as contrasted with the vivacious
changefulness of pattern in that at Stalisfield, is of itself
sufificient to prove the late date of the last-named example.
There must be a difference of some sixty or seventy years
between the respective types. In some cases miniature
embattled transoms, introduced into the heads of the
fenestration, render one of the most notably English
characteristics of Perpendicular. The variation of the
positions of the transom alone is an important factor in the
general composition. Thus, in the fifteenth century screen at
Eastchurch (see illustration) the transom makes a single
horizontal line right across the screen from north to
south. This monotony is avoided in the later and more
developed design of Shoreham screen, by the simple
resource of breaking the transom into steps (see illustra-
tion) The same device is to be seen in the very handsome

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Medieval Rood-Lofts and Screens in Kent 65

panelling (unhappily out of its proper position) at Lydd
Church. Another device is to give the transom an
oblique slope, like an obtuse chevron, upward to the
centre line of each bay, as at Boughton under Blean
and at Stalisfield (see illustration) ; a still further
variety being obtained, as at Hackington, by making
the lower extremity of each gradient terminate in
an arc. In Kent the pierced tracery in the openings
of screen-work, intended, of course, to be looked
a.t from either side, is almost invariably treated on
the obverse and reverse alike. The only exception
I have found occurs in the southern portion of the
screen at Appledore, which (see left hand of illustration)
has just such a flat and unfinished appearance on its
eastward face as one would see in Midland screen-work.
The lower part of a typical Kentish screen from the cill
to the ground (the average height being about four feet)
generally consists of rectagonal panels with cusped and
traceried ornament inserted in the heads. Along the rail
or along the foot of the panelling, sometimes both, a
band of geometrical carving runs, formed usually of a
series of quatrefoils within circles, squares, or lozenges.
In a line with the moulded styles, which separate and
frame the panels below, the minor muntins run up above
the rail, and meeting the braces are mortised into them.
The principal muntins are solid posts in equal lengths,
supporting the massive lintel, which is very commonly
cut into at the top for housing the transverse joists of
the platform of the loft. These floor-joists are sturdy,
cubical timbers that have no need, like the narrow slabs
of to-day, to be held in position by herringboning.
Corresponding in form with the braces which keep the
posts and lintel together, other braces, starting from the
uprights at right angles to the line of the screen, serve
to support the overhanging floor, and also as a frame-
work for the wooden vaulting to be attached to, itself
copied from the groining or fan-tracery of stonework.
F

66 Memorials of Old Kent

Structurally this system of superficial vaulting is a feature
to which exception might be taken, but so rich and
handsome is the effect it produces that its inherent
weakness is readily overlooked. The original wooden
vaulting is complete in the screens at Shoreham and at
Lullingstone ; that at Hackington is a modern restora-
tion, well done, but unsatisfactory, because it does not
project nearly far enough eastward and westward. From
the screens in Boughton under Blean, Eastchurch, Heme,
Stalis&eld, and Tong Churches the vaulting is lost. There
is another and plainer type, the rectagonal screen, to
which those at Appledore, Bapchild, Chislehurst,
Gillingham, Harty, Minster in Sheppey, Newenden,
West Wickham and Wrotham belong. In such cases
a cove would form the only visible connection between
the screen and the loft over it ; for their system of
rectagonal compartments does not admit of vaulting.
In no case of arched openings would the intermediate
spandrils ever have shown, being entirely masked behind
the projecting vaulting. Therefore wherever the original
vaulting has perished it is no reconstruction, but an
absolute stultification of the whole of the authentic part
that does remain to fill in the empty spandrils with
ornamental pierced tracery, or to produce the moulding or
boutel on the face of the upright posts above the point
of the springing in a vertical line to the top. Both these
mistakes have, I regret to note, been made in the so-
called " restoration " of the fine screen at Stalisfield
Church.

And next, as to the upper part of rood-screens above
the lintel. The ends of the joists were not exposed
dentil-wise, but mortised or housed in the breast-
summer and encased in a broad and manifold series of
parallel mouldings and carved insertion bands about the
breast-summer. The latter, because it has come to be,
since the removal of the parapet, the uppermost residuary
portion of the structure, is commonly spoken of as the

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cornice, which, of course, in strict accuracy, it is not.
And here, not to generahse without sufficient warrant,
I am reduced to describing the particular instance of
Shoreham screen, because, though far from complete, it
happens to have been less mutilated than any other of
the kind remaining in the county. The handsome
modern rood-screen in Rodmersham Church embodies
some fragments of the original breast-summer ornaments,
made up into a cornice, but the new work, as a whole,
fails to reproduce the Kentish type ; while the sixteenth
century screen at Lullingstone, complete all but the loft,
is purely exotic. To those who are acquainted with the
rood-lofts and screenwork of other parts of the country
there is nothing unfamiliar about the beautiful band of
vine ornament filling the alternate trough and swell of
a wave-line, neither about the narrower strip of conven-
tional Tudor leafage ; both of which favourite motifs
occur in the breast-summer decorations of the Shoreham
screen. But what does seem to me to be a distinguishing
feature of the composition is the relative proportion of
carved ornaments and of simple horizontal mouldings,
the latter notably preponderating. And herein, to my
mind, consists the high aesthetic quality of this particular
rood-screen. The small amount of enrichment, as
compared with the largeness of the space occupied by
plain, straight lines, is, I take it, not a matter of accident,
but, on the contrary, of deliberate purpose in the setting
out of the design. The carving is not in excess of what
is required to relieve and embellish the horizontal
mouldings ; the latter are just dominant enough to set
off to most telling advantage the grace and delicacy of
the sculptured bands. That these more elaborate portions
may be appraised at their full and proper value the best
possible foil is afforded in the severity and reticence of
the rest. The whole expanse is so broad that, had it
been too much covered with carved ornament, the effect
would have been that of overloading and fulsomeness ;

68 Memorials of Old Kent

had there been all straight mouldings, on the other hand,
monotony. The method of dealing with the insertion
band is one admirably suited to the material. The
carving itself is executed, not on a flat plane, but on
the convex face of a segment-shaped slip. This, being
pierced as well as modelled, was then fitted into the
grooved edges of a corresponding concave space. The
contrasted effect of light and shadow produced by the
piercings and the dark hollow behind them is the same
as that of deep undercutting in stone.

As to the fashioning of the galleries or lofts them-
selves, any peculiarity of form and detail that may have
distinguished those in Kentish parish churches is now
practically a lost secret, on account of the scantiness of
the clues available. The height of the parapet of the
rood-loft might, of course, have varied somewhat with
individual circumstances ; but, anyhow, it would have to
be such as to afford adequate protection to its occupants,
and avoid the risk, on all ordinary occasions, of their
slipping over the edge and falling to the ground below.
A remnant of a loft parapet in the shape of a narrow
scrap of oak, 285 inches high, preserved, I know not by
what happy chance, projects from the surface of the
south wall in St. Alphege's, Canterbury, opposite to the
rood-stair there. Battered and broken as this fragment
is, on examination can be discerned signs of a late-Gothic
buttress ornament on the front of a style, which has a
chamfered edge like a framing to sunk panel-work.
That such a scheme of decoration as this may have been
adopted for other rood-lofts, and even further elaborated
with carved niches or tabernacle work, seems to be
implied in the case of Smarden by an entry in the
inventory taken of church goods there on nth December
in the sixth year of Edward VI. Brenchley Church rood-
loft is said to have been handsome, to judge by the
sculptured pieces of woodwork, free and vigorous in
execution, remaining there in 1880 ; the upper rail

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Medieval Rood-Lofts and Screens in Kent 69

" ornamented with carved work of scrolls and figures,
supporting a panel in which is to be seen the date
A.D. 1536" — a remarkably late example. From the entry
already quoted, and from others analogous, it would
appear to have been the practice in the reign of
Edward VI. to deface the too attractive beauty of rood-
lofts with a coating of uniform paint or whitewash, texts
being substituted for the imagery and illuminated legends
of former days. This is known to have been done in
the case of the rood-loft at Faversham, as well as at
Smarden, the expenses of the operation being actually
met by the sale of other of the church's property —
candlesticks in the first case and a chalice in the second
— a proceeding that scarcely differs in kind from the
forbidden inhumanity of seething a kid in its own
mother's milk. At Godmersham, as recorded in 1552, a
painter was employed to paint the rood-loft all over for
the purpose of defacing it. As for Smarden, as though
this treatment was not deemed to have produced a result
drab and depressing enough, the whole structure of the
rood-loft was hidden bodily under a bare sheet, with no
ornament except the Royal Arms displayed upon it.
This Puritan cloke is not to be confounded with the veil
which, in bygone Catholic times, was always employed
during the penitential season of Lent to cover up rood-
lofts, eminently belonging as they did to the same
category of ornamental objects as pictures and images.
Thus, in 1547, in the first year of Edward VI. nineteen
ells of white cloth, which had hitherto served for the
above purpose in Smarden Church, being then no longer
required, were sold by the churchwardens. " Three
white hangings for the rood and rood-loft," still remaining
at Postling in 1552 (one linen hanging of the rood-loft
being mentioned as already stolen when the church
there was broken into and robbed previously to the
above date), were probably the suit of veils or shrouds
for Lenten use. The rood-loft's Lent covering is again

70 Memorials of Old Kent

entirely distinct from the textile decoration, in dyed ox
painted canvas, which in a number of churches where
the loft itself was only a plain and unadorned structure,
hung thereon as a permanency for enhancing the
ornamental appearance of the same. An interesting
example of this occurs in an inventory taken in 1485
of the church goods in St. Andrew's, Canterbury, to wit,
" Item I steyned cloth hanging afore the rode! oft with
the byrth of Cryst," that is to say, with a representation
of the Nativity painted upon it. Inventories and old
documents are not always as lucid on the subject as
they might be ; but there is no mistaking the " staynyd
clothe for the rode lofte " at St. Dunstan's, Canterbury,
in 1 500 ; nor that which stretched along the entire
length of the rood-loft's frontage, from end to end, at
Minster in Sheppey in 1536; nor the elaborate votive
hanging at Ashurst in 1524, before mentioned, as being
decorations of the same character. The particular
occasion of " one honest drapery " {paiznus — the same
word as that yet embodied in " counterpane ") " to hang
in front of the gallery of the crucifix " in Kingsdown
Church, near Wrotham, to the making of which a
moderate sum was left in 1421, may have been similar;
but that of " two old blue cloths of canvas for the rood
loft" at Bexley in 1552; of two painted cloths belonging
to the rood-loft, and another " upon the rood loft with
Jesus " — probably the monogram of the Holy Name —
" in the midst," at Lee in the same year is doubtful.
Neither is the identification of some other items of
"cloths before the Rood" absolutely certain. An
inventory of church goods at Edenbridge in 1511-12
mentions, apart from, and in addition to, the rood-cloth
for Lent, " a cloth to hang before the Roode." Now,
whatever the last named may mean in this case, it is
clearly not the same as the veil of the rood itself. I am
inclined, therefore, to suppose that on the analogy of a
light before the rood, i.e., in the presence of the rood.

Mediaeval Rood-Lofts and Screens in Kent 71

so too a cloth before the rood must not be identified
with the shroud of the crucifix, but with the hanging
attached at the foot of the rood (whether during Lent
or other seasons) to the coping of the rood-loft and
suspended therefrom over the gallery front. If this be
correct, then there is little difficulty in assigning the
cloths so named to the respective category of the rood-
loft's covering for Lent, or, in default of explicit
statement to the contrary, for decorative use during the
remainder of the ecclesiastical year. Thus, among the
possessions of St. Andrew's, Canterbury, in 1485. occurs
the item of a " lynnen cloth to hang afore the crosse
in the forechirche " (nave) " tempore X L '"''," that is in
Quadragesima or Lent-time ; at Maidstone Church,
according to an inventory of the first year of Edward VI.,
was " I piece of linen for Lent cloth that served before
the Rood"; and at Eltham Church, in 1552, remained
" I painted cloth that was wont to hang before the Rood
in Lent." All three of the above were, I submit, Lenten
coverings for the rood-loft ; while two more items, of
the same date as the last, as follows : — " a cloth to hang
before the Rood," sold already for repairs at Hayes
Church, and " one stained cloth to hang before the
Rood " at Shadoxhurst, have reference to hangings for
the rood-loft's adornment.

Evidence is wanting that the custom prevailed to
any very large extent in Kent of decorating screenwork
with gold and colours. Among known exceptions it
may be mentioned that the rood-loft and also the east-
ward side of the pulpitum at Rochester Cathedral
were painted, the former by bequest in 1 503 ; and traces
of colour are to be found on the wood of the rood-
screenwork at Appledore, Boughton under Blean,
Brookland, Hernhill, Westwell, and Wingham ; and,
if not now, until recently were also on screenwork
at Maidstone, Ruckinge, and St. Laurence, Thanet.
The three last examples are not indeed of screens

72 Memorials of Old Kent

actually standing between the chancel and nave, but
it follows that in any church where the side-screens
were thus richly decorated the rood-screen itself, as
paramount, would not have been outdone, nor treated
in an inferior manner. The St. Laurence screenwork
is unusual in Kentish examples, inasmuch as its panels
exhibit remains of figure-painting. The rood-lofts which
existed in the fifteenth century in Elham, Hythe, Shorne
and (perhaps) Sittingbourne Churches were painted ; and
so, too, in the sixteenth century, were the rood-lofts at
Burham, Cowden and Hartlip. The new painting of the
new rood-loft at Wingham in 1 508 ; of the " high beam "
at Shorne in 1490, and of the "rood beam" at Cuxton
in 1503, were expressly provided for in wills; and since
in such documents the word " screen " is not used, but
always the " rood-loft " is spoken of, it may be assumed
that the two were regarded as constituting one and the
same structure, and that consequently the decorative
painting of the rood-loft would not be carried out to the
neglect of that of the screen beneath it. The ascertained
number, then, of painted screens in Kent may be put down
at nineteen — to wit, those at Rochester Cathedral (2) and at
Appledore, Boughton under Blean, Brookland, Burham,
Cowden, Cuxton, Elham, Hartlip, Hernhill, Hythe, Maid-
stone, Ruckinge, Shorne, Sittingbourne, St. Laurence,
Westwell and Wingham Churches. The parclose above
referred to at Maidstone, as also that at Chislehurst, was
embellished with relief encrustations in the form of stars,
cast in lead (after the manner of some of the ornaments at
Ranworth, Norfolk) ; but I have not met with any Kentish
screen decorated with gesso modelling (such as exists at
Cawston, Norfolk). Two cases, however, should be
recorded, namely, those of Shoreham and Tong Churches,
where certain details of the carved pattern, instead of
being executed throughout in wood, like the rest of
the screen, were reduplicated in casts of hard plaster,
presumably original. At Shoreham these plaster portions.

TONC CHURCH.
KENT.

MEASURED DRAWING OF ROOD SCREEN S^DETAILS

J5R-3 06

HEAD OF PANELS

SCALE op INCHES fOR DETAILS

H+W ^ ^ ^"-

SCALE OF FEET FOR ELEVATION
^"i" 3" ,0 ,1 .2 ,3

^.-*«

Medieval Rood-Lofts and Screens in Kent 73

though threatened to be replaced with new woodwork,
still (April, 1906) remain; at Tong Church they have
already been supplanted.

The proportions of Kentish screens, the churches
themselves not being remarkable for high pitch, are
generally somewhat low and squat ; in which respect they
assimilate rather to the Welsh and South-west country
standard than to that of East Anglia or the Midlands.

An interesting question arises on the subject of
foreign influence, and the extent to which it may, or may
not, have affected the ornamentation of Kentish screens.
I have noted particularly two panel-head patterns occur-
ring, together or separately, at Graveney, Hackington,
Headcorn and Newington (near Sittingbourne). Of these,
one design is of doubtful origin ; but the other, with
interpenetrating ogee arcading, blossoming into fantastic
finials at the top, the sides crocketed with crockets
sprouting out below, as well as above, the point of
intersection, is unquestionably foreign, either Flemish, or,
more likely, German. Now, the situation of all of the
above places (except Headcorn) is within easy reach of a
waterway : Hackington via Fordwich, on the Stour ;
Graveney, close to the mouth of the Swale ; Newington, at
no great distance from either Milton Creek or the Medway
mouth. Whereas, in an inland screen, that at Stalisfield
(see the right hand lower corner of the illustration) a
clumsy copy is introduced, no doubt of native product,
lacking the crisp piquancy of the foreign sculpture at
Newington and of another specimen, identical in design,
but of -provenance unknown, in the Museum at Canterbury.
What is not less significant, in the Stalisfield version, out
of deference to English taste, the crockets below the point
of crossing are omitted. A late version of English
traditional Tudor flower ornament occurs at Shoreham,
and the same pattern again, worked out almost to
degeneracy, at Westwell. In both cases this design is
on the rail, in both cases applied, instead of being cut

74 Memorials of Old Kent

out of the solid, as it should have been, had the carving
been executed on the spot, rather than brought thither
in ready-made lengths. My argument, then, is that if
the larger and heavier timbers were moulded and
otherwise shaped and prepared, and also the joinery
carried out in situ, it is practically certain that some of
the smaller and more delicate ornaments, which would
present but slight difficulty of transport, were executed
by skilled craftsmen elsewhere. The recurrence of the
same patterns in different screens shows that, unless
they were the work of peregrinating carvers, it was
customary to produce certain stock detail pieces in
quantities, and to distribute them here and there, as
occasion required, from workshops established in con-
venient centres at home, like Hoode's at Faversham,
Sutton's at Rochester, Beleme's at Canterbury, and
Gyllam's at Ashford ; or even, as the un-English character
of some specimens indicate, abroad.

The only instance in Kent of a screen which, though
made to an Englishman's order, is patently foreign
throughout its length and breadth, is the Flemish one
at Lullingstone Church. Nor is it difficult to account for
its presence there. The donor was Sir John Peche,
squire of the place, and closely connected also with the
courts of Henry VII. and VIII. during the time that a
large staff, selected from the cleverest artists in Europe,
were engaged on the work of the chapel wherein, at the
eastern extremity of Westminster Abbey Church, King
Henry VII. built himself a burial-place. Sir John,
therefore, with his many opportunities, might well have
met and commissioned some foreign craftsman to carry
out a work required for the church at the threshold of
his home.

Boughton under Blean and Heme screens contain, and,
further, in the woodwork at Brenchley Church there exists,
or up to 1880 yet existed, details which betray the growing
influence of the Italian renaissance. Again, panelling,

D
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a

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Mediaeval Rood-Lofts and Screens in Kent 75

somewhat of Franqois Premier character, is to be seen
in the south aisle at Newington, near Sittingbourne ;
but whether or not it ever formed part of the rood-
screen or rood-loft there is no means of knowing.

The interesting feature of stone corbels for carrying
the rood-loft occur at Appledore (see illustration), Capel
le Feme, Charthara and Milsted Churches. At the last-
named, furthermore, as also at Eastry, Eynesford,
Monkton, Postling and Selling, are other corbels for the
rood-beam or the lintel of the screen. At Fordwich and
Igtham Churches are remains of the oak rood-beam or
screen-lintel embedded in the masonry and cut away
approximately to the level of its stone or plastered
surface ; while at Meopham an oak beam, or part of a
beam, moulded and canned, which might originally have
been the rood-beam itself, lies there under the tower of
the parish church.

And now, to consider the question of the purpose
and uses of the rood-loft. In support of the commonest
opinion, viz., that the Gospel used to be read from the
top of the loft, one unimpeachable witness is forthcoming
from an incidental reference in the inventory made at
the Dissolution of Wingham College in the first year of
Edward VI. This document, in enumerating among
other things a certain processional cross of silver-gilt,
and enamelled with Mary and John, states that the
ownership of it is in dispute, and then goes on to recite
the circumstances. The college had had possession of
the cross until the Feast of Corpus Christi, four years
before, on which day " when the priest had read the
Gospel in the Rood-loft^' and was returning with the
said cross, the churchwarden called the clerk aside into
the parish chancel, and took away the cross from the
possession of the college. From that time it remained
in the keeping of the parish officers, until the Feast of
St. John Baptist last past (? Midsummer Day, 1547),
when it was delivered into the hands of James Hales.

•j^ Memorials of Old Kent

sergeant-at-law, for him to settle the point at issue
impartially between the rival claimants. Both parties,
however, were left in suspense, and nothing had as yet
been done in the matter.

Thus, as far as concerns the Collegiate Church at
Wingham, the evidence of the Gospel being on a great
festival sung from the rood-loft is conclusive. But yet,
in spite of it, the practical difficulties in the way of lofts
ever having come into use generally for this or any
other liturgical ceremony are enormous.

In his Acts and Monuments Fox relates how, in the
last year of the reign of Queen Mary, an officious justice,
named Drayner, alias Dragener, out of spite against the
Rector of Smarden, bored holes in the panelling of the
rood-loft there, in order that from the vantage-ground on
the top, himself unseen, he could command a full view
of the assembled worshippers in the nave ; and if he
judged the comportment of any persons during mass-
time to be unsatisfactory, he would make it the pretext
to trouble and punish them very sorely. Hasted calls this
a ridiculous story, but if there be any truth in it, its
bearing is important on the question as to whether or
not the Gospel was read from the loft, in Smarden
Church, for one. The rector and Drayner were
admittedly on bad terms with one another, and, there-
fore, had the former had occasion, when officiating, to
ascend into the loft and found the justice prowling there,
he would assuredly have sent him about his business.
Or, supposing, on the other hand, Drayner had chosen
to delay going up into the loft until after the Gospel
was over, his entering the rood-stairs must then have
been in the sight of the whole congregation, and, so,
putting them on their guard, would have defeated the
very purpose of his tyrannical espionage. The logic
of the case, then, seems to me inconsistent with a common
custom of reading the Gospel from the rood-loft ; nor

Medieval Rood-Lofts and Screens in Kent ^y

indeed, is there any evidence that such a usage did exist
in other than monastic and collegiate churches.

Incidentally rood-lofts were used by those whose office
it was to attend to the beam-light or lights, and also
perhaps for the convenient storage of ladders for
enabling the rood itself to be reached for its Lenten
shroudmg. At Fordwich Church in 1501 a "hutch," or
chest, " strongly bound with iron and a key thereto,"
is recorded to have been situated up in the rood-loft. At
Woodhouse local tradition during the last century was
that the rood-loft gallery had served for keeping the
parish bows and arrows in in olden times. In the
rood-loft in St. Mary's Church, Sandwich, about the
middle of the fifteenth century, " we know," said the late
Canon Scott Robertson, " that organs were placed, and
the parish paid various sums to musical priests for
playing these organs." The same authority suggested
that the word " procession porch " which he found
mentioned in connection with the rood-loft at St. Mary's
may have meant that, to make room for these organs,
the platform of the loft was widened in the middle and
Ccurried forward on supports, which would give the
appearance of a porch over the entrance to the chancel.
I have met with such projections at Carlisle, Chester,
Hexham, Newark, and in Germany in the Dom at
Halberstadt, but no feature of the sort in Kent, except
in the Flemish rood screen at Lullingstone Church.
Anent the " procession porch," a sidelight is obtained
from another Kentish will. One, John Bokeland, in 1473
directs to be buried in Stone Church, near Dartford,
before the rood, and also that his executors do pave with
tiles " the procession way from the chancel door," that
is, of course, the door in the rood-screen, " unto the
west door." This would cover the principal section of
the track of the procession, which, on Sundays and Great
Feasts, preceded the Solemn Mass, and, after making
the appointed round of the church, before entering the

78 Memorials of Old Kent

quire at the introit, made a " station " in front of the
great rood.

Unfortunately, the universal destruction of rood-lofts
throughout the county has deprived one of the evidence
that might have served to determine the question of
their function ; but if anything may be inferred from
the analogy of Welsh lofts and the local traditional use,
it would seem that their main purpose was to provide
accommodation, not only for musical instruments, but
also for the increasing numbers of choir-singers, whose
voices the development of prick-song, or part-singing, as
distinguished from the more ancient plain-song, or
unison, attracted to its performance. For music could
not but occupy a foremost place among the arts of peace,
which the nation began to find itself free to cultivate,
as soon as the enjoyment of prosperous and settled times
gave it a chance to recover from the paralysing shocks
of the Black Death and the absorbing waste of foreign
and dynastic wars.

Now, Kent having been evangelised as far back as
the seventeenth century by Augustine and his fellow-
missionaries from Gregory of Rome, was, as compared
with many other parts of the country, not brought thus
early within the Christian jurisdiction, possessed of a
long-settled ecclesiastical organisation ; as witnesses the
fact of its comprising, alone of the counties of mediaeval
England, two bishops' seats within its borders. Its
churches, of ancient foundation for the most part, had
undergone repeated rebuildings and enlargements, until
they had attained, so to speak, to a state of complete
finality or ever the great era of rood-loft building
dawned. Churches erected entirely in the Perpendicular
period, like that of Maidstone or Ashford, for instance,
or of Eastchurch in Sheppey, are quite exceptional.
But pre-Perpendicular churches, having been constructed
in accord with the requirements of their own times,
which were satisfied with -rood-lofts, if any, on a modest

Medieval Rood-Lofts and Screens in Kent 79

scale, were not convenient for the accommodation of the
structures of a later period. When, however, the demand
eventually did arise, it was imperative for enormous
rood-lofts to be set up somehow or other. And so, if
it was too vast an undertaking that in every parish a new
church should be reared from the ground on a loft-
comprehending plan, the already existing buildings must
perforce be altered in such wise as to take in these lofts.

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The latter alternative was in fact that which was usually
adopted ; and hence a peculiar feature in a number of
Kentish churches, to wit, the malformation of the eastern-
most arches of the nave arcades. It was not, indeed, the
only way ; but, when other devices failed, needs must
that recourse was had to it.

The ugly feature in question has not, it is true,
escaped the notice of the observant, yet, strange to say.

8o Memorials of Old Kent

its full significance has but recently become appreciated.
It was evidently lost upon the late Sir Stephen Glynne,
for one. Thus, in 1859, in his notes of Biddenden
Church, he says : " The arcades of the nave are early
English . . . The fourth arch next the chancel is not
strictly an entire arch, but three parts of a very wide one."
Again, in 1871, of Lynsted Church, having mentioned
its " pointed arches on tall octagonal pillars " between
the nave and aisles, he remarks : " the east arch being
incomplete and without respond." Again, in his account
of Doddington Church, he writes : " The third arch is
not wholly complete, but about three-quarters." The
above extracts precisely describe the phenomenon of
which, the way having been paved by the late Canon
Scott Robertson in his description of Staplehurst Church
in Volume IX. of Archcsologia Cantiana (1874), a learned
ecclesiologist, Dr. Francis Grayling, was first to arrive at
the only rational and completely satisfactory solution,
namely, that, wherever it occurs, the easternmost arch
of the nave arcade (or of both arcades, as the case may
be) has, subsequently to its original erection, been
reconstructed and heightened on its eastern side, so as
to make room for a rood-loft to run underneath it at
right-angles, affording headway for persons to pass,
unobstructed by the overhanging arch, from one part
of the loft to the other. The point is explained by
Dr. Grayling in an article on the old parish church of
his native town of Sittingbourne, published in Volume
XXIII. of Archceologia Cantiana (i8g8). Therein, after
setting forth the successive changes that have taken place
in the fabric, the writer goes on to show how, in the
fifteenth century, " the eastern respond of the nave arches
was on each side removed, and the arches above were
rendered rampant by large fresh voussoirs cut to a
different sweep." The date of this change cannot be
determined exactly, but Dr. Grayling suggests, with
reason, that it occurred not long previously to the year

Medieval Rood-Lofts and Screens in Kent 8i

1473-4, when a certain testator is known to have left
directions to provide for " one bastard rofEe or painting
the rode-loft " in Sittingbourne Church. By the way,
what precisely is meant by a " bastard roof " I am not
sure ; but, judging from the context, which seems to
show that the testator was minded to do honour, one
way or other, to the rood, I believe the reference must
be to a sort of inner lining of carved or painted timber,
otherwise called a " celure " or " sperver," to form a canopy
of peculiar dignity over the head of the rood. If such an
ornament ever did exist in Sittingbourne Church, and
managed to survive so late as 1762, it must certainly
have perished in the destructive conflagration on 17th
July of that year. The only example I know now existing
in Kent is in Rainham Church, and dates from the reign
of Henry VII. During the same king's reign provision
was made by will for much the same kind of canopy in
another church — e.g., in 1488, " to the making of a new
ceiling over the rood loft " at West Mailing. A special
ceiling over the rood-loft in St. Martin's Church, New
Romney, existed up to 1550, when it was removed and
sold at the dismantling and razing of the building in that
year.

Barely seven years after the bequest, which would
seem to have contributed to leave a mark, as before
described, on the fabric of Sittingbourne Church, another
is on record, which, perhaps, was responsible for results
more momentous in the neighbouring church of Lynsted.
One, William Finch, of that parish, by will dated ist
December, 1480, directs: "Item lego versus facturam
umus arche de novo faciendi in eccksia parochiali de
Lyngsted, 135-. 4^/." How interesting it would have been
if only William Finch had specified the exact site of his
intended new arch! Lynsted Church contains no single
arch that can certainly be identified as the one built
in accordance with the terms of this bequest. The
easternmost arch of the nave arcade on either side was
G

82 Memorials of Old Kent

obviously rebuilt about that time, but this makes a pair
of arches, whereas the testator distinctly says one. The
discrepancy could easily be accounted for if it may be
assumed that the cost of the corresponding arch being
rebuilt was met by other means. Anyhow, the coincidence
of date is so striking that it is scarcely an over-rash
surmise that the reconstruction referred to was occasioned
by the arcades having to be adapted to the exigencies of
a new rood-loft.

More remote from the high road than Lynsted is
Doddington Church, where the distortion is accentuated
by an impost on the easternmost pier of the arcade,
which impost is 3 ft. io| in. higher than the level of
the opposite one on the western pier of the same arch,
and the imposts on both sides of the two other bays of
the arcade. At Sittingbourne and Lynsted, Cranbrook
and Goudhurst, there is both distortion and a rood-
stair as well ; in numbers of churches a rood-stair
is the sole remaining evidence of the former rood-
loft, there being no distortion ; but wherever the
latter does occur, whether in the one arcade in a
church of nave and one aisle, or in both the arcades
in a church of nave and two aisles, it affords conclusive
proof that the loft formerly extended from side to side
of the building. So infallible a token, indeed, this is,
that, in the case of Doddington, where there is no rood-
stair nor any other sign beyond the distortion of the
arcade, this distortion alone is sufficient of itself to settle
the fact of there having been a loft, and of its having
reached right across the church, beyond all dispute. At
Erith Church the distortion in the south arcade (the
north arcade there being only a modern addition of 1877)
is so exaggerated as to amount to a downright deformity.
And, yet, neither in this nor in any other instance would
it have shown at all as an objectionable feature, so long as
the rood-loft, which was the cause of it, remained in
position. It is only the removal of the latter that has

Medieval Rood-Lofts and Screens in Kent 83

exposed the deformity in all its uncouth nakedness ;
but even so the defect is of value as a memorial of the
rood-loft departed.

An alternative plan, just as effective for the purpose
of a passage and far less injurious to the fabric, was to
tunnel openings through the walls of the arcading ; but
to do this was, of course, practicable only where the
abutment onto the nave's east wall afforded space
enough in the arcade's easternmost spandril. Examples
of this method occur at Milton next Sittingbourne and
at Rainham in the one arcade of the churches there,
and in both arcades at Boughton under Blean, Dartford
and Teynham Churches.

As to the approach from the floor of the church on
to the top of the loft, in a great number of instances it
was provided for by a flight of stone steps, rising
within the hollow of the wall, sometimes enlarged into a
sort of annexe for this purpose, as at Bapchild, Boughton
under Blean, Eastling, Lynsted, Rainham and Westwell ;
or set in a turret projecting from the outer wall of
the building, as at Cranbrook, Dartford, Goudhurst,
Hawkhurst, and Rodmersham. Sometimes, again, the
stair-turret occupies an internal position, as at
Wrotham and Hythe. The latter instance is extremely
remarkable, possibly unique, since there — as Rev. T. G.
Hall, formerly Vicar of Hythe, has demonstrated by
careful measurements — is a tapering structure, rising
above the height of the wall externally, to be capped by
a conical roof, and, in fine, such that has every appear-
ance of belonging to the peculiar class of Irish round
towers. In that event it must have existed long before
the present church into which it has been incorporated.
The lower part of the tower on the outside has actually
been pared down to a reduced scale and refaced with
ashlar on this revised plan, in order to bring its battering
outline into harmony with the vertical walls of the new
surroundings. The interior then only required to be

84 Memorials of Old Kent

fitted with a spiral staircase and doorways pierced in
the shell to convert the whole into a rood-stair turret.
A notable coincidence of Hythe and Wrotham Churches
is that in either case a passage branches off from the
rood-stair and runs across to the opposite side in the
hollow of the wall above the summit of the chancel-arch.

A further peculiarity is to be seen at Wouldham, where
the rood-stair, starting in the north wall, turns south-
ward and is carried on a stone bridge between two walls
(not so high but that one can look over the top of them
into the body of the church below) across the aisle to
the north arcade wall, through which it opens into space
where formerly the rood-loft used to stand.

The situation of the rood-stair is indifferently on the
north or the south side ; but the entrance to it is usually
from the nave or an aisle of the nave. But there are
instances where, as at Cuxton, Erith, Great Chart, Heme,
Meopham, Newchurch, Newington (near Sittingbourne),
St. Peter's (Thanet), and Rainham, and also apparently
at Appledore, the entrance led up from the east side of
the boundary between nave and chancel. The openings
are almost always narrow, often inconveniently so ; for
they seldom exceed two feet in width ; in many cases they
measure less. The jamb is not unusually provided with
a couple of iron hooks or staples for hanging the door
withal, but it is rare to find the original doors, or any
part of them, remaining, as is the case at Shoreham.
The doorway itself may be square-headed with a
horizontal lintel, or it may be arched in semi-circular, two-
centred (this being the commonest variety), shouldered
(this being of rare occurrence, as at Rodmersham), or four-
centred form. The typical doorway is remarkable only
for its extreme plainness, and it seldom occurs that any
example is met with which displays greater elaboration
than a continuous bevel, arrested at the base by a diamond-
pointed stop on either side. The rood-stair door at St.
Alphege's, Canterbury, is an unusually rich example (see

Medieval Rood-Lofts and Screens in Kent 85

51 AuPHECt CHURCH,
CANTERBURy^
SKETCH SHOWING
REMAINS Of
ROOD STAIR.

illustration). The head is crowned with a graceful ogee
label, with fmial and crockets, the lower extremities
terminating in sculptured heads.
The date of this work appears
to be about the middle of the
fifteenth century.

Churches which have no
rood-loft nor vestige of ancient
screenwork in situ yet contain
a valuable record if the rood-
stair remain. The height from
the ground to the cill of the
upper doorway of the rood-
stair is so important a detail
that it may be said to supply
the key of the position. For,
though it is true there might
have been a step up or a step
down onto the loft platform
from the stair-head, the tread
of the opening at the top

surely brings one to within six or seven inches of the
original level of the loft floor. The measure of this
altitude ascertained, the rest follows. Even the spacing
of the screen into bays offers no insuperable difficulty,
this factor being one which is necessarily dependent on
the width measures of the interior of the building.

Now, from the fact that there are churches (those of
Doddington and Tong among the number) having
undoubtedly at one time contained rood-lofts, but yet
no discernible means of access to the same, it is evident
that there must sometimes have been only wooden stairs
for this purpose ; structures which, either through the
perishableness of the material or through having become
of no further use, on the destruction of their rood-lofts,
have disappeared, leaving no record behind them. It
seems to me, however, just possible that the " very

S6 Memorials of Old Kent

antient spiral staircase of wood," mentioned by Hasted in
1799 as being in Monkton Church in his day, may have
been the original rood-staircase there, more especially
as no trace whatever of a stone rood-stair, of common
occurrence elsewhere in the neighbourhood, is to be
found in the buildmg. True, Hasted states that the
wooden staircase was in the tower at the west end, but
his words do not necessarily certify that it was fixed
in that position, nor, even though fixed, that it must
have belonged there. Moreover, as everybody knows,
church towers not unfrequently serve as receptacles for
miscellaneous lumber. From the simple fact, therefore,
that Hasted thought it worth while, contrary to his wont,
to chronicle the existence of such an object at all, I am
inclined to suppose that it was one which, lying about
in the place, and its motive open to speculation, appealed
to the historian from its strangeness as a curiosity not
less than from its indefinite age. I put forward these
suggestions as to its identity merely for what they may
be worth. Unfortunately the staircase in question at
Monkton has long since ceased to exist, so that the real
truth of the matter can never be ascertained now.

In Mediaeval England, as is well known, it was a
recognised institution that before the great rood in every
church a light or lights should be burnt, towards whose
maintenance it was, among our Catholic forefathers, a
common custom, and such that had not died out when
the Reformation overtook it, to make presents and
bequests in money and in kind. Innumerable records of
such gifts exist, as the wills of individuals and the
parochial accounts of churchwardens abundantly illustrate.

Sometimes these benefactions would be provided for
by charges upon landed property, of which two instances
will suffice. Thus, Thomas Hadlow, by his will dated
4th August, 1527, left very explicit directions for the
endowment of a rood-light at Seal : — •

Medieval Rood-Lofts and Screens in Kent 87

I bequeath a pound of wax to be thereof a taper perpetually every year
to be made and to burn in the Rood-loft before the Rood. And the said
taper every year to be new-made against the Eve of the Nativity of our
Lord. And the same taper to be kept at the costs and charges of them which
shall inherit and occupy a piece of land of 4 acres called Barneffelde.
And for lack that and if it fortune that the said taper be not every year
new-made that then I will the Churchwardens of Seal shall stress and
strain for the said sum of money for the said taper.

Eight acres of " lands appertaining unto the Cross
light" of Fordwich Church were producing in 1501 an
annual income of 3s. yd. towards its maintenance. Various
testators would make bequests of cows, sheep, ox corn
for the same purpose. Thus, in 1515 a testator left a
cow to find the means to maintain a light " to burn
before the Rood from the second peal to Matins till High
Mass be done, and from the second peal to Evensong
till Evensong be done, for evermore," at Hailing ; and
in 15 17 another left two sheep to endow a light in
perpetuity before the rood-loft at Higham. There was
yet another form of offering peculiarly characteristic of
the times. In order to appreciate its significance one
must remember that in the long centuries during which
cane-sugar was unknown in Europe (the West Indies not
being discovered until 1492), the principal ingredient avail-
able for sweetening purposes was honey. At the same
time a constant supply of vegetable wax was in requisition
for votive candles. Apiculture, then, was bound to be an
industry of far greater moment to our mediaeval fore-
fathers than it is with ourselves at the present day. In
early parish accounts it is no uncommon circumstance to
find entries of rents of wax, discharged at first, no doubt,
in kind, in later days commuted to their equivalent in
money, as having been paid to the churchwardens or to
the guilds which attended to the light before their
respective patronal statues. A case in point is furnished
by the accounts of St. Dunstan's, Canterbury. Again,
a testator in April, 1407, left to the churchwardens of
Bexley all his bees, the profit arising from them to be

88 Memorials of Old Kent

devoted to maintaining three wax tapers perpetually
burning in the church there. True, the rood-light is not
of the number specified, but, anyhow, the nature of the
bequest is significant. " Church bees " were owned by
the parish of Fordwich, the churchwardens' accounts in
1532 showing for how much the resultant honey was sold,
while the wax, it is to be assumed, was reserved to make
tapers for the church withal.

The most usual manner of setting lights before the
rood appears to have been on pricket spikes in the midst
of bowls or basins of latten, pewter or lead ; the bowls,
as at Brookland and Chilham, being fixed in a row along
the beam or top of the parapet of the loft, or sometimes,
perhaps, flanking the rood, on the same beam with it.
Of such bowls as many as one hundred are known to
have existed at one time at Chilham, twenty at Bromley,
six at Cuxton, seventeen at Eastwell, twelve at Little
Chart and at Midley, four at St. Paul's, Cray, twenty-
four at North Cray, and sixty at Westwell. The mention
of candlesticks and stocks — that is, prickets or sockets
mounted on a stem — is less common, possibly because
the use of bowls was safer under the circumstances.
The thirty candlesticks at Bethersden in 1552 were more
probably bowls, like the preceding examples. A single
candlestick, however, was provided for the rood-loft at
Burham, Dartford and Ryarsh ; while at Minster in
Sheppey (inventory 1536) there was "a beam candle-
stick and 6 bowls of latyn to the same." A " square
taper" was set before the rood at Dartford in 1530;
and at the close of the previous century a " torch " was
endowed for the same purpose both at Horton Kirby
and at Seal.

The " rare example " of the seven metal candlesticks
one reads of as remaining on the screen at Wrotham is
a myth. It would be all but incredible that one solitary
specimen should have survived from pre-Reformation
days, but a complete set of the mystic number seven

Medieval Rood-Lofts and Screens in Kent 89

should not fail to arouse suspicion as being at once too
happy and too conventional not to have been engineered.
I found every one of the seven candlesticks, tested at
close quarters, to be absolutely modern, of white deal,
turned and gilt, not with leaf of gold nor anything that
so much as glitters, but with dull paint of one of the
cheap powder compositions advertised for simulating the
effect of the precious metal.

Another plan of setting lights in front of the rood
was a metal framework, called a " branch " or " herse,"
suspended from the nave roof. Chandeliers of this kind
existed at the churches of Chislehurst, St. Dunstan's,
Canterbury, and Milton by Gravesend, and at the
now demolished church at Beckenham, the branch
at the last-named holding five, if not more, tapers.
In other places, as at Lydd and at Milton by
Gravesend also, in 1531, there hung a " tryndill,"
or coiled length of wax taper ; and if, which I
conclude, a sliding weight was attached, or some other
self-acting contrivance for unwinding the end of the
trendal as it was gradually consumed, the rotatory move-
ment, which the name seems to imply, would be explained.

Lastly, as further bequests prove, in some churches
a hanging lamp did duty before the rood. Such was the
case at Ash next Wrotham, Bromley, Cowling, Elham,
Hailing, Higham and Ryarsh Churches, and also, as shown
by a bequest in 1499 expressly providing for oil for
this purpose, at the now demolished church of Denton
by Gravesend.

At the foot of the overarching rood-loft, against the
screen's naveward front, it was not unusual to erect an
altar or altars. Thus, reredoses, like the beautiful four-
teenth century examples of stone tabernacling on either
side of the chancel-arch at Smarden ; or piscinas,
conveniently situated to the southward for an altar on
one side of the chancel opening, or on both sides of it,
as at Cowden and Rodmersham Churches, and also at

90

Memorials of Old Kent

Milton (next Sittingbourne) Church, where there is a
pair of four-centred window recesses, opposite to one
another, low in the north and south walls, that on the
south having a piscina drain in the cill ; all of these
tokens in their several ways witness to the same practice.

In the last-named
church, from certain in-
dications found under
the flooring there in
1890, Dr. Grayling came
to the conclusion that
these side - altars must
have been enclosed, each
within chantry - screens
of its own. The record
in 1499 of a Chaplain of
the Chantry of St. Cross
in St. Mary's Church,
Hoath, small as that
building is, seems to
imply the presence of a
similar institution there
also. That there was a
" Cross altar " in the
parish church of Strood
is proved by the bequest
of a towel for its use in

Milton Church, NEAR Sittingbourne. ^493; and likewise, at

West Mailing, a testator,
in 1529, bequeathing
" half my diaper cloth to
the Roode altar " there. An altar under the rood-loft
at Gillingham is known to have existed in 1525, and
similarly at Cuxton, from a bequest " to the reparacion
of the Rood altar" there being made in 1529. Some,
if not all of the above, may have been, like that at
Hoath, endowed foundations. But, whether or not, all

Sketch of South-East Corner of the
Nave, showing South Wall beyond.

Medieval Rood-Lofts and Screens in Kent 91

must eventually have shared the common fate of rood-
lights and of the roods themselves.

Of the authoritative blows levelled in the Reforma-
tion against the usages of the old religion, the first that
struck roods was the Royal Injunction, exhibited in
1538, which ordered that all such feigned images as were
known to be abused of pilgrimages and offerings must,
for the avoiding of idolatry, forthwith be taken down
without delay. Henry VIII. himself went no further in
this direction, but a series of injunctions and enactments
in the reigns of his two Protestant children left no loop-
hole of escape from the logical issue of that which he
began. No sooner had Edward VI. succeeded to the
throne than there was re-issued, in stronger terms, his
father's injunction against images, ordering the destruc-
tion of as many as were liable to abuse, and, as for
the rest, which were suffered for the time being to
remain, undermining the principle of their devotional use
by bidding the clergy instruct the people that any images
permitted were meant for the sole purpose of a reminder
of the holy lives of the individuals whom they represented.

However, these half-measures failed altogether to
satisfy Archbishop Cranmer, who, laying aside the mask
which prudence had compelled him to wear as long as
Henry VIII. lived, in an inflammatory speech in
Convocation, in the November following the child-king's
accession, exhorted the clergy " to throw out all the
Popish trash which was not yet cast out." Moreover,
as was but natural, much disputing accompanied the
taking down of images, for no sort of unanimity could
be arrived at as to which had been idolatrously abused
and which had not. The simplest course was indis-
criminate condemnation of all images alike. And this
shortly was done, for on 21st February, 1547-8, an Order
in Council decreed the removal of every image without
exception, and Cranmer had the gratification of being
specially charged to look to it that his own diocese was so

92 Memorials of Old Kent

thoroughly purged as to become, in this regard, the
model for all other diocesans to emulate. Accordingly,
in his Visitation in the ensuing summer he made
rigorous inquiry of his clergy on this particular point.
The destruction of roods went on apace all that year,
until, by about November, as the Chronicles of the Grey
Friars of London record, there " was pullyd downe
throrrow all the kynges domynion in every churche alle
Roddes with alle images, and every precher preched in
their sermons agayne all images." In the room of the
crucifix with the statues of Mary and John thus
overthrown, the agents of King Edward VI., in his name,
commanded to be set up on or above the rood-loft the
Royal Arms, to signify his supreme headship over the
church of the realm ; king's visitors being sent on a
tour of inspection from parish to parish so as to ascertain
that the order had been duly obeyed. But even the
before-mentioned mandates do not appear to have been
thorough enough in operation to please the authorities,
for in 1548 further steps were taken in the form of an
Act passed " for abolishing and putting away divers
books and images." From its relentless and inquisitorial
tone it would seem that certain images were discovered
not to have been destroyed, but to have been conveyed
out of the churches to places of temporary safety.
Thither, however, the new Act would have them traced
and drag them forth to share in the common destruction
meted out to all such images as theretofore had not
been taken out of any church or chapel. The conse-
quence of all this iconoclasm would necessarily be to
leave no ancient rood standing throughout the county
at the death of Edward VI. and the accession of Queen
Mary.

Upon Edward's decease a Catholic reaction took
place, the formal restoration of the old religion and a
solemn reconciliation, by Papal absolution, of the church
and people of England to the unity which the Queen's

Medieval Rood-Lofts and Screens in Kent 93

father had broken. " Likewise the cardinal " {i.e., Pole),
it has been related, " caused Dr. Story to visit every
parish and see the rood-lofts supplied, the crucifixes to
be placed with the images of our Blessed Lady and
St. John, the one on the right hand and the other on
the left, and the King's arms with a lion on the one
side and a dragon on the other side to be removed . . .
and set in a place more convenient." Archbishop Pole's
Visitation Articles, dated 1557, contain the inquiry to
be made of the beneficed clergy in the archdiocese of
Canterbury as to " whether they have a rood in their
church of a decent stature, with Mary and John and an
image of the patron of the same church." In the same
year it is on record that one, Gyllam, of Ashford,
supplied a fresh crucifix with the statues of Mary and
John, as well as one of the patron saint, for the church
at Bethersden. At this period also a new rood was
erected to replace the one destroyed in Smarden and
Hawkhurst Churches. But it is easier to pull down
than to build up again. The brief duration of Mary's
rule, from 1553 to 1558, could not sufftce to repair the
wholesale destruction of her brother's reign, and an
uninterrupted spell of Protestant ascendancy, from the
accession of Queen Elizabeth onwards, empowered the
reform party to renew and to complete the work of
iconoclasm.

At the end of June, 1559, was revived by injunction
the previous order against images. Nay, where Edward's
ministers had been content to forbear, the new Queen
did not spare. It may be wondered at that those who
acted in the name of Edward VI. had left anything
on which subsequent iconoclasm could lay hands.
And yet there is one consideration which must have
had not a little weight. The life of the young King,
sickly in body as he was morbid and over-wrought in
mind, can never have been otherwise than precarious.
The more far-seeing, therefore, among his advisers

94 Memorials of Old Kent

either dared not or cared not to commit themselves to
such mihtant extremes as must irretrievably prejudice
them in the eyes of the heir to the throne. For the
Princess Mary, on her part, made no secret of her
unshaken adherence to the old religion. If a compromise,
then, was adopted under Edward VI., and if it proceeded
less from inclination than from policy, yet the net result
was that, while roods were swept away, rood-lofts were
saved and remained intact until the accession of Queen
Elizabeth. It was under her, and not sooner, that the
removal of rood-lofts was decreed, and her nominees,
the Protestant Archbishops, Parker and Grindal, were
instant in carrying the order into effect. So thorough,
indeed, was the archiepiscopal zeal in this regard that,
although a certain number of rood-lofts did manage
to evade the extreme penalty of the law in various
other parts of the country, in the metropolitan's own
archdiocese, and, in fact, throughout all Kent, with the
two exceptions of the pulpitum in Canterbury Cathedral,
and likewise that at Rochester, not one solitary example
of a mediaeval loft has survived.

At the archdeacon's visitation in 1560 the church-
wardens of Biddenden, Bishopsbourne, Brenzett, Faver-
sham, Goudhurst and Sandhurst presented that, contrary
to law, the rood-lofts still remained in their respective
parish churches. If from this it is to be inferred that
the six complained of, and a seventh and eighth which,
from other sources, are known to have been in existence
at this date at St. Dunstan's, Canterbury, and at West-
well, were the only parish church lofts then left standing
in the diocese, it does but prove with what untiring
energy the Protestant Queen, since she came to the
throne just two years previously, had been served. For,
although it is often stated by her apologists that
personally she was in favour of the retention of such
ornaments, for instance, as the crucifix, in her official

Medieval Rood-Lofts and Screens in Kent 95

capacity Elizabeth unquestionably played into the hands
of the less moderate reformers.

In the second year of the Queen's reign, through her
Royal Commissioners was issued a decree " that the
rood-lofts as yet being at that day aforesaid untransposed,
shall be so altered that the upper parts of the same,
with the soller, be quite taken down unto the upper
parts of the vaults, by putting some convenient crest
upon the said beam towards the church, leaving the
situation of the seats, as well in the choir as in the
church, as heretofore hath been used." The terms of
this ordinance are worthy of most careful attention, and
will probably surprise anyone who is not previously
acquainted with them. To remove a chancel-screen and
quire-stalls, including return-stalls with their backs
against the screen, where they happened to be in that
position, was thus constituted an act of illegality, and
such it still remains. What actually was commanded
to be taken down, and no more, was the gallery parapet
above the platform, " unto," but not including, " the
vaulting." The latter was to be preserved, with the
whole of the rest of the screen, from the breast-summer
at the base of the gallery downward to the floor. By
way of mitigating the bare and novel unsightliness of
a screen deprived of its crowning balcony, the upper
edge was to be finished off with an added cresting, or,
as it is technically called, brattishing. These measures,
literally carried out, would produce an effect which,
howsoever sadly inferior to that of former times, was yet
very far removed from that of the average church at the
present day. It was, in fact, precisely that which may
yet be seen in two neighbouring churches — Shoreham and
Lullingstone. These two buildings, although in the latter
instance the cresting is absent, retain their ancient screen-
work in a greater degree of completeness than do any
other parish churches in the county. But Shoreham
and Lullingstone, alas! are fortunate exceptions only.

96 Memorials of Old Kent

Contrasted with these, in by far the greatest proportion
of cases the practical result of the ordinance was some-
thing much more drastic. For, in any event, the act of
demolition, even on the limited scale required by law,
could not but be attended with considerable risk to the
sacred fabrics. Playing with edged tools is proverbially
a dangerous game, and, licence once granted and the
lust of destruction aroused, it was not in human nature
to draw nice distinctions between one degree of sacrilege
and another. Nor, although wanton outrages had become,
since Elizabeth's accession, so frequent and scandalous
that it was neccessary to safeguard, by proclamation in
1560, statues of Royal personages, stained glass, tombs,
and other monuments, does any effective provision appear
to have been made for the protection of church screen-
work by restraining such acts of violence and excess
as, in the execution of the edict against rood-lofts, must
inevitably be committed. Nay, it is likely enough that
such were the very contingencies that the Queen's wily
ministers foresaw and desired. If this was, indeed, the
consummation they had in view, after having drafted the
ordinance accordingly, nothing more remained for them
to do but to sit down, and, tongue in cheek, await the
accomplishment of their designs.

This is not to say that every single screen which
has — like those, for instance, at Boughton under Blean,
Eastchurch, Tong, and Stalisheld — been deprived of
its original vaulting, necessarily lost it at that particular
juncture ; but then was certainly the beginning
of ruin. For it stands to reason that, the structure
once tampered with in one point, other parts,
too, and more particularly the complicated system
of wooden groins and vaults, would become so broken
and dislocated that their final disintegration and removal
would be only a matter of time. As far as Archbishop
Parker himself was concerned, it is but due to give him
the credit of having been sincerely desirous to adhere

Eastchurch, Sheppey.
detail of oak rood scrkkn, from the west.

{The cornice and cresting are iiioiiern.)

Medieval Rood-Lofts and Screens in Kent 97

to the letter of his instructions. It is a fact that, on the
occasion of his diocesan Visitations, he made expHcit
inquiries on this head. In the Articles of the Visitation
of 1569, conducted by Richard Rogers, Bishop of Dover,
and two other commissioners acting on the Archbishop's
behalf, the latter, after asking whether images and all
other monuments of idolatry and superstition — such was
the language which even the soberest among the
reformers used in reference to the rood and other objects
that generations of their fathers had dearly venerated —
were destroyed and abolished ; next, put the pertinent
questions whether the old rood-lofts had been taken
down, as prescribed, and whether at the same time the
chancel-screens had been preserved. Again, as to these
two last points. Archbishop Grindal, Parker's successor,
took steps in 1576 to satisfy himself in respect of the
whole of the southern province.

If the former part of the ordinance, then, was
universally complied with throughout Kent, the latter
part has been almost as generally disregarded. An entry
of the year 1574 in the parish accounts of Hawkhurst
Church shows that at that date " the partition of the
chancel " was made lower and the timber that was taken
down sold by the churchwardens. If this refers, as
I suspect, to the chancel-screen, it would indicate the
spread of further innovating tendencies. In numbers of
churches the rood-screens axe found to have been sawn
off through the principal muntins, on a level with the
cill, and only the solid part below the opening spared.
Cut down screens, or portions of them, yet remain at,
among other places, Biddenden, Brookland, Doddington,
Faversham, Goudhurst, Headcorn, Ivychurch, Lynsted,
Minster in Sheppey, Smarden, Teynham, Westwell
and Wingham. Although this list is no doubt
capable of being considerably enlarged, the truth
remains that the majority of Kentish churches contain
no vestiges of ancient screenwork at all at the
H

98 Memorials of Old Kent

present day. Yet, as late as 17 19, Dr. Harris
declared the rood-loft to be standing in Westwell
Church, when his work about Kent was published.
One after another screens have been mutilated or
been removed, without a shadow of legal authorisa-
tion, and that, too, in numbers of cases — with shame
be it said ! — no longer ago than in the age of the
vainglorious enlightenment of the nineteenth century.
Thus are accounted for the whole or the best
portions of the chancel-screens now vanished from
Cowden, Dartford, Erith, Farningham, Gillingham,
Goodnestone by Wingham, Minster in Sheppey, Oare and
Wingham Churches ; while others have been, not less
arbitrarily, removed from their proper site in Challock,
Cobham, Great Mongeham, Iwade and Swanscombe
Churches. The screen-shifting at Great Mongeham
was effected at the "restoration," begun in 185 1, by an
architect of repute, Butterfield by name. It should
rather have been Wyatt, who shuffled the pieces in
Salisbury Cathedral. At Newington and Milton
Churches, both near Sittingbourne, as well as at
Aylesford, Cuxton, Newenden, Ruckinge and Wood-
church, portions of the original screenwork have been
egregiously worked up into seats, reredoses, pulpits, or
reading-desks. On the occasion of the Kent Archaeo-
logical Society's visit to Cliffe-at-Hoo Church in 1876,
the cleric in charge observed, " The remains of the
ancient rood screen have been preserved as well as they
could be, and only stay where they are until they ca7i be
replaced by a new screen, which could be done for about
;^8o, sufficient of the original being left to serve as a
guide for reconstruction." The idea of exchanging a
priceless and historic heirloom of the church for a
modern counterfeit, valued at a paltry sum of eighty
pounds, is so monstrous and grotesque that one might
be amused at it but for the fatal consequences which
such misconceptions entail. Against vandalism of this

Medieval Rood-Lofts and Screens in Kent 99

sort there is no safeguard but that of placing all ancient
churches on the footing of National Monuments, their
furniture, fittings, and other ancient contents scheduled,
with a heavy penalty enforced — attached merely it
will be of no use — for the misplacement and " restoring "
away of them under any pretext whatsoever.

The churchwardens' accounts of St. Dunstan's with-
out the Westgate, Canterbury, from 1484 to 1580
(published in Volumes XVI. and XVII. of ArchcBologia
Cantiana), afford the outline of a fairly continuous record
of the fortunes of the parish church during an eventful
period of close upon a century. The interest of this
document consists not so much in the actual chronicle
of events, confined within the limited area of a single
parish, as because it may be regarded as typical of
hundreds of other similar records, no longer in existence.
For the present purpose it is not necessary to abstract
more than those entries which concern the rood-light
and the rood-loft.

To commence, then, with the light. An account,
under the date i486, rendered by the " Wardens of the
Crosse lygthe," shows that, as their name implies, for
keeping up the light that always burned before the rood,
officers were expressly appointed, being authorised to
collect and to disburse all funds raised for this object.
As regards the wardenship, it appears from an entry of
the following year, 1487, and of the successive years,
wherein the same two office-holders' names recur up to
1490, that, unlike churchwardens, they were not elected
annually, but for a term of three or four years. Their
accounts were rendered with tolerable regularity up to
1545, which is the date of the last item relating to this
matter, on the very eve of the Edwardian Reformation.
Sometimes the receipts were of the nature of individual
offerings, as when, in the Michaelmas account from
1525 to 1526, the gift of 2d. is registered "for two penny
tapers before the Rode"; or when, again, between 1538

loo Memorials of Old Kent

and 1540, one, Walter Ledes, made a "special gift" of
IS. " towards the croslight." Sometimes they took the form
of grants or subscriptions from the parish board, or guild,
of the Schaft. This term, not being met with elsewhere,
has presented some difficulty. There can, however, be
little doubt but that (on the analogy of the official title of
" Gold Stick " or " Black Rod ") the members of this body
were collectively so called in allusion to one of the most
obvious of their manifold duties, to wit, the charge of
the parish shaft or may-pole. (For illustration the origin
of the name of the London City Church of St. Andrew's
Undershaft will readily be called to mind.) But that
the before-named were not the only sources of the rood-
light revenue is proved by other entries variously
phrased, from time to time, as " due to the crosse," and
" her lakkith the receitis of the rodelought (or ' Rode
Lygth ') mony," beside specific mention, in this connec-
tion, of " allowances " and " rentalls." Thus, under the
head of rents in 1490 — " in primis, resseyuid of the
Vycary for the Croste, 2s." From the same year's
accounts it appears that six tenements in the place were
held under an obligation of " wax rents," fixed at so
many pounds of wax, or their equivalent in money, to be
paid to the Church of St. Dunstan's. Further entries
manifest the careful economy exercised in dealing with
this prized commodity. The swalings and stump ends of
wax " spared of the branch before the Rode " would
periodically be gathered up, and after having been weighed
and a memorandum of the quantity duly entered in the
wardens' books, handed to the wax-chandler (whose
business should not be confused with that of tallow-
chandler) to melt down and re-make, who, in his turn,
delivered the tapers " newe strekyn," together with a
statement of his charge for the work done and of the
cost of the additional wax supplied. The latest of these
accounts is dated 5th April, 1545, when 35 lbs. of old
wax and of new 15 lbs. at 6d. per lb. were made into

Medieval Rood-Lofts and Screens in Kent ioi

tapers weighing 2 lb. apiece, whereof the apportioned
value of 8s. iid. was debited to the rood-light fund. By
this date, it should be remembered, all other lights in
churches had been proscribed, except those which were
burnt ceremonially in service-time, annually at the
Easter Sepulchre, and perennially before the Reserved
Sacrament. Thenceforward, touching the light that had
been, from time immemorial, sedulously kept burning
before the rood at St. Dunstan's, nothing but ominous
silence prevails in the accounts.

And now, as regards expenses under the other head.
In 1498 was bought one pennyworth of Sandwich cord
for the cloth before the rood, while, from an inventory
taken of the church's goods in 1550, it appears that St.
Dunstan's possessed " a staynyd clothe for the rode
lofte." The next time Sandwich cord was purchased
(somewhere between 1504 and 1508) it cost fourpence,
and was explicitly stated to be " for to pulle uppe the
Cloth before the Rode on Palme Sonday." A like sum
again was spent, between Michaelmas, 1508 and 15 14,
for cords for the rood-loft. The next entry in relation
to the loft would seem to imply that the woodwork was
getting out of repair. For, between Michaelmas, 1524,
and Michaelmas, 1525, nails and "prigs," that is the same
as sprigs or pins, were purchased for the rood-loft, and
an additional small sum spent on mending the Cross
itself. The next item is : " For the leddyng of the newe
wyndow ayen the Rode, 5 s." Similarly a testator left
a sum of money in 1525 towards the making of the
window before the foot of the rood in Speldhurst Church.
Windows set in such a position that they must have
been intended expressly for lighting up the rood, or the
loft, are not of very common occurrence. There is one
such window, however, in Capel le Feme Church,
another in Erith Church, and other examples have
been noted in Willesborough and Sevington Churches,
both near Ashford. At the present day no window

I02 Memorials of Old Kent

in St. Dunstan's can be identified as answering
to this description. Seven years subsequently to the
previous repairs, that is between Michaelmas, 1532,
and Michaelmas, 1533, the Cross in St. Dunstan's was
again mended ; but the rood-loft was either past repair
or found to be inadequate for the developing needs of
the time. It was, therefore, taken down and the old
material sold. The next entry shows that it was promptly
replaced by a new loft, towards the expenses of which,
on St. John's Day, 1532 or 1533, a bequest was received
from Sir William Borges ; the wardens of the Schaft
aJso contributing to the same purpose from the funds
at their disposal. Payments to the carver are next
recorded, followed, later, by amounts paid to one Robert
Beleme — not unreasonably identified with the carver
before-named — for the rood-loft, the last payment taking
place on " the reckoning day, the 25th year of the " (here
occurs a hiatus, to be filled, no doubt, by the words)
" reign of King Henry the Eighth."

The next entry, coincident with the early years of
the reign of Edward VI., tells a very different tale.
Between November, 1548, and November, 1549, payments
were made for " fasynge," that is defacing, the several
images in the church, among which would, of course, be
included that of the Christ upon the High Rood with
the accompanying figures of Mary and John. No further
expenditure in connection with the rood-loft occurs
during the remainder of the reign ; neither during Queen
Mary's, which is evidence, of a negative kind, that at
St. Dunstan's Church, at any rate, no restoration of the rood
was ever effected. Meanwhile Mary died and Elizabeth
came to the throne. And yet it was not until some time
after Easter, 1561, as the accounts running on from that
date to August 22nd, 1563, show, that the rood-loft, in
compliance with the general order of 1560, was pulled
down. It had then been standing just thirty years. The
sale of it fetched los. ; the boards of the loft and a

Medi/Eval Rood-Lofts and Screens in Kent 103

" carved piece," presumably from the same structure,
together raising ys. additional. The churchwarden, John
Parkyn, who made himself responsible for the work of
demolition, charged the accounts with 3s. 4.6. for his
pains. In 1568 were purchased a lock and key to a
little door in the chancel, the same, perhaps, which had
formerly led to the rood-loft, and which, now become
superfluous, was to be fastened up thenceforward. And
so, with this last item, the chronicle of the rood-loft in
St. Dunstan's Church is brought to a close. At the
present day there is no trace of a rood-stair entrance, nor
of any door whatever in the chancel nor chancel-aisle, save
one in the south wall of the latter, leading into the church-
yard. But this door being situated in the Roper Chapel,
any expenses connected with it would have been charge-
able to that family, and not to the churchwardens. If,
then, a lock and key were provided out of parish funds,
it follows that the item in question refers to some other
door now demolished in the chancel itself.

I have kept the consideration of the two Cathedral
Churches of Kent purposely apart from the rest, because
there is a broad distinction between the system of
screening in secular parish churches on the one hand,
and on the other. Cathedral, or at least monastic churches,
to which class the cathedrals of Canterbury and Rochester,
both being attached to houses of the Benedictine rule,
belonged. Whereas the former, i.e., secular parish
churches, never had but one screen each, the monastic
custom was to erect two, the pulpitum, a fairly solid
structure at the western boundary of the quire, and the
rood-screen with the rood and loft, to westward of the
pulpitum. At High Mass on great Feasts the Epistle and
Gospel were solemnly sung from the pulpitum. It so
happened that from the middle of the thirteenth century
to the Reformation the screening arrangements, both at
Canterbury and Rochester, though differing in details,
were in their main outlines identical.

I04 Memorials of Old Kent

An oft-quoted passage from the Monk Gervase,
describing the work of Archbishop Lanfranc (1070-
1089) at Canterbury Cathedral as it was previously to
the fire of 11 74, mentions the " pulpitum " or loft which
separated the quire from the nave, and tells how, in
the middle of the screen-wall, facing naveward, the altar
of the Holy Cross stood, and also how, above the
" pulpitum," at the crossing there was fixed a beam that
supported a very large cross and two images of Cherubim
with those of St. Mary and St. John beside it. How
much of all this perished in the fire is not clear. At
any rate, it is certain that Lanfranc's Norman nave
stood, and that the altar of the Holy Cross continued
to be the principal altar within it, until the first quarter
of the fifteenth century. At that time the nave was
taken down and reconstructed in its present form. As
soon as the new work was sufficiently advanced to admit
of it, the altar of the Cross, temporarily removed for the
rebuilding, was set up again as before in its old position.
Its existence there till as late as 1532-3 is explicitly
recorded, and implicitly by the mention of a " vestment
for the Crosse aulter " occurring in an inventory of 1 540,
the date of the suppression of the monastery. The screen
which formed the reredos of the altar of the Cross was
the rood-screen proper. It was probably pierced on
either hand of the altar by a north and a south door.
No trace of it now remains, but it is possible that of
the ornamental stone braces erected during the priorship
of Thomas Goldstone the second (1494-5 to 15 17), between
the central tower piers to sustain the enormous weight
of the new Angel Steeple, that one inserted in the
western crossing may have served the additional purpose
of a beam to carry the great rood. Behind and east-
ward of the site of the rood-screen, and at the top of
Prior Chillenden's majestic flight of steps ascending from
the nave towards the quire, stands the Perpendicular
sculptured stone pulpitum (see illustration), occupying

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Medieval Rood-Lofts and Screens in Kent 105

the entire space between the hne of the eastern and
western faces of the great piers of the eastern crossing.
This, also, is the work of Thomas Chillenden, who held
the office of Prior from February, 1 390-1, to August, 141 1.
That this cannot have been the first and only structure
of the kind erected on the same site is certain. Nay,
it would only be in keeping with the method pursued
in the treatment of the piers, if Prior Chillenden's
pulpitum had been of the nature of an outer casing,
incorporating the greater part of an earlier structure.
This seems the more probable from the fact that the
central doorway includes, at the back of its deep recess,
another and smaller opening, the arch of which springs
from a lower level than the outer one, and leaves an
awkwardly-shaped tympanum to fill with panelling on
the ramp between the upper and lower arches. The
western elevation of the pulpitum, from the summit of
the embattled parapet to the 6 ft. 6 in. wide platform
whereon it stands (including the shallow step that forms
its plinth) is 24 ft. 7I in. high, and the greatest length of
the facade 32 ft., while the loft platform at the top
measures 10 ft. across from front to back.

At Rochester the placing of the screens in the original
Norman Church differed from that adopted at Canter-
bury. It was not, however, the final arrangement here.
In Gundulph's Monastic Church, finished by the end of
the eleventh century or of the first decade of the twelfth
century, the rood-screen, with the parochial altar of
St. Nicholas in front of it, would seem to have divided
the nave latitudinally between the sixth and seventh
bays (reckoned from the west), the ritual quire itself
extending, westwards of the crossing, into the nave.
But, subsequently, that is in or shortly before 1240, the
quire having in the meantime been moved further east-
ward, the eastern end of the nave was rebuilt and a new
rood-screen set up at the present western crossing. The
appearance of this screen is not recorded, but its site

io6 Memorials of Old Kent

is definitely determined by the witness of the piers
opposite to one another at the crossing. The clustered
shafts, from which spring the orders of the western
crossing arch, instead of being continuous from the spring
downward, stop short of the ground by a distance of
some 14 feet, and are, at that elevation, finished with
bases all complete, thus marking the height of the
screen-wall between the two piers. The wall itself is
gone, and the junctions of its masonry with that of the
piers cut away to a wedge-shaped ridge on either side
of the nave. This arrestation of the thirteenth century
shafting shows, moreover, that screen and arch were
erected together and that they belonged to one and the
same integral design. The northern pier has a greater
bulk of masonry than the corresponding one on the
south side, of which inconsistency the local explanation
is that the rood-stair is situated on the north side.
Whether there is or ever was a stair within at this spot
there is no index on the surface. Above the rood-screen
in the archway of the western crossing rose the great
rood, at the foot of it in the nave below, as at
Canterbury, an altar. At Rochester it was dedicated to
St. Nicholas, and, being solely a parochial institution, was
the occasion of frequent disputes, sometimes becoming
tumultuous, between the respective factions of the parish
and the monastery, until ths year 1423. At that date a
new church, hard by the northern side of the cathedral,
having been finished and consecrated under the invocation
of St. Nicholas, the parish altar was transferred thither,
and the parishioners made a formal renunciation of all
claims and privileges within the Cathedral Church itself.
If the transfer of the " altar " means that the mensa was
transported to the new environment, its old place was
filled by an altar of the Holy Cross ; if only that its
parochial status ceased, while the altar itself continued
standing on the same spot as before, it was re-dedicated
under the last-named title, as is illustrated by a will,

Rochester Cathedral,
stone screen, viewed from theinave, as it was before i

Medieval Rood-Lofts and Screens in Kent 107

dated 1480, mentioning the rood-altar in the cathedral.
A bequest of ten marks for the painting of the rood-loft
there was made as late as 1503.

As for the pulpitum in Rochester Cathedral, its history-
appears to be briefly as follows. The alterations and
re-buildings, already mentioned, during the first quarter
of the thirteenth century, removed the western boundary
of Gundulph's ritual quire, and carried it further eastward.
This new work, completed by 1227, settled the ritual quire
conterminous with the new structural quire, as it is still,
at the eastern crossing, and left it enclosed on the west
by a substantial screen, or rather a double screen, of
wainscoting. That on the east measures 28 ft. 6 in., the
exact width of the quire itself. This boarding presenting
a plain surface toward the quire was painted originally
with a pattern which Canon Scott Robertson described
as " resembling a rough copy of some Scottish tartan."
The pulpitum platform rested on the top of these parallel
wainscot walls. This arrangement continued to the close
of the thirteenth century, when, the great structural
works of the cathedral all finished allowed attention to
be bestowed once more upon the pulpitum and the
rearing it on a grander scale than theretofore. Early,
then, in the fourteenth century a new wall of masonry
took the place of the western of the two wooden
partitions at the eastern crossing, the face of it being
virtually in alignment with the westernmost extent of
the piers. At the same time, so I believe, in order to
bring the boarding which remained to eastward up to
the height of the new stonework, without which being
done the floor of the pulpitum would not be level, a
wooden blind arcading of trefoiled arches between banded
polygonal shafts, the latter 2 ft. 10 in. high, was added
at the top of the Early English wainscoting. Exceflent
drawings of this work were contributed by Mr. Mickleth-
waite to the second volume of the Spring Gardens Sketch
Book, but I venture to think that he overrates the

io8 Memorials of Old Kent

antiquity of the screen, for it is not by any means " the
earhest remaining in England." Eventually the whole of
the woodwork was painted afresh, the original " tartan "
pattern of the lower part being covered over with new
decoration of the period. The present painting, mechani-
cally uniform, is a modern reproduction only, but
fragments of boarding with remains of the fourteenth
century colouring upon them are exhibited under glass
in the south-eastern transept. The design consists of a
diaper of red quatrefoils, charged each with a heraldic
lion, the engrailed interspaces blue with a gold fleur de
lys in each. The stone wall of the pulpitum was, of course,
pierced by a door in the middle admitting to the quire.
The facade was remarkable for its absence of ornament
(see illustration). It possessed, however, certain interesting
features. To the left of the doorway, which is four-centred
under a label terminating in small sculptured heads,
was a sunk moulding, shaped like two parts of a seg-
mental arch, and ending abruptly in a vertical hollow
sunk in the stone near the north end of the screen.
Mr. St. John Hope suggests that these were the traces
of a recess of an altar standing on the top of the steps,
against the screen. About halfway between this vertical
line and the doot had been inserted a little trefoil-
headed Perpendicular window, of a single light, to light
the interior of the pulpitum underneath the platform.
These landmarks have recently been cleared away to give
place to a showy frontage of tabernacles and statuary,
alike spurious as historic documents and mediocre as
art. One, Pearson, by profession an architect, did it.
The only relic saved from this sorry job is the discarded
lead glazing and the moulded stone frame of the little
window, which have been relegated to the crypt, where,
even if they do not get broken, and thus, as is greatly to
be feared, perish altogether, what they were and whence
they came is only too likely, in a few years' time, to be
forgotten.

Medieval Rood-Lofts and Screens in Kent 109

In conclusion, I have to acknowledge my indebtedness
to many contributors to the volumes of Archceologia
Cantiana, a very storehouse of information in all matters
relating to the antiquities and architecture of the
county ; to Mr. Leland Duncan, from whose tabulated
researches, published in the third volume of the
Proceedings of the St. Paul's Ecclesiological Society,
I have drawn largely ; to my friend Dr. Grayling,
of Sittingbourne, whose encyclopedic knowledge of
mediaeval buildings in Kent has been frequently
and freely placed at my disposal ; to the many clergy
who have granted me facilities to take photographs
and to make requisite investigations within the churches
in their charge ; and, lastly, and very specially indeed, to my
friend Mr. James Richardson, architect, of North Berwick,
who made the measured drawings of Shoreham and Tong
screens, and the diagrams and remaining sketches in this
paper, and, moreover, afforded me valuable assistance in
measuring and other researches. The five illustrations
to which no note is appended are reproduced from
photographs taken by myself.

Aymer Vallance.

OLD CANTERBURY

By Philip Sidney

HE ancient Metropolitan City of Canterbury is so
famous for its magnificent Cathedral that modern
pilgrims are apt to visit it and go away again
without paying sufficient attention to the other
ancient churches, walls, and monastic remains still standing
within the boundaries of the mother city of our English
race. As a rule, with the sole exception of St. Martin's
Church, the tourist (especially the American) leaves
Canterbury labouring under the comfortable impression
that when he has once " done " the Cathedral he has seen
everything at all worth inspecting within the city, totally
oblivious of the fact that there are to be found, in addition
to the Cathedral and St. Martin's Church, any number of
objects of intense interest to the antiquary, archaeologist,
and historian, all located in the immediate vicinity of
Bell Harry Tower. The splendour of the Cathedral, in
fact, has dimmed all its surroundings, and the visitor
forgets (if he ever knew) that mediaeval Canterbiu-y was
not merely renowned for bemg the seat of the Primate,
but that it was also a habitation of monasteries, and that
many of their remains, hidden away behind more or less
modern houses, exist in a sufficient state of preservation
to bear ample witness to their pristine glory.

It is, thus, too often forgotten that, in the exterior
of the house of the Grey Friars, Canterbury possesses one
of the finest examples in these islands of a convent, built
not merely close by, but right over, a running stream,

no

Old Canterbury hi

supported simply by single pillars, whose firm foundations
sink deep down into the river-bed. Then there is the
Castle, the keep of which occupies a larger area of ground
than those of either Dover or Rochester. Then, again, we
have that long unbroken portion of the town walls, firm
enough to bear pedestrians, who can examine the six
remaining watching-towers or turrets looking out over
what was formerly the deep moat. Then there are the
ruins of the once-famous Benedictine Abbey of St. Augus-
tine, with its beautiful vaulted gateway, in a large
chamber of which — formerly the state bedchamber of the
monastery — remaining in a perfect state of preser\^ation,
Queen Elizabeth slept, and Charles I. and his Queen,
Henrietta Maria, used as their bridal chamber after their
wedding in the Cathedral ; whilst Charles II. stayed here
at the period of his Restoration. Of the old mural gate-
ways only one, alas ! is still to be found, but this one
survivor, the Westgate, ranks of its kind in England
facile frinceps.

This solitary survivor of the ancient gateways extant
in Canterbury to-day, the historic Westgate, which,
owing to the pains and energy of the present Corporation,
in the spring of the year igo6, after having been cleaned
out and renovated from top to bottom, was opened at
last, after several decades of total neglect and disuse, to
the public, now serves as an armoury and museum. The
treatment of this splendid specimen of fourteenth-century
architecture during the nineteenth century is typical of
the spirit of vandalism once prevailing in Canterbury.
Not only was it wickedly allowed to lapse into and remain
in a filthy and uncared-for condition, but, in the middle
of the same century, it was nearly demolished altogether,
under the most surprising circumstances, that must sound
almost incredible ! A proprietor of a travelling circus and
menagerie, finding that the passage through the gateway,
lofty though it is, was not quite high enough to admit of
the procession through it of some triumphal cars of his.

112 Memorials of Old Kent

to be drawn by pairs of elephants, actually petitioned the
Mayor and Corporation to be allowed to pull it down,
irrespective of the undeniable fact that there was plenty
of room for his theatrical procession to go round the gate
on the left-hand side. The Corporation not only listened
to this impudent appeal, but even regarded it favourably,
and it was only at the eleventh hour, by the casting vote
of the Mayor himself, that the gate was saved from
demolition.

The situation of the gate is, or rather was, of great
importance, as it constituted the principal means of ingress
and egress to and from the city Londonwards ; and the
great majority of the innumerable pilgrims travelling to
Canterbury to pay their devotions at the shrine of Saint
Thomas entered by this gate. Under this now existing
edifice, too, have passed many English Kings and Queens
en route from London to the Continent, amongst whom
may be mentioned Henry IV., Henry V., Henry VIII.,
Katharine of Arragon, Queen Elizabeth, Charles I.,
Henrietta Maria, Charles IL, William III. and Mary, Queen
Victoria, Edward VII. and Queen Alexandra. The
present Westgate was constructed, in 13 79- 13 80, by the
celebrated Archbishop Simon, of Sudbury, upon the site
occupied by a Norman structure used for similar purposes,
which was surmounted by a chapel dedicated to the Holy
Cross. This chapel was removed on the erection of the
new gate, and the present church of the Holy Cross was
set up close to the gateway. The Archbishop was
determined on building a gatehouse to be as strong as
a fortress, formidable enough, in fact, to withstand a
siege, and at his command the towers were embattled,
portcullised, and machicolated. It was a pity, perhaps,
that, not being then in Canterbury, he could not seek
refuge within its massive walls on the sudden outbreak
of Wat Tyler's rebellion, when he was captured in London
by the mob and summarily beheaded on Tower Hill. He
has left behind him, however, a wonderful memorial in

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Old Canterbury 113

the still stout walls and unimpaired towers of this historic
gate, than which no better example of its kind can be
discovered in any of our ancient towns — not even in
Chester, York, Conway, Southampton, or Carlisle. From
the later period of the reign of King Henry VIII. until
the year 1829 the Westgate was used as the town gaol, and
the condemned cell is still shown inside the guard-chamber
situated over the arch. Until the year 1775, the lowest
chamber in the south tower contained a large circular
iron cage, where debtors and prisoners convicted of minor
offences were casually j>ermitted to solicit alms from the
passers-by.

In the guard-chamber above the arch is now arranged
on view an interestmg collection of trophies, fire-arms, and
armour, as well as a machine-gun which the East Kent
Company of Yeomanry took out with it to the Boer war.
In a turret chamber above hangs a fine bronze bell of
English make inscribed with the date 1597. It was
formerly in the belfry of the Church of St. Mary de Castro.
From the summit of the tower, ascended by a strong newel
staircase, and surmounted by an old culverin and another
ancient cannon, magnificent views are obtained of the
Cathedral and of the whole city, embracing, indeed, a
wider expanse of country than could ever have been
scanned from the summit of any other of the mural gates
so unfortunately demolished, but whose names are
worth recording — viz. : Newingate, Burgate, Worthgate,
Ridingate, and the Wmcheap Gate.

Distant about a third of a mile from the castellated
Westgate, within the heart of the city, is the curious
house of the Grey Friars, standing over a branch of the
river Stour, running underneath it here in a very weedy
and malodorous condition. In spite, however, of the
condition of the river and the shameful manner whereby
this house, the last remnant of the once extensive
monastery of the Franciscans, has been allowed to fall
mto decay, it presents a most picturesque and pleasing

I

114 Memorials of Old Kent

old-world aspect, leaning upon the support of its graceful
pillars and shapely arches over the river. The Fran-
ciscans first came to Canterbury in the year 1224, but
they did not become possessed of this present piece of
land until about 1271, when, by the benevolence of a
local alderman, John Diggs, they were given a slice of
an island in the river Stour known as Bynnewith, into
which, however, they did not enter into undisputed and
undisturbed possession until they had resisted several
attempts to dislodge them made by the monks of St. Bene-
dict. In the reign of Henry VII. the Friars, submitting
to the revival of the primitive rule of St. Francis, became
known as the Friars Observants. At the dissolution of
the monasteries, in 1534, the lands and priory were
granted by the Crown to Thomas Spelman, but they
were acquired in Queen Elizabeth's reign by the Kentish
family of Lovelace. The best-known member of this
family was Richard Lovelace (16 18- 1657). He resided
here for a small portion of his stormy and unfortunate
career. That he was born here, as has been asserted, is
not corroborated by historical testimony, for all the
evidence tends to show that he first saw the light at
Woolwich, at the principal seat of his father, Sir William
Lovelace. But it is not unlikely — although it is not
quite certain — that this cavalier-poet wrote amongst the
strangely beautiful and romantic surroundings of his river-
home in Canterbury many of his verses, among the best
known of which are the lines :

Stone walls do not a prison make,

Nor iron bars a cage ;
Minds innocent and quiet take

That for a heritage.

It was from Canterbury that he set out to take part in
the great Civil War, and it was here probably that he
dedicated his ode " To Lucasta, going to the Wars." On
leaving Canterbury he seems to have experienced one
misfortune after another, and after having been imprisoned

Old Canterbury 115

more than once by the ParHamentarians, and after having
been badly wounded at the battle of Dunkirk, " he grew,"
according to Anthony a Wood, " very melancholy, became
very poor in body and purse, was the object of charity,
went in ragged clothes, and lodged mostly in obscure and
dirty places, more befitting the worst of beggars and
poorest of servants." He died eventually, in 1657, in
Gunpowder Alley, London, and was buried in St. Bride's
Church, Fleet Street. Such was the sad and lonely end
of this gallant cavalier and sweet-singing bard, the owner
of the old house of the Grey Friars in Canterbury, who
in the hey-day of his youth, when the world was a far
brighter and happier place for him than in after years,
had been described by Wood as " the most amiable and
beautiful person the eye ever beheld ; a person, also, of
innate modesty, virtue, and courtly deportment."

Just before its dissolution, the monastery of the
Franciscans in Canterbury had achieved fame or notoriety
by the connection of two of its members — one of whom
was its Superior, Hugh Rich — with the case of Elizabeth
Barton, the so-called " Holy Maid of Kent." This peculiar
person was born at Aldington, in Kent, and became an
inmate of the Benedictine Convent of St. Sepulchure's,
Canterbury, founded by Anselm, where she achieved a
saintly reputation on account of her trances, in which
she claimed to be favoured directly by divine revelations.
Unfortunately, these so-called revelations led her to
"prophesy" concerning events and affairs that certainly
were of a strictly political nature, with the obvious result
that, after being sent up to London to be examined
before Archbishop Cranmer, in May, 1534, she and seven
of her foolish friends, or accomplices, including Father
Hugh Rich, were hanged at Tyburn. Since the death of
Hugh Rich, and the subsequent dissolution of his house,
with the exception of the brief period of Richard Love-
lace's occupation of the monastery, the history of the
secluded remains of the Grey Friars' Priory has been

ii6 Memorials of Old Kent

uneventful and obscure. Its present neglected condition
is a crying scandal, and it seems a thousand pities that
this almost unique specimen, in England at any rate,
of a thirteenth century friary, supported only by pillars
standing over a river, should not be bought up and
preserved by some archaeological society or association, or
by the Corporation of Canterbury itself, and thus ensure
its freedom from further vandalistic molestations and
outrages. That this quaint " haunt of ancient peace " —
wherein once lived two friars who became Archbishops of
Canterbury, whence the intrepid Hugh Rich started on
his fatal journey to Tyburn Tree, and where luckless
Richard Lovelace dwelt and wrote some of his lays —
should now be allowed to remain desecrated, neglected,
and well nigh forgotten, constitutes, beyond doubt, little
less than a national reproach!

But the Grey Friars, it need scarcely be said, by no
means represents the sole edifice in Canterbury occupying
a picturesque position in close proximity to the river
Stour. Only about 150 yards down the stream from the
Grey Friars we come to a group of ancient houses known
as " The Canterbury Weavers," adjoining the King's
Bridge, that are now occupied by a little band of ladies
who have revived the old weaving industry for which
Canterbury was formerly so famous. During the last
decade of the seventeenth century, in fact, it has been
calculated that there were over two thousand people in
Canterbury employed in this thriving trade, which had
been started entirely by the efforts of the French and
Walloon refugees, who had fled their respective countries
rather than promise to embrace the Roman Catholic faith,
and whose descendants still worship in the part of the
Cathedral known as the " Black Prince's Chantry," that
was officially assigned to their worship by Queen
Elizabeth in 1575. The oft-told story, however, that these
Walloons and Huguenots, generally known then as " the
Strangers," used to carry on their occupation of weaving

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Old Canterbury 117

in the crypt, is a legend devoid even of a scrap of
truth. Common sense, indeed, should have told those
writers, who, without possessing one iota of original
evidence to support their statements, have repeated this
legend, that the insufficiency of light at so great a distance
below the ground would have rendered such operations
practically impossible. Since the commencement of the
nineteenth century, until a recent date, the weaving
industry had, after falling into complete neglect, practi-
cally died out. But in the year 1897, owing to the
energies and abilities of two especially accomplished
ladies. Miss C. F. Phillpotts and Miss K. Holmes, this once
important Canterbury industry was once more revived,
and within the period that has elapsed since then the
most extraordinary success has attended the courage and
perseverance of its pioneers, whose large staff now under
their direction is insufficient to meet all the orders with
which their establishment is incessantly inundated.

The extremely picturesque house, now usually known
as " The Canterbury Weavers," dates back, so far as the
present walls are concerned, to about the year 1 561 ; but the
foundations are very much older, and are proved to have
been laid in the reign of King Stephen. On the present
house being renovated and re-opened in the year 1899,
the foundations were carefully examined deep down into
the river-bed, and were discovered still to exist in such
a thorough state of unimpaired preservation as to astound
in no small degree the architect and masons examining
them, who one and all pronounced that they had never
hitherto seen any other work of a similar nature to be
compared with these in regard to the capability of their
strength and endurance. The erection of the gables in
the roof of the existing house was directly due to the
inspiration of its first Flemish inhabitants, since they
planned the buildings in imitation of their own establish-
ments abroad, and used these gables as a storehouse for
their goods and merchandise, which were carried up to their

ii8 Memorials of Old Kent

abode by river and then hauled up to the top storey by
pulleys. An examination of these gables in 1 899^ brought
to light many interesting objects, which had for so many
years been completely hidden away, belonging to the
former inhabitants. Among these objects were many
old English and foreign coins ; fragments of looms, pieces
of wool, bobbins, and other odds and ends ; an antique
lantern, belonging probably to an early period in the
seventeenth century ; some shreds of the original silk,
quite unfaded, spun by the Walloons ; an interesting
mural painting representing the embarkation of Walloons
at a Flemish port ; and many old English tokens and
Dutch tiles. Opposite " The Canterbury Weavers," on
the other bank of the river, used to stand a water-mill,
known as the " King's Mill," whose foundations remain,
and date back to the same period as those of the
" Weavers."

One notable feature m connection with the re-occupa-
tion of " The Canterbury Weavers " is concerned with the
discovery of a lost secret, namely, that of how to weave,
after the eighteenth century fashion, Canterbury muslins.
In the year 1787, when the great majority of the weavers
had migrated from Canterbury to Spitalfields, John
Callaway, master of the silk weavers, invented what
became known as " Canterbury muslin." In lieu of pro-
longing the traditional rivalry with the cotton trade, he
hit upon the notion of " combining the thread with silk,"
and used hydraulic power, derived from the Stour, to
develop his novel machinery. " Canterbury muslin " then
became all the rage,^ and enjoyed for a long time a wide
popularity ; but the secret of its manufacture died with its

1 In the period intervening between the decadence of the weaving
industry in Canterbury and its revival in 1897, " The Canterbury
Weavers " had been used as an inn, known as " The Golden Lion,"
when its gables once became the scene of a murder.

2 In the year 1789 I saw in Mr. Callaway's silk looms the richest and
most beautiful piece of silk furniture for the Prince of Wales's palace at
Carlton House. — Hasted.

Old Canterbury 119

inventor. Since the year 1897, however, his lost secret
has been discovered by dissecting a piece of mushn — a
very rare piece indeed — the property of Mrs. Sebastian
Evans, who entrusted it to Miss Holmes and Miss
Phillpotts for that purpose. On their submitting it to
an expert, its examination proved happily so successful
that the methods of its texture were readily understood,
and John Callaway's process once more became popular
and fashionable.

The pretty houses now known as " The Canterbury
Weavers " occupy a very central position, and they must
have been some distance off any portion of the walls that
formerly encircled the city, a large portion of which was
thrown down by the forces of the Parliament in the
turbulent days of the Civil War. In the reign of the
first Richard the city was defended by a wall and moat,
with twenty-one towers. The number of these watch-
towers seems, later on, to have been increased. Nowa-
days almost the only portions of the city walls existing,
in good condition, is the semi-circular rampart flanking
the exterior of the Dane- John, and the stretch, with
segment of a tower, at the back of Lady Wootton's Green.
The open ditch, formerly the moat, lying beneath the
rampart flanking the Dane-John, has, by the muni-
ficence of Mr. Bennett-Goldney, F.S.A., been cleaned out,
grassed over, and planted with trees and shrubs, thus
converting what had become a very bare and squalid
patch of waste land into a flourishing and fertile garden.

The Dane-John owes its curious name to the fact that
there was once a manor attached to Canterbury Castle
known as the Donjon Manor, of whose lands the present
public pleasure-grounds forming the Dane-John formed a
part. In the fifteenth century the Dane-John grounds
practically passed into the possession of the citizens, who
beheaded an Alderman called William Pennington a
centur)' later " because of the grudge which the city had
against him " for endeavouring to prevent them using

I20 Memorials of Old Kent

the grounds, which he claimed to hold on lease. The
indignant citizens, nevertheless, would not have ventured
to have killed him solely on the charge of having com-
mitted this offence alone had it not been for the fact
that William Pennington, who was a staunch Lancastrian,
had exposed himself to the fury of the mob by the defeat
of his party by the Yorkists — to whose side the majority
of the citizens seem to have belonged — at Northampton.
The earthen mound standing in the Dane-John was
slightly altered in shape and height towards the end of
the eighteenth century by Alderman James Simmons, by
cutting away a portion of its base and carrying the soil
on to the summit of the mound, thus elevating it to a
height of eighty feet ; whilst winding walks were con-
structed up its sloping sides, and a spacious terrace (twelve
feet wide) raised and laid out for several hundred yards
on the top of the neighbouring rampart. Before this
" restoration " some three-quarters of its base had been
surrounded by a ditch, the character of which evidently
proves that the mound is an earth-work belonging
probably to pre-historic times. That it was, at any rate,
thrown up before the earliest walls were ever constructed
round this portion of the city can be clearly demonstrated,
for their old line abruptly bulges out beyond the boundary
of the moat, so as to include this mound within their
circuit.

The verdant Dane-John lies at an opposite extremity
of the city to that where the West Gate is located, and
further still from Harbledown (Herbaldown), of which
various capital views can be obtained, both from the top
of the Dane-John mound and from the summit of the
West Gate. The roadway leading from the West Gate
to Harbledown formed the final portion of the journey
of most of the pilgrims to Archbishop Becket's shrine,
and on their first catching sight of the Cathedral the
pilgrims would dismount from their horses and complete
their toilsome journey on foot ; whilst some would even

Old Canterbury 121

take off their shoes and change their garments for a hair-
shirt, as in the case of Henry II. on his memorable
pilgrimage of expatiation to the shrine of " St. Thomas
of Canterbury." It was up this winding road from the
West Gate to Harbledown that Erasmus travelled on
proceeding to London after his visit to Canterbury ; and
his description of the steep road leading towards the
hospital of St. Nicholas, a hospital for lepers (founded
by Lanfranc about the year 1081), with its adjacent chapel
and " Black Prince's Well " — of whose most pure waters
the victor of Cressy is said to have drunk — reads almost
as accurately as if he had visited it to-day ; whilst the
alms-box into which he dropped a coin is still preserved.
Says Erasmus :

In our journey to London, not far from Canterbury there is a
narrow, hollow, steep way, and a cragged, steep bank on either side,
so that you cannot escape it, for there is no other way to go. Upon
the left hand of that way there is a little cottage of old mendicants. As
soon as they espy a man on horseback coming one of them runs out
and sprinkles him with holy water, and then offers him the upper
leather of a shoe with a brass ring to it, in which is a glass, as if it
were some gem. Having kissed it, you give a small piece of money.
. . . Gratian^- rode on my left hand, ne.xt to this cottage ; he was
sprinkled with holy water, and took it pretty well ; but upon presenting
the shoe he asked what was meant by that? "This," says the poor
man, "was the shoe of St. Thomas." Gratian fell into a passion, and
turning to me, said, " What would these Brutes have? Will they make
us kiss the shoes of all that have been good men ? "

This lazar-house of St. Nicholas was endowed by
Archbishop Lanfranc for the sole support of lepers of
both sexes, who resided in separate tenements ; but the
whole of these have long since disappeared, and low.
modern alms-houses occupy their quiet site. In the hall
of the hospital several relics are kept, such as the alms-
box referred to above, a maple " mazer," old pewter dishes,
a fourteenth century chest, and some fifteenth century
fire-dogs. The ivy-clad little church, dedicated also to

1 " Gratian " was the famous John Colet (1467-1519), Dean of
St. Paul's Cathedral and founder of St. Paul's School.

122 Memorials of Old Kent

St. Nicholas, facing the front of the hospital, has, like
the Grey Friars, suffered severely from neglect. It
possesses some characteristic Norman work, contains a
fifteenth-century font, and has a number of frescoes on
the walls nearly all round the interior. In the church-
yard stands a venerable yew tree. On the hill, up
which Dean Colet and Erasmus travelled on returning to
London in 15 13, between Harbledown and the West
Gate, stands that landmark of the Canterbury pilgrims,
the Church of St. Dunstan. The exact position of the
site of this Church is, as has been pointed out by
Dr. Sebastian Evans and Mr. Bennett-Goldney, F.S.A., in
their profusely illustrated monograph on Ancient and
Modern Canterbiiry, one of considerable interest and
importance. To quote their own words, this church
stands

Where the high road turns at an obtuse angle to the right. Before
speaking of the church, however, attention may be called to the fact
that Canterbury itself stands at the north-west corner of a military
quadrilateral, which in early ages must have been of primary strategic
importance to those who were masters of the island. The eastern angle
of the quadrilateral was at the great port of Sandwich, guarded by
the strong fortress of Richborough, known to the Romans who built it
as "Rutupiae." The South-eastern angle was at Dover, "Dubris," where
the Roman " pharos " still keeps watch and ward over the narrow Channel
sea ; and the south-western at Stutfall Castle, near Lympne, on the edge
of the Romney marshes, where the old fort, called by the Romans
" Portus Lemanis," was for many ages hardly less frequented than that
of Dover. Straight roads from Sandwich, Dover, and Lympne, still
for the most part used for traffic, converged at Canterbury, while a
road, equally straight, from Woodnesborough, near Sandwich, to Dover,
and continued along the coast thence to Lympne, completed the outer
lines of the quadrilateral. Another road connected Canterbury with
Reculver, the old " Regulbium," on the north coast of Kent, at the
northern end of the arm of the sea called the Wantsoum, which formerly
stretched thence to Sandwich and divided the Isle of Thanet from the
mainland. It will thus be seen that from the time of the Roman
occupation of Britain at least, and most probably from a much earlier
date, Canterbury was not only the first inland watering-place for visitors
from the Continent, whether commercial, friendly, or hostile, but was
also the focus of an extended system of coast defence against invaders

Old Canterbury 123

along the most easily accessible and vulnerable portion of the English
shore. The angle in the road at Saint Dunstan's Church has, in fact,
a story of its own to tell. No trace is here visible of the old road that
once ran almost due east from Canterbury to Sandwich, nor of the
old road that ran almost south to Lympne. But the clearly perceptible
corner at this point still indicates exactly the angle at which the old
road to Dover diagonally intersected, and still intersects, the great
military quadrilateral.

The architecture of St. Dunstan's Church, which
was originally attached to the Convent of St. Gregory,
beloncrs mainlv to the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries,
with some portions also belonging to the fifteenth.
In this Church King Henry II. stopped on his way
from Harbledown to the Cathedral, divested himself
of his shoes and kingly costume, put on the garb of an
ordinary penitent, and proceeded thence barefooted to
the Cathedral. This was on Friday, July 8th, 1174 — a
very wet day, as it is recorded. On reaching the
Cathedral, when the soles of his feet were bleeding
from the pricks of the stones, he first visited the precise
spot where Becket died, and kissed the stone marking
the spot where that prelate fell. He then went into the
crypt, where he knelt and paid his devotions before
Becket's shrine, and humbly submitted himself to receive
the flagellations of the monks. The weary night was
spent by him prostrate on the bare stone floor, fasting.
Next morning he travelled to London (he had come to
Canterbury from France), but his privations had evidently
too severely taxed his system, for he was nearly a
week on the road, and became very ill by the time
he got there.

At St. Dunstan's Church, in later times, worshipped
the family of Roper, one of whom married the favourite
daughter of Sir Thomas More. Their vault is within the
church, underneath what is called the Roper Chancel,
founded in the reign of Henry IV., extending from the
south aisle. Margaret, wife of William Roper (1496- 1578),

124 Memorials of Old Kent

on the execution of her father, Sir Thomas More,
managed to secure his head after it had been exposed
on London Bridge, and at her death it was interred in
the Roper vault, where it is said still to be, inside a
leaden box, with an aperture in front shut by an iron
grate. The mansion of the Ropers (whereof an archway
remains) stood close to the church, in St. Dunstan's
Street, and Sir Thomas More is reported to have paid
at least one visit there. Margaret, his devoted daughter,
died in 1544, nine years after her father, but her husband
lived to be an octogenarian, dying in the year 1578. He
was for several sessions a member of Parliament during
the reigns of Henry VIII. and Mary, but his Roman
Catholic tendencies got him into trouble under Queen
Elizabeth, and he was summoned before the Privy
Council to explain them, but was eventually allowed to
go in peace on entering upon a bond for his good be-
haviour in future.

Of the many famous men who have been born or lived
in Canterbury, the city has hardly been sufficiently grate-
ful in keeping their memory green in the way, for
instance, of erecting public memorials in any shape or
form to them. But to the memory of one of Canterbury's
most distinguished sons, at any rate, a public monument
has been erected, namely, Christopher Marlowe, the author
of Doctor Faustus, who was baptized in the Church of
St. Thomas, Canterbury, in the year 1564, about two
months before the birth of William Shakespeare. He was
born in a two-storied house still standing in St. George's
Street. His father, although generally described as a
shoemaker, seems to have been a bowman. Educated at
the King's School, Canterbury, he took his degree at
Cambridge, and spent the greater part of his subsequent
life in London. In the year 1593 he was ignominiously
killed in a tavern brawl at Deptford, after having thus,
and deservedly, succeeded in achieving fame at an early

Old Canterbury 125

age. He was one of those poets and writers, indeed, who
bloomed young, and though he lived longer than Keats,
he was younger at the time of his death than were Sir
Philip Sidney, Lord Byron, and Shelley.

Among other memorials erected outside the precincts of
the Cathedral to inhabitants of Canterbury and its neigh-
bourhood, we ought not to forget that plain but neat
column, surmounted by a cross, erected on what was
known as the " Martyrs' Field," to the pious memory of
forty-one persons, male and female, who were burnt on
this spot between the years 1556 and 1558, during the
sorrowful reign of Mary Tudor, on account of their
uncompromising adherence to the Reformed religion.
These martyrs seem to have belonged to the middle or
lower classes, and many were not citizens of Canterbury,
but were brought here simply for the purpose of execution.
Other Protestants died before reaching the stake, in the
castle, where they had been subjected to the straits of
hunger and thirst, and had been placed in damp,
unhealthy cells. The fate of those perishing in the flames
was witnessed by a large crowd standing the while on
the Dane-John mound.

Of other celebrities of whom the city of Canterbury
can claim to be the birthplace, but to whom no public
memorial, no matter how humble, has yet been erected,
may be mentioned Stephen Gosson, dramatist and con-
temporary of Shakespeare ; Richard Lovelace, the poet ;
many illustrious members of the ancient Kentish
families of Wootton (or Wotton) and of Hales ; the Rev.
William Gostling (1696- 1777), author of A Walk in and
about the City of Canterbury ; the Rev. Richard Harris
Barham (1788- 1845), Canon of St. Paul's, and author of
the Ingoldsby Legends ; William Somner (i 598-1669), the
antiquary ; and Thomas Sidney Cooper, R.A., who was
born in a house in St. Peter's Street, September 26th,
1803, and died shortly before completing his hundredth

126 Memorials of Old Kent

year. Titian alone excepted, no other artist has ever
maintained his powers, unimpaired by advancing age, for
so long a period as did Sidney Cooper. His birthplace,
with the building next to it, was presented by him
to his native city in 1882 as a school of art, many
of whose students, male and female, have since greatly
distinguished themselves with brush and pencil. Some
pictures of his hang in the gallery within the local
museum. At St. Mildred's Church, Izaak Walton was
married, in 1620, to his first wife, Rachael Floud.

The Canterbury Museum, or Royal Museum (it
received the permission of the Crown to use the term
" Royal " in 1900), is generally known as the " Beaney
Institute," owing to the fact that the present building is
indebted for its existence chiefly to the munificence of
a Dr. Beaney, who, after residing many years in Aus-
tralia, did not forget the town of his boyhood in his will.
The " Institute " comprises a Free Library (Lending and
Reference), a Picture Gallery, and Museum. This Royal
Museum contains many interesting relics of bygone Can-
terbury, including a very fine collection of Roman glass,
pottery, and earthenware, found in this part of Kent ;
whilst there is also to be seen a large number of badges
and other relics of the Canterbury pilgrims ; the maces
of the once corporate town of Fordwich, the port of
Canterbury, but now only a diminutive village ; Oliver
Cromwell's purse ; two Runic stones ; the old Burghmote
Horn ; " St. Augustine's Chair " ; and a chair that
belonged to Cardinal Richelieu. Concerning the exact
age of " St. Augustine's Chair," an acute controversy has
raged among contemporary antiquaries. It was formerly
preserved in the chancel of a Herefordshire church
(Stanton Bishop), and it is claimed by its supporters to
have been that very chair whereon St. Augustine actually
sat during his memorable conference in 602 with the
bishops of Wales. This wooden seat, of course, must not

Old Canterbury 127

be confused with the " Patriarchial," or " St. Augustine's
Chair " preserved in Canterbury Cathedral, formed of
slabs of Purbeck marble, whereon the Primates of
England are enthroned. The chances are, however,
that neither this chair, nor that in the Royal Museum,
is authentic, for both, surely, must be ascribed to periods
dating several centuries subsequent to the death of
St. Augustine ; and probably that in the Cathedral
goes no further back than the thirteenth century. The
tradition, in fact, that either of these chairs was used by
St. Augustine is as unconvincing as that faithfully
handed down concerning the achievements suspended
over the tomb of the " Black Prince," which, according
to the old legends, were worn by him at Cressy or Poitiers.
As a matter of fact, these arms and armour are of a kind
that could never have been employed in battle, but are
probably replicas of those used by him in warfare, con-
structed either for the purpose of being carried at his
funeral, or possibly for his occasional use at court
functions.

Mention of the obsolete Fordwich maces, preserved in
the Royal Museum, calls to mind some of the various
noteworthy relics of that decayed port kept in its " Town-
hall." In Saxon days, when the river Wantsum divided
Thanet from the mainland, the sea covered the valley
of the Stour at high tide, and trading ships were enabled
to come up the river as far as Fordwich, which became
the port of Canterbury for many centuries. It was, too,
a " limb " of the Cinque Ports. A very ancient borough,
it used in its palmy days to have a Mayor and Corporation
of its own, of whose existence the " Town-hall," or " Court-
hall," bears ample evidence to-day. This is a one-storied
building, the ground floor walls being of unwrought stone,
and the first floor of timber and plaster. The " Council
Chamber" measures thirty-one feet by twenty-three feet.
Here are kept a Tudor table; a bridle for scolding

128 Memorials of Old Kent

women ; a most formidable-looking ducking-stool, also
used for scolding women ; and several Corporation
charters granted to Fordwich by the first three Edwards,
and by the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth
Henrys ; veracious records, indeed, of the pristine import-
ance of this now small village, which is only famous in the
twentieth century for its excellent trout, frequently caught
in the river Stour. Sir John Finch (i 584-1660), the
celebrated Speaker of the House of Commons, who was
forcibly held down in his chair by some of the members
to prevent his adjourning the house on a certain historic
occasion in the reign of King Charles I., was raised to the
peerage, in 1640, by the title of Baron Finch, of Fordwich,
in the county of Kent. He died without issue, and the
title thus expired with him. There is a monument to him
in St. Martin's Church, Canterbury. In Norman times,
Fordwich possessed no less than ten mills.

The quaint little " Court-hall " of Fordwich presents
a striking contrast to the more modern, but much
larger, Guild-hall of Canterbury, worthy of a visit, notwith-
standing its hideous exterior, if only on account of the
interesting portraits hanging therein of Canterbury
celebrities, such as John Cogan, by Cornelius Jansen ;
Leonard Cotton, 1605 ; John Whitfield, 1691 ; Sir John
Boyes ; and Elizabeth Lovejoy, 1694. The collection of
pictures here, nevertheless, is not to be compared with that
known as the " De Zoete " Bequest, in the Royal Museum,
where are pictures by Burne-Jones, Sidney Cooper, Marc
Gheeraedts, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and Van der Neer.
The striking portrait of the Queen of Bohemia
(daughter of James I.), by Marc Gheeraedts, on loan to
the collection by Mr. Bennett-Goldney, F.S.A., is a very
good, full-length portrait, and deserves hanging in a
better light and position.

Like those of Fordwich, some of the Corporation
Charters of Canterbury are of an ancient date, and are

Old Canterbury 129

in some cases finely illuminated and inscribed. These
highly valuable documents were, until the spring of 1906,
rolled up tightly and hidden away in a tin box, to the
greatest detriment, it need hardly be said, of the state of
their parchment and illuminations, as the present witness
can testify, owing to his having been one o'f those present
to see them on their being extracted from their box at
the occasion of their being taken out therefrom to be
properly pressed, cleaned, and hung up, at last, in a
sensible and civilized manner, after having suffered during
so many centuries from maltreatment, confinement, and
disuse. Among these charters are particularly well-
designed ones granted to the city by Henry IV.,
Edward IV., and Charles II.

If Canterbury was, in pre-Reformation times, famous
as a city of monasteries, it was also famous, beyond doubt,
as a city of hospitals. Of these benevolent mstitutions,
many of their buildings remain in a state of good preser-
vation, such as those of St. John's Hospital, Eastbridge
Hospital, the Poor Priests' Hospital, Maynard's Hospital,
the Jesus Hospital, and the Hospital of St. Nicholas
(already mentioned), outside the boundaries of the city, on
the healthier Harbledown. Of these, Eastbridge Hospital
lies in a central position in St. Peter's Street, opposite the
" Canterbury Weavers," and surrounded on either side by
ugly, modern houses, touching its gray walls. Originally
founded in the reign of King Henry I., it was enlarged
and rebuilt by Archbishop Stratford in 1343, and had its
constitutions reformed by Cardinal Pole. The hall of
this hospital remains intact, and was founded about the
period of Archbishop Becket's murder. On the walls are
some faded frescoes representing our Lord in Glory, the
Last Supper, and the murder of Becket.

But by far the most interesting, important, and
extensive of all the older hospitals in Canterbury is
that of St. John (the Baptist), in Northgate Street,

K

I30 Memorials of Old Kent

founded by Archbishop Lanfranc about the same time as
that at Harbledown. Its grounds are entered from North-
gate Street by a timbered gateway of early sixteenth
century date, with a spacious chamber above it. The
capacious courtyard withm reveals several glimpses of
Norman windows and arches. Prior to the Reformation,
this useful hospital was placed under the governance of
a Prior, and its inmates were chiefly infirm, blind, or aged
men and women. Of the other remaining hospitals that of
the Poor Priests was founded by Archdeacon Simon Lang-
ton, brother of Stephen Langton, Cardinal-Archbishop of
Canterbury in the reign of King Henry III. ; Maynard's
Hospital by John Maynard, in the twelfth year of the
reign of King Edward II. (it was rebuilt in 1788); and
the Jesus Hospital by Sir John Boys, in 1595. One of the
stringent rules of its foundation decrees that " No Brother
or Sister shall keep any domestic animal, save and except
the Cat ! "

Without the addition of some account of one more
relic of ancient Canterbury, no sketch, however slight, of
the chief antiquities located outside the precincts of the
Cathedral, could reasonably be concluded without mention
of the narrow passage leading direct towards the south-
west entrance of the Cathedral, called Mercery Lane, the
old head-quarters of the local silk mercers, and one, surely,
of the most retired, charming, and picturesque nooks to
be found anywhere within the confines of any old-world
city in England. The vista of this narrow lane, only just
wide enough to admit of the progress of one vehicle at
a time, with Prior Goldstone's Christ Church gate — a poem
in stone — at the end, and the towers of the Cathedral
rising above that gate beyond, affords a glimpse of
the " Old England," now so fast dying away, that no
other of our cathedral cities is able to present. The house
at the left-hand corner of the lane formed part of the
"Chequers of the Hope Inn," where so many of the

Old Canterbury 131

Canterbury pilgrims used to stay during the eventful
period of their visit to Bccket's Shrine : —

They took their inn and lodged them at mid-morrow, I trow,
At the Chequer of the Hope, that many a man doth know.

The vaulted cellars of the former inn still exist. The
inn itself occupied originally a large area, and extended
round the corner some distance down the High Street,
on the one side, and down Mercery Lane on the other.
It was built in quadrilateral form, having a big courtyard
in the middle, and a huge dormitory on the upmost floor,
used chiefly by those of the pilgrims who either could
not, or did not want to, secure lodgings in the monastic
guesten-halls.

When the bells are ringing for divine service in the
Cathedral, and the slanting rays of the afternoon sun are
fitfully illuminating the dark entry of Mercery Lane,
lighting up the frontage of the Christ Church Gate, and
the tops of the majestic towers beyond, then is the time
for the modern pilgrim first to visit this quaint quarter
of mediaeval Canterbury :

In the sky
Ye can hear the Yule bells, pealing from the belfry, low and high :
Bells of promise, pealing, pealing of an England free and One
In the league of all the Englands ere the pilgrimage be done.
Peace and Freedom ! Peace and Freedom ! This the tale our token

tells ;
And the World looks up to listen to the Canterbury bells.

KENTISH INSURRECTIONS

By George Clinch, F.G.S.

NE of the well-marked features of the history
of Kent, from the polftical point of view, is
unquestionably the important part which the
people of that county, the Men of Kent and
the Kentish Men, have always taken in efforts to secure
personal, religious, and political freedom. It may be
affirmed, indeed, without fear of contradiction, that a large
proportion of the great movements having for their object
popular liberty have had their origin in Kent. Caesar,
Shakespeare, and many other authors, refer to the bravery,
the early civilisation, and the love of liberty displayed
by the inhabitants of this county.

Kent, in the commentaries Csesar writ,
Is termed the civil'st place of all this isle.

— Henry V/,, 2nd pt., Act iv., Sc. 7.

One of the first Kentish insurrections on record was the
revolt against the authority of Odo as regent of William
in 1067.

Lambarde, in his Perambulation of Kent (1576), gives
a delightful story, copied from the writings of " Thomas
Spot, sometimes a Moncke and Chronicler of Saint Augus-
tine's at Canterbury," of the means by which the Kentish
men obtained from William the Conqueror a confirmation
of their ancient privileges and customs. The story is not
fully credited generally by modern historians, but it can
hardly be doubted that it had some foundation in fact.

132

Kentish Insurrections 133

The following is the account as printed by Lambarde : —

After such tyme (saith he) as Duke William the Conquerour had
overthrowne King Harold in the field, at Battle in Sussex, and had
received the Londoners to mercy, he marched with his army toward the
Castle of Dover, thinking thereby to have brought in subjection this
country of Kent also. But Stigande, the Archebishop of Canterbury,
and Egelsine, the Abbot of saint Augustine's, perceaving the danger,
assembled the countrie men together, and laide before them the intoller-
able pride of the Normanes that invaded them, and their own miserable
condition, if they should yelde unto them. By whiche meanes they so
enraged the comon people, that they ran forthwith to weapon, and
meeting at Swanscombe, elected the Archbishop and Abbot for their
captaines. This done, each man gotte him a greene boughe in his
hand, and bare it over his head in suche sort as when the Duke ap-
proached he was muche amased therewith, thinking at the first that it
had been some miraculous wood that moved towards him. But they,
as soone as he came within hearing, caste away their boughes from them,
and at the sounde of a trumpet bewraied their weapons, and withal
dispatched towards him a messenger, which spake unto him in this
manner. The commons of Kent (most noble Duke) are readie to offer
thee eyther peace or warre, at thine own choyse and election : peace
with their faithful obedience, if thou wilt permit them to enjoy their
ancient liberties : warre, and that most deadly, if thou deny it to them.

Now when the Duke heard this, and considered that the danger of
denial was great, and that the thing desired was but smal, he forthwith, more
wisely than willingly, yealded to their request. And by this meane both he
received Dover Castle and the Countrie to obedience, and they only of all
England (as shall hereafter appear) obtained for ever theyr accustomed
priviiedges."

It was in reference to this interesting event that the
late Mr. John Brent, F.S.A., wrote the following charming
lyric, entitled

THE OAK BOUGH

The lordly oak that crowns each wood

For Kentish heart a charm maintains,
And speaks of times when Kent withstood

The proud invader of her plains.

The oak boughs ! the oak boughs !
Wreathed around their swords and brows,

O, nobly went the men of Kent,
To conquer 'neath their oak boughs !

134 Memorials of Old Kent

The Norman banner shone afar,
And " Chains for Kent ! " the mandate ran ;

Each vale, each forest, armed for war,
And every oak produced its man.
The oak boughs ! etc.

Our sires were brave — each dark grey hill
That sheltered them yet girds us round.

The same broad sea and woods — O, still
Be Kentish hearts unconquered found !
The oak boughs ! etc.

When duty calls we will obey —

For home and altars ! themes like these

Shall aye our hearts in steel array.
And spread our banners to the breeze.
The oak boughs ! etc.

The old White Horse still keeps our ground.
No foe hath dared to curb him yet ;

And were so bold a rider found.

He'd crush the slave beneath his feet.
The oak boughs ! etc.

Our vales are deep, our woods are wide —
We love not foreign laws nor lords ;

'Twere well they rouse not Kentish pride,
Or oak again shall mask our swords.

The oak bough ! the oak bough !
Wreathed around his sword and brow,

The Kentish man claims battle's van
And fights beneath the oak bough.

THE GREAT REBELLION OF 1381

The various insurrections in Kent, rightly considered,
must be pronounced, not acts of lawlessness, but efforts
m the direction of freedom — freedom of conscience, free-
dom in religion, political freedom, and the entire casting
off of the bonds of feudal tyranny. It is this special
character of the Kentish insurrections that gives them so
much interest, and clearly differentiates them from those
minor risings of the people which were inspired by sordid
or less worthy motives.

Kentish Insurrections 135

The Great Rebellion of 1381, usually associated with
the name of Wat Tyler, was one of these great popular
upheavals. The outrage by the Dartford tax-gatherer was
an incident irritating enough, of course, to an intelligent
and oppressed people, but it merely brought to open
activity the fire which had been smouldering for a long
period.

The truth is, that for years the people had been
endeavouring to obtain relief from burdensome feudal
customs — customs which made them in fact, if not in
name, mere bondsmen. The villeins formed frequent
confederacies against their lords, and one of the very first
and most natural demands of the insurgents was that
" no tenant should do service or custom to the lords as
they had aforetime done."

One of the first acts of open rebellion was to proceed
to the house of William Medmenham, who was probably
a steward of various manors and the custodian of the
Court Rolls, where the insurgents burnt all the rolls and
books. Later on, " John Rakestraw " and " Watte
Tegheler of Essex " seized William de Septvanz, the
Sheriff, whose books and rolls " touching the King's
Crown " they destroyed by fire. They then released the
prisoners incarcerated in Canterbury Castle, and proceeded
to take vengeance on numerous obnoxious persons.

Mr. W. E. Flaherty, in an interesting account of the
rebellion, writes : ^

Some were murdered, others put to ransom ; the hateful roll of the
subsidy of three groats was burnt, as were likewise the equally odious
green-wax escheats from the Exchequer ; and the houses of Sir Thomas
Fog and other persons named were plundered of goods, chattels, and
muniments, valued at one thousand pounds. They would appear, indeed,
to have had something like military possession of the city till the end
of June, and on the 1st of July we find them attempting to make an orderly
levy, by means of the bailiffs, to resist the approaching royal com-
missioners. These facts are a very sufficient proof that the commotions

1 "The Great Rebellion in Kent of 1381, illustrated from the Public
Records" [Archaeologia Cantiana, vol. iii., pp. 65-69).

136 Memorials of Old Kent

did not subside with the death of Wat Tyler, though, no doubt, the
insurgents who had reached London began to return home on the death
of their leader.

The muster on Blackheath took place on June 12th,
the murder of Archbishop Sudbury on June 14th, and the
death of Wat Tyler on June 15th. These events are
matters of common knowledge, and there is no need to
dwell upon them here. Soon after the death of Tyler the
insurgents began to return to their native places, and, as
far as London was concerned, the riots were practically
over. But in Kent the case was different. There violence
lasted from April to August. In the Canterbury district
there was a particularly active and destructive band of
insurgents, under the leadership of one Henry Aleyn.

On the very day when Wat Tyler was killed the King
gave directions to Sir Robert Belknap, or Bealknap, and
other judges, to adjourn the sitting of the courts till the
Michaelmas term, probably in order that he might be at
full liberty to deal with the insurgents, who, it was
anticipated, would soon be in custody. Sir Robert
Belknap was a man of considerable influence, and
closely connected with Kent. In 1366 he was appointed
King's Sergeant. In 1375 he gave lands near Chatham
to the Prior and Convent of Rochester. He served on
Commissions to survey the coast of Thanet and take
measures to secure lands and houses in the district
against the encroachments of the sea ; also on a Commis-
sion entrusted with the defence of the coast of Kent
against invaders. He is believed to have been buried in
Keston Church, where a stone coffin-lid or grave-slab,
adorned with a floriated cross, on the floor of the nave,
probably marks his resting-place. ^

The Commission appointed to deal with the disturb-
ances caused by the great rebellion contained the following
influential names, some of them members of well-known
Kentish families: —

I Gentleman''s MagazinCy November, 1830.

>

Kentish Insurrections 137

Thomas de Holland, Earl of Kent ;

Robert de Asshton, Constable of Dover ;

John de Clynton,

Thomas Tryvet,

Robert de Bosco,

Stephen de Valeyns,

Thomas Colepeper,

William Septvanz, the Sheriff ;

John de Frenyngham (Farningham),

James de Pelham,

William de Halden,

Nicholas Atte Crouche, and

William Pikytt.

On a Commission issued from St. Albans the following
further names appear : —

Robert Tresylian,
William Home, and
John Peche.

The identity of Wat Tyler is a matter of some
uncertainty. A recent writer ^ on the subject contends
that the two names represent one and the same person.
Doubtless there were reasons why it might be politic for
a great popular leader of this type to keep secret his
actual name and origin.

One of the striking features of the great rebellion in
Kent was that the whole of the county took an active
share in the rising, the Weald and Romney Marsh joining
as well as the more accessible parts lying near the
principal rivers and the sea.

The preaching of social equality by John Ball, a priest,
did much throughout the land to bring the great
rebellion to a head. When the insurrection actually broke
out Ball was a prisoner lodged in the Archbishop's prison
at Maidstone. When committed to prison he had

IF. W. D. Brie, on "Wat Tyler and Jack Straw" {The English
Historical Review, January, igo6).

138 Memorials of Old Kent

declared that he would be liberated by twenty thousand
friends. The prophecy came true. One of the first acts
of the insurgents was to release the priest, and they
carried him in triumph to Canterbury. Ball now took a
very active part in fomenting the insurrection. At Black-
heath he preached from the famous lines :

When Adam dalf, and Eve span,
Wo was thanne a gentilman?

He accompanied the rebels to Smithfield, and was
probably present when Wat Tyler was slain by Sir
William Walworth.

It is, perhaps, impossible at this distance of time to
estimate with any precision the benefits which arose from
this great rising ; but it is safe to say that they were
considerable, real, and far-reaching.

JACK CADE'S REBELLION, 1450

The main facts about this important insurrection are
matters of history, and need not be given very fully now.
The leader, known as Jack Cade, or " Mortimer," is
believed to have been an Irishman by birth. The rising
was not of a democratic character, but was general among
the commons in Kent. It was directed against the
extortions practised by the King's officers. The rebellion
first broke out about Whitsuntide, in the latter part of May,
1450. On June 1st the rebels encamped on Blackheath.

One of the incidents of the camp on Blackheath
immortalised by Shakespeare (Henry VI., 2nd part,
Act iv., Sc. 2) is the examination of the unfortunate Clerk
of Chatham :

Enter some, bringing forward the Clerk of Chatham.
Smith : The Clerk of Chatham : he can write and read, and cast
accompt.

Cade : O monstrous !

Smith : We took him setting of boys copies.

Cade: Here's a villain!

Smith ; 'Has a book in his pocket, with red letters in't.

Kentish Insurrections 139

Cade : Nay then, he is a conjurer.

Dick : Nay, he can make obligations, and write court-hand.

Cade : I am sorry for't ; the man is a proper man, of mine honour ;
unless I find him guihy, he shall not die. — Come hither, sirrah, I must
examine thee: what is thy name?

Clerk: Emmanuel.

Dick : They use to write it on the top of letters. — 'Twill go hard
with you.

Cade : Let me alone. — Dost thou use to write thy name ? or hast
thou a mark to thyself, like an honest plain-dealing man?

Clerk: Sir, I thank God, I have been so well brought up, that I can
write my name.

A//: He hath confessed: away with him! He's a villain, and a
traitor !

Cade : Away with him, I say ! hang him with his pen and ink-horn
about his neck.

During the few days when Jack Cade held London
in terror he had his headquarters at the White Hart Inn,
at Southwark, one of the large and commodious old-
fashioned hostelries for which the south side of the
Thames was once famous. It was destroyed in the great
Southwark fire of 1676.

Jack Cade's insurrection was very widely supported
by men of position in Kent. Yeomen^ were amongst the
most numerous of Cade's supporters, and several of the
names mentioned in the pardons belong to families which
have since risen to the rank of gentry. One knight,
eighteen esquires, and seventy-four gentlemen of the
county were implicated in the rebellion, whilst five
ecclesiastics supported the movement — viz. : John Clerke,
parson of the church of Halgeste, in the Hundred of Hoo
(Query, the " Clerk of Chatham " of Shakespeare ?) ;
Thomas Changle, of Yalding ; Henry Spencer, Chaplain of
Cowling ; John Boteler, of Boughton Malherbe ; and
William Penyngton, Chaplain of Ospringe. There were
also two in minor orders, described as " Holy Water
Clerkes," doubtless parish clerks.

1 A certain Thomas Clench, of Borden, with whom the present writer
claims kinship, received the royal pardon for participation in Jack Cade's
rebellion.

140 Memorials of Old Kent

In several of the hundreds of Kent the regular
constables summoned the men to take their part in the
insurrection. Marden, Penshurst, Hawkhurst, Northfleet,
Boughton Malherbe, Smarden, and Pluckley responded
vigorously, and it has been stated that they furnished
as many men as could be found in the latter half of the
last century fit for arms.

Amongst the archives of the Corporation of New
Ronmey is preserved the Proclamation of Pardon, issued
by royal authority on July 7th, 1450, in favour of Jack
Cade, the rebel, under his assumed name of Mortimer.

The question of the identity of Jack Cade is one of
great interest. It will be remembered that at the rebel
camp at Blackheath, according to Shakespeare's play,
Henry VI. (2nd part, Act iv., Sc. 2), Cade declared that
his father was a Mortimer and his mother a Plantagenet.
In a subsequent scene, in Cannon Street, London, Cade,
striking his staff on London-stone, cries : " Now is
Mortimer lord of this city. . . . Henceforth it shall
be treason for any that calls me other than lord
Mortimer " (Act iv., Sc. 6). According to Fabyan, the
chronicler, the people who chose Cade for a leader
professed to consider him to be the cousin of the Duke
of York. There is further evidence to show that Cade,
whatever his right name may have been, was not a low-
born person. The act of attainder refers to Cade as " that
false traitor, John Cade, naming himself John Mortimer,
late Captain of Kent." It ordered that he should be
attainted, and should forfeit to the King his " goods, lands,
and tenements, rents, and possessions, which he held on
the 8th July or after," and his blood was declared corrupt.
Obviously such a sentence would have no meaning for
a low-bred person without property or position.

Jack Cade, deserted by his followers, with a reward
of a thousand marks on his head, fled into the woody
country — near Lewes, in Sussex. On July 12th he was
discovered by Alexander Iden, at that time, or soon after-

Kentish Insurrections 141

wards, Sheriff of Kent, who took him prisoner. During
the struggle, however, Cade received a mortal wound. He
was put in a cart, but died on the road to London. At
Cade Street, about half a mile to the north-east of the
village of Heathfield, Sussex, there is a monument
recording the fact that Jack Cade, the rebel, there
received his death-wound in his struggle for freedom.

The chief source of information as to this remarkable
Kentish insurrection is to be found in the Patent Rolls
of 28 Henry VI. in the Public Record Office. These
documents contain the names of many hundreds of Cade's
followers who were pardoned.

THE WYATT REBELLION, 1554

The Wyatt Rebellion of 1554 aimed at preventing the
marriage of Queen Mary and Philip of Spain. It was
led by Sir Thomas Wyatt the younger (eldest son of
Sir Thomas Wyatt, the poet). At the age of sixteen he
married, and in 1542, on the death of his father, he
succeeded to Allington Castle and Boxley Abbey. It
was to Allington Castle that Wyatt called his friends to
discuss ways and means of resistance to the Spanish
marriage. Wyatt fixed his headquarters at Rochester
Castle, whither ammunition and guns had been secretly
conveyed. Cowling Castle was assaulted and captured
by Wyatt and his followers.

A charming little picture of the home of the Wyatts
at Allington is painted by Lord Tennyson in the following
lines, which are supposed to have been spoken by Sir
Thomas Wyatt just before setting out for London: —

Ah, gray old castle of Alington, green field
Beside the brimming Medway, it may chance
That I shall never look upon you more.

Queen Mary, Act ii.. Scene i.

At the head of four thousand men Wyatt set out for
London without opposition. The road was open.
Through Gravesend and Dartford he marched to Black-

142 Memorials of Old Kent

heath, where he encamped. On February 3rd he entered
Southwark, and on the same day a large reward was
offered by the Government to anyone who should capture
the rebel. But already his followers, alarmed by the
batteries in the Tower of London, began to desert. Wyatt
next went towards Kingston, where he crossed the Thames.
Proceeding eastwards he proceeded to Kensington,
Hyde Park, Charing Cross, the Strand, and Fleet
Street, to Ludgate. Here he found his progress stopped.
The gate was shut, and he retreated up Fleet Street
towards Temple Bar. There he was encountered by
Norroy, King of Arms, and finding his cause hopeless,
he made voluntary surrender.

Whitehall and the Tower of London were successive
prisons, and on April nth he paid for his folly by
suffering on Tower Hill. His body was gibbeted at Hay
Hill, near Hyde Park, and subsequently his limbs were
distributed among gibbets in different parts of London.

THE ROYALIST RISING IN 1648

The Royalist Rising of 1648, although not, perhaps,
of the highest historical importance, was an event of great
interest locally. Like so many of the popular upheavals
in Kent, this movement was an attempt to secure liberty
— liberty of conscience, liberty of religious privileges

The ordinances of Parliament prohibited all observ-
ance of the great Christian festival of Christmas and
other feasts and fasts. On Christmas Day, 1647, the
good people of Canterbury attempted the? celebration of
the Divine Service. At St. Andrew's Church the usual
Christmas Service was performed by the Rector, the Rev.
Mr. Allday. The Committee of Kent, representing the
Parliamentary authority, opposed it, and endeavoured to
compel the people to open their shops. A riot ensued.
The defences of the city were seized by an anti-Parliament
mob, who raised the cry, " For God, King Charles, and Kent."

Sir Thomas Wyatt.

Kentish Insurrections 143

In A Perfect Diurnal of some Passages in Parliament
and Daily Proceedings of the Army ujider His Excellency
Sir T. Fairfax, under the date December 30th, 1647,
we find the following : —

A letter this day out of Kent from some of the committee of the
said county, acquainting the House with the great riot that was at
Canterbury on Saturday last. The House hereupon ordered that the
order for examining and committing of churchwardens that countenance
malignant ministers to preach be forthwith printed. They further
ordered that the business of the riot at Canterbury be referred to the
examination and consideration of a committee.

Under the date of January 7th following we find it
recorded that the insurrection and tumult at Canterbury
was quieted and the chief insurgents in custody.

The next step was an official visit of the committee
with an immense armed force. They tore down the gates
and made a breach fifty yards in length in the walls of
the city somewhat to the south of the West Gate. An
inquiry was made into the matter, and, with that
perspicuity and acumen not unusually found in tribunals
of this class, the very gentlemen^ who had endeavoured to
calm the insurgents were sent off to Leeds Castle, where
they were confined as prisoners.

Parliament evidently became alarmed, and sent a
special Commission down to Canterbury to try the
delinquents. A special assize was held on May nth, and
several of the Committee were on the Bench, but the
Grand Jury ignored the bill, and when pressed again
brought in a second ignoramus. Colonel Colomb, F.S.A.,
in an able review of this subject, writes : ^

The grand jury, emboldened by this victory, composed, upon the
spot, a petition to Parliament which, to my mind, was worthy of
" unconquered Kent," and of a people whose ancestors always claimed
the right to march in the van of the English army.

1 These comprised Sir William Mann, Francis Lovelace, Alderman
Sabine, Dudley Wiles, and other good Kentish names.

2 ArchcEologia Cantiana, vol. xi., pp. 31-49.

144 Memorials of Old Kent

The followinpf is the text of the document : •

'fa

THE PETITION OF KENT, 1648

The Humble Petition of the Knights, Gentry, Clergy, and Common-
alty of the County of Kent, subscribed by the Grand Jury, on Thursday,
nth May, 1648, at a Sessions of the Judges upon a Special Commis-
sion of Oyer and Terminer, held at the Castle of Canterbury, in the
said County :

Sheweth —

That the deep sense of our own miseries, and a fellow feeling of
the discontents of other counties exposed to the like sufferings, prevaileth
with us thus humbly to present to your honours these our ardent desires :

(i) That our most gracious Sovereign Lord King Charles may,
with all speed, be admitted in safety and honour, to treat with his two
Houses of Parliament for the perfect settling of the peace, both of
Church and Commonwealth, as also of his own just rights, together
with those of the Parliament.

(2) That for prevention and removal of the manifold inconveniences
occasioned by the continuance of the present army, under the command
of Lord Fairfax, their arrears may be forthwith audited, and they dis-
banded.

(3) That according to the fundamental Constitution of this Common-
wealth we may, for the future, be governed and judged by the English
subjects' undoubted birth-right, the known and established laws of the
kingdom, and not otherwise.

(4) That, according to the petition of rights, our property may not
be invaded by any taxes or impositions whatsoever ; and particularly
the heavy burdens of the Excise men no longer be continued, or here-
after imposed upon us.

All which our earnest desires we humbly recommend to your most
serious considerations, not doubting of that speedy satisfaction therein
which the case requires, and we humbly expect. Whereby we may
hope to see (what otherwise we cannot but despair of) a speedy and
happy end to those pressures and distempers, whose continuance will
inevitably ruin both ourselves and posterities. Your timely prevention
where by a mutual agreement of what we here propose in order
thereunto, will oblige us ever to pray.

Among the leaders of this movement were the
following gentlemen bearing well-known names: —

Sir Gamaliel Dudley.

Sir George Lisle.

Sir William Compton.

Kentish Insurrections 145

Sir Robert Tracy.

Colonel Leigh.

Sir John Many.

Sir James Hales.

Sir William Many.

Sir Richard Hardres.

Colonel Washington.

Colonel L'Estrange.

Colonel Hacker.

Sir Anthony Aucher, of Bishopsbourne.

Sir William Brockman, of Beechborough.

Sir T. Colepeper, of St. Stephen's.

— Darrell, of Scotney Castle.

Sir Thomas Godfrey, of Heppington.

Edward Hales, of Tunstal.

Anthony Hammond, of St. Alban's Court.

Francis Hammond, of St. Alban's Court.

Francis Lovelace.

Sir Henry Palmer, of Beaksbourne.

Sir Thomas Palmer, of Beaksbourne.

Sir Thomas Peyton, of Knowlton.

James Dorrell.

George Newman, etc.

Two hundred gentlemen of Kent signed the famous
petition, and in a few days the number of signatures had
increased to twenty thousand. It was resolved that the
petitioners should assemble at Rochester on May 29th
and proceed to Blackheath, but the Committee of Kent
condemned the petition by proclamation. Every con-
ceivable obstacle was raised, and it was even brutally
proposed that two of the petitioners should be hung up
in each parish. Nothing daunted, however, the Kentish
men determined to march to Westminster with the petition
in one hand and the sword in the other.

An unfortunate step was taken by the Royalists in
L

146 Memorials of Old Kent

placing Edward Hales, then about twenty-four years
old, at their head. ■ There was a rumour that the fleet
stationed in the Downs was prepared to declare for the
King. The ships were visited, and the report was
confirmed. It was at this point that Mr. Hales was
approached and advised to assume the leadership. He
was flattered, and consented in spite of his youth and the
fact that Sir Edward Hales (his grandfather) was still
alive. Many of the inhabitants, particularly in the districts
of Ashford, Wye, Rochester, Gravesend, and the Weald,
joined the Royalist forces. They seized all the arms
deposited at Scott's Hall, Ashford, Faversham, etc.
Colonel Robert Hammond was commissioned to raise a
regiment of infantry, and Colonel Hatton a regiment of
horse. About three hundred well-armed men and sixty
horse were soon collected. The East Kent Royalists
encamped on Barham Downs, and Sir Richard Hardres,
of Hardres Court, and Sir Anthony Aucher, of Bourne
Place, Bishopsbourne, were dispatched with one hundred
and forty trained men to Sandwich, where they found the
gates shut and the town guarded. Hearing who
demanded admission, the inhabitants opened the gates,
but as they showed little enthusiasm in the King's cause,
and pleaded poverty, they were deprived of their com-
missions, and their arms and ammunition were seized by
the Royalist forces and conveyed in a waggon to Dover
Castle.

At Dover they found Hammond with more than five
hundred infantry, and Hatton with two hundred cavalry,
drawn up before the Castle, which was held by the
Parliamentary forces. At the castles of Deal, Sandown,
and Walmer the Royalists were more successful, finding
little if any difficulty in taking possession of those
important fortresses. On a second visit to Sandwich the
inhabitants of that sleepy old town were found to be
somewhat less apathetic. Influenced, doubtless, by the
direction events were taking in the district, the Mayor

Sir Edward Hales.

Kentish Insurrections 147

and Corporation regarded the Royalist programme with
more favour, and presented the sum of two hundred pounds
to their funds.

Successes in Kent brought assistance from Surrey and
Essex, but there was no really good discipline in the
Royalist troops and no conspicuous capacity in the
Royalist generals. In a straggling, undisciplined maimer
they reached Deptford and Greenwich. Fairfax, at
Blackheath, advised them to lay down their arms and
disperse, and assured them of mercy if they did so ; but
the suggestion was firmly declined.

Fairfax next sent Major Gibbon and a party of horse
round by the Weald of Kent to relieve Dover Castle,
forcing Sir Richard Hardres to retreat to Canterbury.

Matters had now gone so far that the Royalists were
compelled either to fight or lay down their arms. They
chose the former, and the storming of Maidstone, on
June 1st, 1648, followed. The result was disastrous.
The town fell into the hands of the Parliamentary
forces.

The morning after the engagement the Royalist army
at Rochester mustered in Frindsbury Fields, where a
council was held ; and in the hope of either relieving
Maidstone (for its fall was not then known) or meeting
Fairfax they marched through Rochester, but had not
proceeded above two miles towards Maidstone when
intelligence reached them of the fall of that town, so
they returned ; and in the hope of securing Canterbury and
the towns in East Kent, Colonel Hatton was ordered
to return with his horse, and, meeting Major Osborne's
troop proceeding from Ashford to Sittingboume, he
charged them, when Major Sumner was killed and one
or two other officers were wounded.

The tide had turned, however, against the Royalist
rising. The Kentish men were no match for the skill
and energy of Fairfax. The march to Colchester and
the siege which followed are well-known events, and mark

148 Memorials of Old Kent

what was practically the end of the Kentish rising in
favour of the Royalist cause.

The following curious verses relating to the fore-
going events were published in a small quarto newspaper
called Mercurius Crito-Pragniaticus : —

Verses by Mr. Egerton on certain men of Canterbury, declaring
themselves for God, King Charles, and Kent, January, 1648 :

The roast-meat men of Canterbury,

Counting it no small injury

To lose their spiced broth, and their pies.

Their wassails and their fooleries,

Resolved ere Christmas went away

They would some uncouth gambol play ;

For now debar'd of their good cheer,

They took the double size in beer ;

And now so long they sit and fuddle,

'Till each agreed to broach his noddle.

Then one saith this, another that.

And the third he talks he knows not what.

'Till one upstart, whose nose to handle,

Had often saved them fire and candle,

And he in broken sense relates

The wrong to be debar'd their cates ;

And tells them if they do not rise

To right plum-pottage, and mince-pies.

Hereafter may things never whittle,

And the plum-pottage burn the kettle.

And may each bak'd-meat (heaven forbid)

Lose both the bottom and the lid.

At this each swain lift up his snout

And wrath incensed all the rout :

And now away the clowns do reel.

And out of doors each one doth wheel ;

He gets a mattock or a rake,

A third will need his coulter take.

And all with an inspired rage.

Set forth in martial equipage.

Fear now upon the townsmen falls.

To see these frantic bachannals ;

They lock their doors, but to no end,

The madmen do them open rend.

And he that hath not broth or pie,

Within his lard or butterv,

Kentish Insurrections 149

Was surely banged, back and head,

And all his chattels forfeited.

But to prohibit this wild course

Out comes the Mayor on his horse ;

But they of him stand in no awe,

His crown is crack't, he doth withdraw ;

And thus, elated with success,

They needs will further yet transgress.

For God, and for King Charles, they cry ;

Plum-pottage and sweet Christmas pie ;

But out, alas ! this did no good.

Their language was not understood.

And now these birds in cages sing,

Wee'l no more Christmas revelling.

MINOR INSURRECTIONS

There have been several minor insurrections and
disturbances at various times, of which, in conclusion, it
will suffice to give a very few brief details :

The Holy Maid of Kent (Elizabeth Barton). — She was
a domestic servant at Aldington, Kent, in the household
of Thomas Cobb, steward to Archbishop Warham. She
professed to see visions and to be in direct communication
with the Blessed Virgin Mary. Executed at Tyburn
April 20th, 1534.

O'Connor Riots at Maidstone, May 22nd, 1798.

Riots at Boughton-under-the-Blean, 1838. — These were
occasioned by an insane Cornish publican named John
Nichols Tom, or Thom. He was an impostor and madman,
who assumed the name of Sir William Percy Honeywood
Courtenay. He preached Communistic doctrines and
professed to be the Messiah. He was, together with
eight other rioters, shot by soldiers sent to arrest him in
the Blean Woods in 1838, and was buried in the church-
yard of Hernehill.

SOME KENTISH CASTLES
By Harold Sands, F.S.A., M.I.Mech.Eng.

other

^ROBABLY but few people are aware that in the
number and variety of its castles the County
of Kent surpasses any other in the South of
England ; while its total is exceeded by but four
counties, namely, those of Northumberland,
Cumberland, Yorkshire, and Herefordshire, according
to an elaborate table compiled by the late Sir James
Mackenzie, for his work upon the Castles of England,
published in 1897. In order to facilitate comparisons
that part of it which refers to the five counties above-
named is here reproduced.

County

Chief

Castle

Minor
Castle

Non-
existent

Total

Kent ....

Hereford ....

Cumberland

Yorkshire

Northumberland

7

3

5

12

9

18
8

20
20
46

5

24

8

21

8

30

35
33

53
63

Although in the main correct, yet in the case of Kent
some additions and subtractions are now necessary in
the light of more recent information as to the number
of castles the county really contained.

To give anything like a detailed account of the
various castles and their history, is, of course, impossible

150

Some Kentish Castles 151

within the limits of this paper. I shall, therefore, restrict
myself to a brief notice of the more important, with a
glance at their prominent features, together with any
incidents of interest in their history ; but, before doing
so, it may be as well to glance briefly at the early military
history of the county. Of the Roman stations, the sites
of three — Reculver, Richborough, and Lympne — were
not occupied by any later works, and from the alteration
of the geographical conditions of their surroundings they
fell gradually to decay. The three towns having Roman
walls — Dover, Canterbury, and Rochester — never lost
their importance, and at a later period had chief castles
attached to them. Then come the post-Roman earth-
works, thrown up by the invading Danes in order to pro-
tect their ships, women, children, horses, and cattle, when
they settled down in any place in order to spend the
winter there and to facilitate a prolonged raiding of the
country round. These are usually known as " geweorcs,"
and were thrown up for the most part by the Danish
invaders, or as the Saxon Chronicle^ terms them, the
" heathen men," during the latter part of the ninth cen-
tury. The first mention of such a " geweorc " in Kent
occurs in the Saxon Chronicle of 893, when it speaks of
one being wrought at Appledore, which, now an inland
village, was at that time situated on the estuary of the
Rother.2 There are some slight remains of one at Ken-
nardington, now also an inland village, but at that time
situated on a creek running inland from the Rother
estuary, and probably the one spoken of as being at
Appledore, from which it is about three miles distant.
Another " geweorc " is Castle Rough on Milton^ Creek,
which runs in from the Swale, between the Isle of Sheppy
and the mainland. Immediately opposite to it is another

1 Saxon Chronicle, vol. i., p. 56.

2 Archaolozia, vol. xl. " The Position of the Portus Lemanis," by
T. Lewin, F.S.A., pp. 361, 374.

3 Saxon Chronicle, vol. i., p. 164.

152 Memorials of Old Kent

work known as Bayford (subsequently converted into a
Norman castle), which dates back to 893, when it was
erected by the order of King Alfred to keep watch upon
and repel the incursions of the Danish invaders. Similar
" geweorcs " are found at Willington Camp, and Temps-
ford-on-the-Ouse, in Bedfordshire.^

During the first quarter of the tenth century we find
the English building " burhs " or " burgs," as offensive
and defensive works against the Danes. These were
mostly designed to defend the passages of all the chief
rivers, and to keep out the Danes, by barring the water-
ways up by which they gained access to the interior of the
country. They were at first surrounded with a wall of
earth, replaced later by timber and stone. The Saxon
Chronicle lays particular stress on the " burg " of
Towcester being surrounded by a stone wall by the men
of King Edward, in 921. Owing probably to the Danish
settlement being chiefly in East Anglia and Mercia, there
is no record of any new " burg " on a new site having
been founded during the Saxon period in Kent, and they
seem to have contented themselves with occupying the
towns on the old Roman foundations at Dover, Canter-
bury, and Rochester, with smaller settlements along the
line of the great Roman road that runs from the coast
by Canterbury to London.

The first mention of a castle occurs in the Saxon
Chronicle of the year 1048, where it says that " The
Welisce men wroht aenne Castel on Herefordscire."
That is to say the Norman followers of some of the
King's Norman favourites had built this castle in Here-
fordshire, among the men of Earl Sweyn Godwinsson,
and there did every harm, and insult alike to them, and
to the King's men, that they could.^ Prior to the Norman
Conquest, there were but three castles in all England :

1 Sa^a Book of the Viking Club, vol. iii., part 3. "The Danish Camp
on the Ouse near Bedford," by A. R. Goddard, pp. 326, 337.

2 Saxon Ckrojiicle, vol. i. , p. 195.

3 Ibid., p. 315.

Some Kentish Castles 153

that of Osbern Pentecost at Ewias Harold (probably the
Herefordshire Castle previously mentioned), Richard's
Castle (also in Herefordshire), and Robert's Castle at
Clavering, in Essex.^ Orderic,^ in his account of the
rebellion of the English in 1068, says : —

In the English provinces there were very few of those fortresses which
the Normans call " castles," so that though the English were warlike and
brave, they were little able to offer a determined or prolonged resistance,
and in consequence the King carefully surveyed the country, and,
selecting suitable sites, caused them to be fortified with " castles "
against the incursions of enemies.

Of the thirty castles in the list seven are classed as
" chief castles " ; that is, they were either Royal Castles
held for the King by a garrison, or were held directly from
the Crown by one of the great barons. They are as
follows : AHington, Canterbury, Dover, Leeds, Rochester,
Saltwood, and Tonbridge. One, the Tower of St. Leonard,
at West Mailing, is not a castle at all, or any part of one.
It is the tower of a destroyed church of St. Leonard,
granted as a cell to the Abbey by Bishop Gundulf.
Similar towers are attached to the Cathedral Church of
Rochester and the parish Church at Dartford, and in all
probability all three were the work of Bishop Gundulf.^
The documentary evidence of the existence of this church
ma}' be found in the Registrum Roffense, a collection of
ancient records relating to the Diocese of Rochester.

0}te, Bayford, near Sittingbourne, was originally a
pre-Conquest earthwork, dating back to the time of
Alfred, subsequently converted into a Norman Castle.*

Four are blockhouses, expressly designed for the
defence of the coast by fire artillery, and are as recent as
the reign of Henry VHI., having been built by his orders

1 Saxon Chronicle, vol. i., p. 321.

2 Ordericus Vitalis, Book iv., chapter 4.

3 " English Fortresses and Castles of the Tenth and Eleventh
Centuries," W. H. St. John Hope, Archsological Journal, vol. Ix., p. 90.

* Hasted, History of Kent, vol. vi., p. 154.

154 Memorials of Old Kent

about 1539; their names are — Deal, Sandown, Sandgate,
and Walmer.

One, Upnor Castle, on the Medway, is a similar block-
house, built about 1561, in the time of Queen Elizabeth.

One, Gillingham, is not a castle at all, but a modern
fort, built in the time of Charles I., for the defence of the
dockyard at Chatham.

Fifteen are termed minor castles, forming heads of
lesser fiefs, held by the process of sub-infeudation from
the greater barons, who held directly from the Crown.
They are as follows: — Chilham, Colebridge, Cooling,
Eynesford, Hever, Leybourne, Lympne, Queenborough,
Sandwich, Shurland, Sissinghurst, Sutton-Valence, Thurn-
ham, Tong, and Westenhanger. Thus completing the
tale of the thirty castles included in the list given by
Sir James Mackenzie.^

There are, however, eleven others not included by him,
v/hich, if the tower of the now non-existent church at West
Mailing, the four blockhouses of Henry VIII., and the
forts of Elizabeth and Charles are deducted, will raise the
total to thirty-four castles! They are as follows: —
Kennardington^ and Castle Rough (probably Saxon or
Danish earthworks), Brenchley, Binbury, Stockbury,
Castle Toll, near Newenden, and Caesar's Camp,^ near
Folkestone, early castles of the " mount and bailey " type
in earthwork, probably dating from the Norman period.

Folkestone, Deptford, Lullingstone, and Simpson's
Moat at Bromley, are later works in masonry, but of these
only the gateway at Lullingstone remains. The five
castles not now in existence are Bayford, Queenborough,
Sandown, Sandwich, and Shurland, only their sites are
known.

1 The Castles of England, vol. i., xxiii. and pp. 1-59.

2 This is stated by G. T. Clark in his Mediaval Military Architecture,
vol. i., p. 146, to have had a shell keep, but his authority for such a state-
ment, or that there was ever a castle there at all, remains unknown.

3 Archceologia, vol. xlvii., " Excavations at Caesar's Camp, Folkestone,"
Major-General Pitt-Rivers, pp. 429-465.

Some Kentish Castles 155

The earliest type of castle of which we have any
reliable information is that introduced into England by
the Normans, three of which are known to have been
erected by the Norman favourites of Edward the Con-
fessor, as already mentioned. Prior to the Conquest
there was no need for such erections in England, then at
peace under the rule of a supreme King, save upon the
marches of Wales to check the inroads of the wild Welsh.
Many of the new Saxon " burgs," already referred to, had
increased in size and importance, and had become popu-
lous towns from occupying positions on roads and rivers ;
after the Norman Conquest, whether the inhabitants of
the new " burgs " and the old towns were Danish or
Saxon, both were bitterly hostile to King William, and it
became a part of his policy to dominate every conquered
town by building a castle in it, for the double purpose of
intimidating the unfriendly townspeople and command-
ing the passage by road or river, or protecting a harbour.
While the King was pursuing his gradual conquest of
England, he was also parcelling out its lands by grants
to his Norman followers, who in many instances displaced
the former Saxon holders. The new landowners^ found
themselves occupying isolated positions in the midst of a
hostile population, by whom they were liable to be
attacked, and cut off in detail ; for their own defence they
were compelled to fortify their dwellings, and accordingly
we find them (like their King) building just such castles
as they were familiar with in their native Normandy.
The two most notable features of all these castles are
their extreme novelty to the conquered Saxons and the

1 At the time of the Domesday Survey twelve tenants-in-chief held the
•whole of Kent, except that portion retained by the King, which included
the towns of Canterbury, Dover, Dartford, Faversham, and Aylesford,
vnth Milton and Tottington. First came Odo, Bishop of Baieux, who
held no less than one hundred and eighty-four manors ! The other land-
holders were chiefly ecclesiastical — the Archbishop of Canterbury, the
Bishop of Rochester; the Abbots of Battle and St. Augustine's at
Canterbury ; the Canons of St. Martin's at Dover ; the Abbey of Gand
and Albert the Chaplain. The lavmen were Hamo the Sheriflf, Earl
Eustace, Richard de Tonbridge, and Hugh de Montfort,

156 Memorials of Old Kent

importance of the strategical positions they occupy ; those
thrown up in the towns were generally placed in an angle
of the line of defences so as to dominate the place and
permit the introduction of reinforcements and supplies
from the open country should the townsfolk attack the
castle. Where the town is situated upon a navigable
river, the castle was so placed as to command the water-
way, as at Canterbury, Rochester, and Tonbridge ; and
in the case of private castles erected by the great land-
owners upon their fiefs, those of Allington and Eynesford.
Save for slight modifications introduced by variations in
the geographical features of the sites selected, all these
Norman castles are of one uniform type. They consisted
of a lofty, conical mound of earth, surrounded by a deep
ditch, and partly encircled at its base by one or more
crescent-shaped enclosures (also surrounded by deep
ditches) called baileys. One detail of their construction
has been ignored by nearly all writers of history, that is
the universal prevalence of the use of timber for their
first defences. Not only were the earthen banks surround-
ing the baileys crowned by lines of stout wooden
palisades, but the great mound was also encircled at the
summit by a similar wooden stockade, which enclosed a
lofty wooden tower dwelling, and the palisades of the
baileys were carried across the ditches, up the side of
the mound to join the stockade at the top, so as to form
one continuous line of defence ; access to the mound was
gained by a bridge across the ditch, and a steep flight of
steps running up the side of the mound. In the baileys
below were erected wooden shed dwellings for the
Norman followers of the lord, together with very extensive
ranges of stables and barns, to accommodate the numerous
horses needed for the new Norman method of fighting
on horseback, instead of on foot in the obsolete Saxon
way. There were two reasons for this extensive use of
earth and timber castles of what is now known as the
" mount and bailey " type — the castles were needed at

Some Kentish Castles 157

once ; there was no time to execute elaborate works in
stone, even had the technical skill of the period been
equal to the task involved. The materials were available
on the spot, timber being at that time abundant every-
where, and labour was plentiful, for the Chronicle tells us
how " in 1067 William went over to Normandy, and his
regents. Bishops Odo and Earl William, remaming m
England, wrought castles widely throughout the realm,
and oppressed the poor folk, and ever thereafter greatly
grew this evil."^ No skilled labour was required, and the
building of a castle was the work of a few days only, for
Orderic tells us that in 10682 William tarried eight days
at York after the suppression of the Northern rebellion,
rebuilt the castle which had been burned by the rebels,
and threw up a second castle on the opposite bank of the
Ouse, and it is obvious that so short a stay could only
suffice for the erection of just such castles of earth and
timber. Moreover, the mounds of both these castles
remain at the present time.^ As a defensive work the
moated mount is admirably adapted to allow small bodies
of men planted in the midst of a hostile population to
maintain their position even against heavy odds, as is
shown in the history of most of the early sieges, where
for a time the means of defence were superior to those
employed in attack. The second reason for the employ-
ment of timber was that the earth of a newly-raised
mound or bank required time to settle before it could
bear the weight of solid stone walls. Where the site was
naturally rocky, as at Deganwy in North Wales (the
Castel Gannoc of the Chronicles), and stockades could
not be driven into the ground, stone was employed for
walls, but as a rule in the time of the Conqueror its use
is confined to gatehouses (as may be seen at Exeter, and
perhaps Tickhill), which were built on the natural or

'i- Saxon Chronicle, vol. i., p. 342.
"^Orderic, book i v., chap. 1;.

^York: The Story of its Walls and Castles, T. P. Cooper, pp. 215,
238.

158 Memorials of Old Kent

unmade ground in a gap purposely left in the line of the
earthen banks. When the timber ring wall at the summit
was replaced by one of stone, which we find to be the
case in about ten years after the Norman Conquest, it is
called a " shell " keep, and of these there are several
excellent examples in Kent. The first castle at Allington
was of this type, as are Leeds, Tonbridge, Saltwood,
Tong, and Thurnham Castles. Mr. G. T. Clark, in his
list of shell keeps in Kent, mentions three which cannot
be satisfactorily identified, " Haydon Mount, Newington,
and Kennardington."^ There are no less than four
Haydons in Kent : one at West Wickham, where there is
a small entrenchment thrown up in the days of Queen
Elizabeth by Sir Christopher Haydon ; Haydon (alias
Cossington) is a manor in Horsemonden ; Haydon
Manor (called the Mount) in Cobham parish ; but there is
no record of any castle having existed at either of the
above places.

There is a Haydon Sewer^ in the parish of New-
enden,^ which (passing close by Castle Toll) falls into
the river Rother. In 1693 there was a lofty mound and
banks here, but it has been greatly lowered since by
ploughing ; it is, however, still traceable, and is distinctly
of the " mount and bailey " type, so that it is probably
the place referred to by Mr. Clark. Newington is
probably a misspelling of Newenden, or it may be
meant for Tong, which is not far from Newington next
Sittingbourne, from which it is distant about 4^ miles.

Of Kennardington, while this may have been one of
the adulterine castles erected in the reign of Stephen, and
destroyed by Henry II., it seems probable that Mr. Clark
derived his information from Hasted as to this.* The

1 Mediaval Military Architecture, Clark, vol. i., p. 146.

2 " Sewer," a Kentish word for an open dyke to carry off land drainage
water.

^ Archceologia Cantiana, vol. xiii., p. 16; and Hasted's History of
Kent, vol. vii., p. 166.

4 Hasted's History of Kent (second edition), vol. vii., p. 245.

Some Kentish Castles 159

Kentish historian gives a description of some ancient
fortifications, having a small circular mount, below the
hill on which the church stands, and adjoining it to the
south-east. Possibly some such works may have existed
in his day, and as already stated they were probably
remains of a Danish Camp. His history was published
between 1778 and 1799. At the present time the church
of Kennardington stands on a knoll or spit of land pro-
jecting into the marsh below ; no trace of any such works
as described now remains. The Ordnance Survey Map
shows a roughly-defined rectangular work situated on the
north and east of the church, on the slope of the hill
towards the marsh — a very likely place for an entrench-
ment thrown up to defend a fleet of light draught ships
hauled up on the beach. This land is now laid down in
grass, the adjoining field south-east of the church is now
arable land, but there is no trace of any mount there,
nor could an old inhabitant of the parish recollect the
removal of anything of the kind when the Royal Military
Canal was made in 1807, which runs just below the hill.
The Manor of Home (alias Kennardington) was held of
the constable of Dover Castle by castle guard tenure in
capite, which may, as in the instances of Borne and
Ferle in the adjoining county of Sussex,^ have given rise
to the mistaken idea that there was formerly a castle
here, but as the place is not mentioned in Domesday this
is uncertain.

Having surveyed the earlier military remains, we will
now deal with some of the later castles in the order of
their importance. Of these, Dover is easily "Primus inter
pares."

DOVER CASTLE

There is a widespread, and I think erroneous, idea,
that a castle existed at Dover, built by the Saxons, before
1066. There is no evidence of the existence of any

'i^ Sussex Domesday Book x., line 31 ; xi. line 17.

i6o Memorials of Old Kent

such castle prior to the advent of William the Conqueror,
and the expression used by the Chronicler William of
Poitiers is actually destructive of this idea. Although
Domesday Book commences with an account of the town
of Dover, which is written in capitals, and rubricated to
show that it was the name of the place, there is no men-
tion of any castle existing there, or in close proximity to
the town, at the time of the survey in 1085, and for this
there is an excellent reason. Dover was originally of
Roman foundation, and as such was surrounded by a wall
with towers at frequent intervals^ ; the harbour was on
the east side of the town, and extended from where the
Imperial Hotel now stands to new St. James' Church.
It was this walled town, with its well-protected harbour,
that formed what, according to the Chronicler William of
Poitiers, Duke William demanded that Earl Harold should
give up to him at the death of Edward the Confessor,
for the words used are " Castrum Doveram." It has been
clearly shown by Mr. Round^ that the expression " Cast-
rum Harundel " in that portion of the Domesday Book
which relates to Sussex does not refer to a pre-Conquest
castle existing there, but to the entire town and port of
Arundel ; a like inference may be legitimately drawn from
the expression " Castrum Doveram," that what was pre-
sent to the mind of Duke William was the advantage
to be derived in prosecuting his claim to the English
Crown by the delivery to him of the strong walled town
of Dover, with its snug harbour, as affording a safe and
ready means of communication with the Continent, and
in particular with his Duchy of Normandy. The expres-
sion " Castrum " has been carelessly translated as
" Castle," where what the Chronicler really meant was a
fortified town. While there may have been small earth-
works on the heights of Dover, erected to guard the light-

1 ArchcEolo^ia Cantiana, vol. xx., pp. 128, 136.

"^ Archaologia, vol. Iviii., "The Castles of the Conquest," J. H.
Round, pp. 331-333.

'"(r„iii»v'S=

Some Kentish Castles i6i

houses in late Roman times, it is pretty clear that at the
time of the Norman Conquest there was no castle (or
what the Normans would have understood by the term)
on the eastern heights above the town. It is difficult,
indeed, to see what purpose could be served by any such
work, too far distant for the defence of the town (already
protected by its Roman walls of stone) or the harbour ;
certainly not the seat of a new landowner surrounded by
a hostile population, it is most improbable that there was
any castle of the regular " mount and bailey " type, or
any need for such prior to the Norman Conquest. The
Norman system of warfare consisted in the employment
of large bodies of horsemen, therefore the baileys of their
castles are of large size, capable of containing vast ranges
of stables, barns for the horse provender, and shed
dwellings for the accommodation of the garrison. It is
probable that a simple entrenched camp with earthen
banks, enclosed by a shallow ditch, may have taken the
place of the earlier Roman work, of which the church
and pharos formed the centre ; but the existence of a
large Norman " mount and bailey " type castle upon the
eastern heights prior to the Conquest may be dismissed
as an idle fable ; indeed, the whole testimony of the Saxon
Chronicles shows that such a work was alike alien to the
national feeling and opposed to their system of warfare.^
The Norman favourite of Edward the Confessor (by whom
alone such a castle could have been built) had no con-
nection with Dover, which, like the rest of Kent, was
almost entirely held by various members of the house of
Godwin. The Chronicle informs us that William remained
eight days at Dover, during which time he extended and
added to the fortifications upon the eastern heights.^
Within them stood an irregular hillock (then, as now, the

1 See ante, p. 156.

2 As already noticed on p. 157, this space of time two years later
sufficed for the erection of a complete mount and bailey castle of earth
with timber defences by the army of William I. when at York, showing
the rapidity with which such works could be thrown up.

M

i62 Memorials of Old Kent

highest point of the hill), having on its summit the church
and the Roman pharos. This was probably levelled, the
sides steeply scarped, and increased in size with material
from new and deeper ditches surrounding it, and a fan-
shaped bailey was added, extending northwards from its
base towards what is now the Inner Ward.^ It is certain
that no elaborate works on an extended scale were
executed at this time, for Orderic tells us that the army
was enfeebled by a severe epidemic of dysentery^ during
its stay at Dover, due probably to its defective com-
missariat arrangements and the drinking of bad water
in the great marsh, across which the army had marched
from Senlac, to attack and punish the men of Romney
for the slaughter of some of their comrades. Owing, how-
ever, to the numerous and frequent additions, alterations,
and removals executed by the military authorities, it is
now well-nigh impossible to trace out the lines of the
earthworks with any degree of accuracy. Moreover, the
regulations prohibit all sketching or photographing in the
vicinity even of the castle, and the maps of the Ordnance
Survey of Dover are carefully left blank in the area,
which, unfortunately, contains not merely the modern
fortifications, but the whole of the ancient castle. No
information as to the levels of the various portions of
the fortress is obtainable, consequently an accurate
description of even that which remains of the earlier
works in earth or masonry is an impossibility. The great
keep has been converted into water tanks and store rooms,
and the public is little by little, and slowly but surely,
being gradually excluded by the authorities from access
to what, until a few years ago, was freely open to
inspection. New barracks, batteries, and magazines have
been erected, and the ancient works have been so
altered by additions, extensions, removals, retrenchings,

1 Tht Antiquary, vol. xxxviii., "Moated Mounds," by J. A. Rutter,
Part T., p. 239, paragraph 6; and p. 242, paragraph 10.

2 Orderic. Vital., Book IIL, chap, xiv., p. 488. (Edn. Bohn.)

Some Kentish Castles 163

tunnellings, and filling up of ditches, to adapt the mediaeval
castle to modern military purposes, that many of the
original features have in the process been obliterated, or
erased beyond the power of recall.

We may assume that the castle as left by Duke
William was of the usual " mount and bailey " type, with
earthen defences, probably surmounted (as at Hastings)^
by a wooden stockade and tower, and deep ditches cut in
the chalk rock (here so solid as to stand like a wall), the
Roman pharos and the church being within the palisade
that surrounded the top of the great mound on which
they stood. By about the time of Henry I. masonry
seems to have been gradually substituted for these
defensive works, and an additional enclosure was
made, surrounded by a stone wall having numerous
towers, constituting an enlarged or a second bailey,
extending round the east, north, and west fronts. All
these towers (except the Constable's tower, re-built
between 1278 and 1299), from that of Peverel on
the west to Godwin on the east front, are of Norman
work, or rest on Norman foundations. These works V/

sustained one siege in 1137, during the reign of Stephen,
and this may have revealed the weakness of their
design, for during the reign of Henry II. numerous
entries (beginning in 1 1 68) upon the great Roll of the
Pipe testify to extensive preparations then in progress
for works so vast that commencing in 1 1 82, they were
not completed until 1188. During this period, the exterior
defences were remodelled and improved, a new citadel, or
cingulum, with a ring of towers, was built, occupying a
site in the outer or second bailey, but impinging on the
first or inner bailey to such an extent that portions of its
defences were removed to make room for the new work ;
within the citadel was built the great Keep, measuring

1 Freeman, Norman Conquest, vol. iii., p. 273; Saxon Chronicle, "Hi
Worhton Castel aet Hastinga Port, 1066," p. 338 ; The Bayeux Tapestry^
Fowke, pp. 108, no, and plates Iii., liii.

164 Memorials of Old Kent

98 feet by 96 feet (exclusive of its forebuilding), and the
third largest of its kind in England. The cost of these
immense works (including the preliminary preparations,
transport of stone, and other building materials) amounted
to the enormous sum of £^,j(}^ 17s. 8d. During the
second constableship of Hubert de Burgh, the castle
underwent its famous siege by the Dauphin Louis of
France and the insurgent English barons which is so
graphically described in the Chronicle by Roger of Wend-
over, from whom we learn that the siege began on June
24th, 1 2 16, the attacks being made by projectile engines,
aided by battering rams, and mining, chiefly directed
against the north-west angle of the defences, the sole
point affording sufficient level ground without the walls
for the erection of siege towers and the working of the
various engines. The siege proved abortive, and was
raised shortly after the demise of King John, having lasted
a little over four months. Matthew Paris, another chroni-
cler, called Dover " the very front door of England," and
King Philip Augustus seems to have also regarded it in
this light, for having enquired if his son Louis had taken
Dover Castle, and being answered " Not yet " — " Then,"
said he, " my son holds nothing in England." The lesson
taught by the siege appears to have disclosed the need of
an additional defensive work to command the plateau
on the north, and a great redoubt was constructed,
projecting like a vast spur from the north front,
enclosed by a high wall, strengthened with numerous
towers, having in the centre of its rear face a
tower (of which the basement storey still remains
partly buried in a modern bastion that occupies the
site of the ancient spur work), known as St. John's,
that communicated by a bridge with the Magminot tower
of the outer ward, and b}^ a subterranean passage
(which still exists) excavated in the solid chalk, with
the citadel surrounding the keep. These extensions
were carried out under the supervision of Hubert de

Some Kentish Castles 165

Burgh, between 1220 and 1239, at a great expense,
partly defrayed by the Scutage of Kent and other
onerous exactions and taxes. At the same time the
eastern and western flanks of the castle were secured by
walls, having towers at frequent intervals, extending from
the Peverel and Godwin towers, respectively, to the edge
of the cliff. In 1371, extensui^ repairs were effected, and
during the reign of Edward---P'^ the Clopton tower was
re-built, and, according to Lcimbarde,^ a sum of ;£^ 10,000
was expended in placing the castle in a thorough state of
repair throughout. The works executed by Henry VIII.
and his successors being designed for modern fire artillery
do not fall within the limits of this description. The
rapid advance of Duke William upon Dover immediately
after Senlac, instead of London, shows the value he
attached to its possession, which does not appear to have
diminished, his successors having, in the feeling words
of the old chronicler, " ever regarded it as the * Clavis et
repagulum Angliae.' "

CANTERBURY CASTLE (ChieO

As at Rochester, there were at Canterbury two suc-
cessive castles, entirely different in type. The first one
was the work of Duke William, and of the usual " mount
and bailey " pattern. It was raised on a site almost
entirely without the line of the present wall and ditch,
which are of much later date, and opposite to the sham
mound known as the Dane John (erroneously supposed
by some authorities to have been its keep). In 1789
this mound was a low hillock, not rising to the height of
the rampart walk (exactly as it is depicted in the earliest
known plan of Canterbury,- by Hoefnagel. in 1562).^
When the waste place, now the Dane John gardens, was

1 Perambulation of Kent, William Lambarde, p. 142 in the 1826 reprint
of the original book of 1570.

2 Archaologia Cantiana, vol. xxv., pp. 250, 254.
S See pp. 212-214.

i66 Memorials of Old Kent

levelled, and laid out as a pleasure ground, this hillock,
by paring its shapeless sides, and heaping up the material
so gained, was erected into its present absurd shape ; at
no period was it large or lofty enough to have formed
the mount of the castle. Although William, after his
coronation, subsequently planted a castle within the walls
of almost every city of importance, as at York and Win-
chester, there was in the present instance an excellent
reason why this castle- — the first of his works actually
abutting upon a town — should yet be erected without the
city limits, so that opposition should not be unduly
excited by its novelty. During his stay at or near Canter-
bury for about a month, Duke William was merely a
successful invader ; the prestige which subsequently
attached to him as a crowned King was still to be attained,
and it was no part of his shrewd policy to arouse unneces-
sary opposition to his schemes. Another reason which
renders it impossible that his castle should have been
within the lines of the present city walls is, that from the
Roman period down to that under discussion, this portion
of the present city, extending from Wincheap to Riding
Gate, was then a morass, into which all the refuse of the
city was cast, traversed by a channel, which, in the early
mediaeval period, was known as the Black Dyke. During
excavations in connection with the drainage works, in
1 868,1 the ancient Roman road was discovered some three
feet below the surface near Riding Gate, and along its
south-western side, at a depth of 14 feet, was much black
vegetable mould, oyster shells, charcoal, ashes, and much
broken pottery ; the bottom of this deposit was not
reached, showing that it extends to a far greater depth.
Where (as in the present instance) such deposits are
found along a continuous line, it is a proof of the exist-
ence of an early ditch outside a wall, from the practice
common in mediaeval times of throwing broken pottery
and rubbish over the wall into the ditch, as the readiest

'^ ArchcEologia, vol. xliii., p. 151.

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Some Kentish Castles 167

way to dispose of it. The present walls have nothing
to do with those enclosing Roman Canterbury, which was
of much less extent than the later Saxon city, as that was
in its turn than the later mediaeval one. The Roman city
wall extended from a point on the river bank a little to
the South of Beer Cart Lane (the old Watling Street), in
an easterly direction till turning northwards, and passing
near the south-west angle of the present cathedral,
it returned to the river bank at a point a little to the
south of St. Alphege's Lane. The river was its defence
all along the western side, and the great island between
the two branches of the Stour was then a wide pool,
forming a harbour accessible to the light draught
shipping of the period. The Roman walls were found
at various points during the excavations of 1868, and in
many places within the present medieval wall, but outside
the Roman one, cinerary urns have been found from
time to time, and as by the law of the twelve tables a
dead body may not be burned or buried within the
limits of the city, we are thus enabled to define with
sufficient exactitude those of Roman Canterbury. The
first Castle of Canterbury is indirectly mentioned in
Domesday, in connection with an exchange of land.
Eleven houses having been destroyed in making the castle
ditch, the King gave the Archbishop seven, and the
Abbot of St. Augustine's fourteen houses, for land re-
quired and taken as a site for the castle. Somner,
writing in 1640, tells us that this castle, with an extent
of about three acres, was outside the earthen bank, which,
in the pre-Conquest period, defended the city ; only when
the present walls and ditch were made was a small por-
tion of its bailey cut through, and left within them as a
low hillock. Upon the building of the new castle, and
the alteration of the line of the city defences upon this
side by Henry II., between 1166-1174,^ the great

1 Leland, writing in the time of Henry VIH., speaks of the great
mound of Bourne Castle in Lincolnshire as " The Dungeon Hill."

1 68 Memorials of Old Kent

mound^ was reduced in height and the ditch filled up (as at
Allington), it and the rest of the castle bailey became
the property of a family named Chiche, and was known
as the Manor of the Dungeon- from the reign of Henry II.
down to that of Edward IV.; the partially slighted
earthworks remaining almost unaltered until, in i860,
they were swept away by the alterations that took place
on the construction of the L.C.D.R. in order to form a
site for the new station. The Pipe Roll of 1168 contains
an entry of a payment to Adeliza Fitz Simon, which
continues in the following years, of five shillings for the
exchange of her land, which is in the Castle of Canter-
bury. This refers to land taken for the erection of the
new castle by Henry II. on a new site, rendered necessary
by an addition already made to the defences of the city,
which had impaired the strength and utility of the old
"mount and bailey" castle. Between 1166 and 1173, a
series of payments appear upon the Pipe Rolls, amounting
to about £'^0, for making a gate and enclosing the city
of Canterbury ; this probably refers to the incorporation
with the earlier works of a triangular-shaped area,
extending from about Wincheap Gap to Riding Gate,
the salient angle being at the point where the present
conical mound (to which the name of the Dane John has
been transferred) now stands. A wide ditch, and a bank
with a timber palisade, and probably a wooden gate,
served to enclose the additional area. Much needless
confusion has been caused by various modern writers
upon Canterbury from their not having seen the site of
the earlier castle prior to the making of the railway, and
from a want of knowledge of the early maps and plans
of the city, they have been so far led astray by the pre-
sent sham mound, yclept the Dane John, as to have

1 This is always spoken of by all the early writers on Canterbury as
" The Dungeon Hill " long before the present Dane John Hill was in
existence.

2 Leland, writing in the time of Henry VIIL, speaks of it as " wher
now by the Castell the eminent Dungeon hill riseth."

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Some Kentish Castles 169

seriously taken it for the mount of the earlier castle,
utterly regardless of the fact that it had no existence
before 1790, prior to which there was nothing at that
point save a low hillock (formerly a portion of the
earthen bailey), which did not overtop the later stone
wall erected between 1215-1225. How greatly the level
of the ground has changed along the southern and east-
ern face of the wall is shown by the fact that as late as
1562 the water from the Stour was admitted by a narrow
channel (part of which is still in existence near St.
Mildred's Church) into the city ditch, and, flowing by the
postern. Worth, or Wincheap, Riding, Newing, Bur,
Ouenin, and North gates, discharged into the river again
at the point where the Abbot's Mill stood, then known
as " the Water Lock." The great keep of Henry II. was,
as usual, built upon an entirely different site some distance
to the west of the former castle, and close to the river.
Although the entries in the Pipe Roll are by no means
so extensive as those relating to Dover, they suffice to
enable us to say that it was finished before 11 74. It is
only exceeded in size by the keeps of Colchester, London,
Dover, Norwich, Bristol, and Duffield, of which the last
two are no longer in existence. The upper storey was
pulled down in 181 7, when the rest of it had a narrow
escape of sharing the same fate ; externally it measures
88 feet by 80 feet, and is now reduced to about 45 feet
in height ; it was enclosed by a ditch and a wall with
several towers, and had its own gate to the city, and a
barbican on its eastern side. The area enclosed in its
bailey extended from a point near St. Mildred's Church
to Wincheap Gap, and on the city side the gate stood
about the spot where in the modern Castle Street is the
entrance to the gasworks. Much nonsense has been
written about the so-called " Roman " Worthgate, and it
has been confused by several writers with the Wincheap
gate, but although it is possible that some Roman build-
ing, of which the arch was a part, once stood at this

I/O Memorials of Old Kent

point, it was far beyond the limits of the Roman city
boundary, and the wall in which it was embodied was
not erected, from the evidence of the Close Rolls, until
121 5-1225, consequently the theories of the writers in
question do not rest on a stable foundation of fact. The
plans of the keep (fortunately preserved)^ show that it
resembled several of the other rectangular keeps belong-
ing to the same period. Originally it was of four storeys,
and was internally sub-divided by tv/o cross walls, in one
of which (as at Rochester) was the well-pipe ascending
to the now destroyed top storey ; the great hall was on
the third storey, and was lighted by large windows, the
others below having only narrow loops. The walls are
about 1 1 feet in thickness, and are of rough flint and
rubble masonry, with dressed Caen stone strings and
quoins ; at each angle were broad pilaster buttresses with
lesser ones between, two on the wider and one on the
narrower front ; the battering plinth is now nearly buried
by the raising of the ground level, and the forebuilding
(which was on the north-west side) is completely
destroyed. The history of the new castle after its com-
pletion appears to have been of the most uneventful
nature, although from its situation on the great road
running from the coast to London it retained some
measure of importance for a considerable period. In
12 16, both city and castle were surrendered without any
siege to the Dauphin Louis of France, and during the
reign of Henry III., Hubert de Burgh had it in his keep-
ing. In 21 Edward I., 1293, some portion of it was used
as a prison, and at a later date served as the principal
gaol of the county, until, in 1577, this was removed to
the West gate. The castle being a royal one, was doubt-
less, like the Tower of London, used as a place of safe
keeping for the King's prisoners.^ There is a curious

'^ ArchcEologia, vol. iv., pp. 390, 392; vol. vi., pp.298, 310.

2 In 5 El ward II., 1312, W^illiam de la More, Master of the Knights
Templars in England, was (according to Rymer's Fadera, vol. iii., p. 83)
imprisoned in the Castle of Canterbury under the jurisdiction of the
Sheriff of Kent upon the suppression of that Order.

Some Kentish Castles 171

entry on the Crown Roll of Edward II., concerning the
escape from custody of Walter de Wedering, and Martin-
at-Gate de Lamberhurst.^ " These prisoners of our Lord
the King sat bound in a certain place called the Barbican,
nigh to the said castle, to beg their bread, and, on Shrove
Tuesday, they escaped and broke their bonds, and Walter
took sanctuary in the church of St. Mary de Castro, hard
by. He afterwards abjured the realm, but his comrade,
of his own accord, returned to his prison." In 4 Richard II.,
138 1, the city and castle of Canterbury were taken and
plundered by a party of rebels, led by one John Salos, of
Mailing, on their way to join in Wat Tyler's insurrection,
goods to the value of iJ^ 1,000 (more than twenty times the
value at the present day) being carried off. They broke
into the castle and liberated John Burgh, an approver,
Richard Derby, a convicted clerk, Agnes Jehyn, and Joan
Hancock, prisoners, whom they found fettered and
manacled within the said castle. They also imprisoned
William de Septvans, sheriff of Kent, and compelled him
to swear that he would deliver up all the rolls and writs
that were in his custody. The castle seems to have been
allowed to get into a dilapidated condition, for the Inquisi-
tion of 9 Edward III., 1336, discloses numerous defects
requiring to be niade good^r^^t continued to be used as
a prison down to the time of Elizabeth, when the gaol
was removed to the West gate. The castle was in the
hands of the Crown until in the latter part of the reign of
James I. it was granted to a Mr. Watson, by whose descen-
dants it was sold, and has since passed through the
hands of divers owners. From 1577 it was neglected
and allowed to go to decay ; the outer walls were in a
ruinous state, much of them being pulled down about 1770,
and in 1 792 the remainder was demolished. The ditch was
filled up, and houses were built on the site ; part of it was
discovered during the erection of the present gas works.
The castle has had a chequered career, commencing as a

Somner's Antiquities of Canterbury, p. 35.

172 Memorials of Old Kent

royal residence, then a prison, next a ruin, then the pump-
ing station of a waterworks, at which time the interior of
the keep was gutted and the ornamental stonework torn
out, leaving nothing but the rubble walls, and finally, to
the everlasting disgrace of the city of Canterbury, it has
suffered the further degradation of serving as the coal
store-shed of the adjacent gas company. In 1817 an
attempt was made to pull it down altogether, but was dis-
continued after the battlements and the top storey of the
four had been removed. When the coal in store is at a
low ebb, the remains of the staircases, well-pipe, and the
commencement of the cross walls are still distinguishable.

ROCHESTER CASTLE (Chief)

Here, as at Canterbury, there were two castles of
different dates, on sites not very far apart. While
Domesday Book does not record any extensive destruc-
tion of houses in order to clear a site for the new castle,
such as are mentioned elsewhere, it states that the Bishop
of Rochester received as much land at Aylesford as was
worth 1 7s. 4d., " in exchange for the land in which sits
the castle of Rochester." When marching upon London,
Duke William does not appear to have made a prolonged
halt at Rochester, as at Dover and Canterbury, but the
advantages of the site could not have escaped his keen
eye, and there is little doubt that the erection of the castle
may be dated from soon after his coronation. Advantage
was taken of a small natural hill, situated near the south-
west angle of the Roman castrum, and at some little
distance outside its walls. This, with the aid of the
deblai excavated from the ditches surrounding the new
castle, was so increased in size as to serve for its mound,
which, though shorn of some portion of its height and size,
still survives, crowned by a modern summer-house in the
grounds attached to Satis House ; its medieval name of
" Boley " hill may be a corruption of Bailey hill. There

Some Kentish Castles 173

is no room for doubt that on this site was erected the
" mount and bailey " castle of the Conqueror. Its nature,
position, and size agree in all respects with what has
been already observed as characteristic of the first castles
of the Conquest. We learn from the Textus Roffetisis^
that between the years 1097 and 1089, Gundulf, Bishop
of Rochester, built a new stone^ castle for William Rufus,
in the better part of the city of Rochester, and this was
erected upon a different site within the Roman city wall,
and (with the exception of its rectangular keep, built in
the next reign) was substantially the castle bounded by
the outer walls that still remain. The old Castle con-
taining the Boley Hill was included (as an outer bailey) in
Gundulf's plan, for the new castle ditch was cut through
the Roman wall, near the south gate of the city, in such
a way as to combine with that of the earlier castle. On
the demise of the Conqueror in 1087, Bishop Odo seized
upon the old castle, and held it for Duke Robert, William
Rufus (who whatever his faults were, was almost as great
a captain as his father) promptly blockaded both city and
castle until, under the pressure of famine and pestilence,
both were surrendered, and Odo was finally banished from
the realm. This — the first of the sieges of Rochester —
formed a conspicuous incident in a period of great mili-
tary activity, and is worthy of more notice than has been
given it by the contemporary chroniclers. Upon its
termination, Gundulf seems to have commenced to build
the new castle, an irregular polygon of a somewhat
lozenge shape, with rounded angles, enclosed by a thick
and lofty wall of the rudest rubble masonry, laid herring-
bone fashion, which, as the execution of the work called
for no great skill, enabled it to be rapidly completed.
It was surrounded by a wide and deep ditch that separated
it from the city, and, like the castle of Pevensey, advan-
tage was taken of the earlier Roman works, which were

"^Textus Rofensis, p. 145, "In pulchriore parte civitatis Hrouecestre."
"ilbid., p. 146, " Castrum sibi Hrofense lapideum de suo construeret."

174 Memorials of Old Kent

utilised to form its western and southern walls. The
castle thus constructed seems to have remained in the
King's hands for thirty-six years, when in 1126, Henry I.
granted "to Archbishop William de Corboil, and his
successors, the custody and constableship of the castle of
Rochester, with permission to make such a defence, or
tower, within it as he liked." The continuator of the
chronicler, Florence, tells us that the Archbishop built
in consequence a handsome tower, " egregiam turrim,"
which is the existing rectangular keep. William died in
1 139, between which date and 1126 the keep was there-
fore built. The new keep has from its great height an
appearance of being larger than is really the case ; it
measures 70 feet square exclusive of its forebuilding, and
is 1 1 3 feet in height from the -present ground level. The
walls are 12 feet thick at the base and 10 feet at the
summit, the reduction being made by a slight external
batter (as at London); the great thickness of the wall is
intended to allow of an unusual number of mural
chambers and galleries. Rochester is by no means one of
the largest of its kind, being exceeded in size by the keeps
of Colchester, London, Dover, Norwich, Bristol, Duffield
(in Derbyshire), Canterbury, Middleham, Kenilworth,
Bowes, Lancaster, Castle Cary (in Somersetshire), and the
Peel of Fouldrey, near Barrow-in-Furness. Both in
design and external appearance it resembles the keep of
Castle Hedingham in Essex, which belongs to the same
period. There are flat pilasters at the angles, and one
in the centre of each face. After the siege in 12 15, the
southern angle was rebuilt, and strengthened by a
projecting rounded buttress. There is the usual central
partition wall dividing the interior, the well pipe rising
in it to the roof, with an opening on each floor for drawing
water. A newel staircase in the north-east corner ascends
from the basement to the battlements, serving all the
floors, which were of wood throughout, the two lowest
being lighted by loops only. The great hall was on the
third floor, and was lighted by two tiers of large windows,

RocnEsiEK Castle: The Keep.

Some Kentish Castles 175

the upper ones communicating with each other by means
of a gallery in the thickness of the wall (as at Newcastle-
on-Tyne and Hedingham). Originally the hall was
probably covered by a hipped roof sunk below the battle-
ments ; at a later period the central wall was raised, and
a flat roof covered with lead at the level of the rampart
walk replaced the earlier and lower roof, thus increasing
the accommodation of the keep by two large rooms. On
the north side is the forebuilding, approached by an in-
clined pathway, of which the outer wall is now destroyed ;
it contained a pit prison, a basement, a ground floor with
a bridge pit protecting the main entrance to the keep, and
a chapel on its upper storey. In the east front on the
first floor is a small postern, about 15 feet above the
ground, and 30 feet from the wall walk, with which
it was connected by a light wooden bridge. A similar
one existed in the keep of Newcastle-on-Tyne. In
12 1 5 the place was besieged for the second time
by King John, who, aided by a strong train of
military engines, reduced the castle after a siege
of three months' duration ; and, according to Roger of
Wendover, little harm was done to the keep by the pro-
jectile engines. Its capture was due to the efforts of the
miners who first breached the outer walls ; this resulted
in the capture of the baileys, the defenders being shut up
in the keep. They next undermined its south-eastern
angle, which fell, and brought down a large portion of the
walls; the keep then surrendered. In May, 12 16 (not
having been repaired), the castle was easily taken by Louis
the Dauphin, but on the death of John it was surrendered
to Henry III. This King, who was a great builder,
ordered the castle to be thoroughly repaired. The fallen
angle of the keep was rebuilt, and the line of the bailey
wall was altered, the wall being so rebuilt that instead
of the keep being upon the wall, it stood about 12 feet
within it; a new tower,^ about 30 feet diameter, capping

^ Archcelogia Cantiana, vol. xxi., pp. 30, 55, " Mediseval Rochester,"

176 Memorials of Old Kent

the angle of the wall, was built, the drawbridge and its
outwork beyond the ditch were repaired, also the gutters
of the hall in the keep, and some alterations were made
in the forebuilding. The bailey was divided by a cross wall
(now removed, which ran close to the north side of the
keep) into a small inner and a large outer ward. All these
repairs and alterations were carried out between 1216
and 1227, the Close Rolls containing numerous entries
relating to them. During the barons' wars, Rochester
was held for the King by Roger de Leybourne with a
strong garrison. Expecting an attack by Simon de Mont-
ford, he had amply provisioned the castle. The barons
laid siege to it just before Easter, and after a fruitless
blockade of a week retreated to join their leader, when
Roger with the bulk of his garrison joined the King in
time to share in the defeat of Lewes, on May 13 th, 1264.
This was followed by the surrender of the castle to the
barons, but after Evesham, Leybourne resumed his
governorship. In 1367 and 1368 extensive repairs were
^N] carried out by the order of Edward III., at a cost of more
than i^ 1, 200,1 but since that period the castle declined in
importance, as it played no part in the national history.
In 1 6 10 the castle was granted by James I. to Sir Anthony
Weldon, and fell gradually to decay, until in 1883 it was
purchased by the Corporation of Rochester, when it was
laid out as a public recreation ground, and in 1896- 1904
the keep was thoroughly repaired under the supervision
of the Society of Antiquaries.^

ALLINGTON CASTLE (Chief)'

At the time of the Domesday survey the manor of
Allington formed a part of the extensive possessions of
Odo, Bishop of Baieux. After his downfall it was

i Archezologza Cantiana, vol. ii., pp. 111-132, "The Fabric Roll of
Rochester Castle."

"2- Ibid., vol. xxvii., pp. 177-192.

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Some Kentish Castles

177

granted to William de Warenne, who was probably the
builder of a normal type " mount and bailey " castle here.
The position at that
time must have been
a strong one, and of
great importance,
being close to the
river Medvvay, of
which it commanded
the passage and the
fords, and also to
overawe the town of
Maidstone, which is
about two miles dis-
tant. This castle was
slighted in 21 Henry

II. (or 1 175), when an entry in the Pipe Roll records a
payment of 60 shillings to the Sheriff of Kent, " in proster-
rendo castelli de Alintone," which can only refer to the
overthrowing of the great mound of William de Warenne' s
castle. Towards the close of the reign of Henry III. the
manor had passed into the hands of Sir Stephen de
Penchester, Constable of Dover Castle, and Warden of
the Cinque Ports, to whom, and to his wife Margaret,
Edward I. in 1281 granted a licence to crenellated their
house of Alintone in Kent. Of the castle, as then recon-
structed, there remain the enceinte wall of an enclosure of
an irregular parallelogram form, having four D towers.

1 As the term " licence to crenellate " is somewhat obscure, and
will be of frequent occurrence, it may be as well to give a short
explanation of it here. The ordinary manor house of the early Middle
Ages was not furnished with any means of defence. Before it could
be fortified, or converted into a Castle, or a new castle be erected on its
site, the royal permission to do so had to be obtained, and from the ex-
pression used therein it is known as a licence to crenellate, and runs
generally as follows: — "Rex omnibus ballivis, et fidelibus suis ad quos,
etc., saiutem. Sciatis quod concessimus pro nobis et heredibus nostris
dilecto nobis Laurencio de Lodelawe quod ipse mansum suum de Stok
Say in comitatu Salop muro de petra, et cake, firmare et Kernellare, et
illud sic firmatum et Kernellatum tenere possit sibi et heredibus suis

N

178 Memorials of Old Kent

a gatehouse with a segmental pointed arch, and a chase
for a portculHs, opening between two sohd towers of a D
shape/ a part of its covering barbican, a range of lodg-
ings along the west side, and on the east side some
remains of the great hall, with the triple doorways in the
screens leading from the buttery, kitchen, and pantry.
The castle was surrounded by a ditch about 65 feet wide,
fed with water from the adjacent river ; that on the west
side may be all that remains of William de Warenne's
castle, the great mound of which was on the south side.
When it was levelled, the great ditches would be filled
up, and the banks thrown into them, as the readiest way
of disposing of the material. All that now remains of the
great mound is a low, grassy hummock, part of which has
been levelled and converted into a croquet lawn. From
de Penchester the manor passed to the de Cobhams,
Brents, and Wyatts, the second of whom, the celebrated
Sir Thomas, who died in 1542, was the author of the
famous anagram, Wyai^ a Wit, a courtier, and favourite
of Henry VIII. ; he was also a poet and statesman. His
son, the second Sir Thomas, having headed a rebellion in
1553 against the marriage of Queen Mary with that other
gloomy bigot, Philip of Spain, was, after its failure, tried
and executed for high treason, and his estates were
forfeited to the Crown. In 1569 Elizabeth granted them
to John Astley, Master of the Jewel House, in whose
family they remained until, in 1720, they were alienated

imperpetuum sine occasione nostri vel heredum nostrorum quorumcumque.
Incujus, etc., Teste Rege Edwardi, apud, Hereford XIX die Octobris
1291." Such is the form of licence for the building of Stokesay Castle
in Shropshire. To crenellate means to crown the summit of both walls
and towers with battlements having alternate solid portions (called
Merlons), having spaces or intervals between them called embrasures or
crenelles. In some instances the merlons themselves have V-shaped
openings, wide within, tapering to a narrow slit on the outer face, having
a steep downward rake, or slope commanding the base of a wall or tower
(as as Caernarvon Castle, North V^ales, and elsewhere), through which
archers could shoot without exposing themselves to an enemy.

1 These solid towers resemble those at Amberley Castle in Sussex, and
thoes of the great gate of Knaresborough Castle, Yorks.

Some Kentish Castles

179

to the family of Marsham, the head of which, Lord
Romney, is at present their owner. To Sir Henry Wyatt,
or his son, the first Sir Thomas, are probably due the
porch of the great hall, and several large windows inserted
in various parts, which have probably replaced small
and inconvenient loopholes of the earlier period. A
notable feature about the thirteenth century buildings is
the original^ brickwork forming part of the windows and
doorways ; the bricks, which are of a light colour, having
been made to fit the jambs in many places. The castle
underwent further alterations towards the close of the six-
teenth century, to which period may be assigned the drum
tower at the outer extremity of an enclosure on the north
front, between the castle and the river, of which only
this tower and portions of two thin walls now remain.
Allington was one of the seven chief castles of Kent.

BAYFORD CASTLE (Minor)

The site of this castle (now no longer in existence)
lies in the marshes, about half a mile north-east of Sitting-
bourne railway station ; nothing remains save a quad-
rangular enclosure about 250
feet square, now used as an
orchard, surrounded by a
moat about 30 feet wide,
filled with sea-water by a
branch leading up from
Milton Creek, which is about
315 yards distant. It does
not appear to have ever been
of much importance ; the
quadrangular island appears
to have been sub-divided
into two portions by a

1 Archeological Journal, vol. xii., Second Series, p. 183.

i8o Memorials of Old Kent

cross ditch, resembling (though on a much smaller scale)
the castle of Cowling, Kent, and that of Caistor, in
Norfolk. The manor of Goodneston, in which the castle
is situated, seems from a very early date to have formed
part of the extensive possessions of the great Kentish
family of de Leybourne ; it passed from them through the
families of de Nottingham, Cheney, and Lovelace. By the
close of the fifteenth century it had become a mere farm-
house, and is now known as Bayford Court. The principal
interest attaching to it is that, prior to the Norman Con-
quest, King Alfred is said to have thrown up a " geweorc "
here in 893, in order to repel the inroads of the Danes
under Bjorn laernside,^ who had formed an encampment
at a place called Milton, in Kemsley Downs, situated on
the opposite side of Milton Creek, close to where it enters
the Swale, about one and a half miles to the north of
Bayford Castle. This camp is now known as Castle
Rough, and consists of a quadrangular earthwork about
160 feet square, surrounded by a wet ditch ; on one side,
between it and the creek, is a large pool about two acres
in extent (now cut off from communication with the creek
by a modern embankment), which in the Saxon period
afforded a safe and commodious harbour for the ships of
the Danish invaders, where they might be left under the
protection of the adjacent camp, while the main body
was free to ravage the country round. Surrounded as it
was by marshes, it must have been impregnable to any
means of attack which could have been employed for its
capture at that time, save a prolonged blockade.

BINBURY CASTLE (Minor)

The manor of Binbury formed a portion of the
enormous holding of Odo of Baieux. After his forfeiture
it was granted to Gilbert de Magminot, to hold by Knight

^ Saxon Chronicle, p. 164; and Lappenberg's Anglo-Saxon Kings,
voL ii. (Ed. Bohn), p. 91.

Some Kentish Castles i8i

service tenure in capite, and afterwards passed, with the
adjacent manor of Thornham, to the de Northwodes, who
held it down to the time of Henry V. The sole incident
of note in its uneventful history occurred here during
the reign of Edward III, when Lady Alice de Northwode
was buried by a sudden landslip of the hill, and was
stifled before she could be extricated. The site of the
castle is about if miles north-east of Detling, and
1 1 miles north of the other and more important castle
of the de Northwodes at Thornham. It is on the
northern slope of the great chalk range (known as the
North Down), which rises here to its highest elevation
of 651 feet. Owing to its retired situation, remote from
main roads, the castle does not appear to have been of
much importance, and probably being an excellent
example of a Norman mount and bailey castle constructed
in earth and timber, it was allowed to go to decay when
Thornham became the chief seat of the de Northwodes.
In 20 Edward III., 1347, the manor contributed the sum V
of sixty shillings towards the aid for the knighting of
Edward the Black Prince.^ The remains of the castle are
scanty, and consist of a large mound, oval in shape
(having at the summit a long diameter of about 160 feet,
and a short one of 95 feet), which is surrounded by a
deep ditch about 60 feet wide. The mound has been
somewhat reduced in height, and its material used to fill
up the ditch enclosing the bailey, the site of which is
now occupied by the manor house of Binbury and its
farm buildings. The late G. T. Clark cites^ Binbury as
being " a small but very perfect example of a moated
mound," which is perfectly correct, but goes on to say
" such as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle calls a burh." This
last is, however, an absurd and now quite exploded theory
evolved by him, from his own imagination,^ and is, per se,

^ Archcsoiogia Caniiana, vol. x., p. 142, sub. "Bengebery."

2 /did., vol. XV., p. 344.

3 Arck. Jour., vol. Ix. " English Fortresses and Castles of the Tenth
and Eleventh Centuries," pp. 81 and 72-90.

1 82

Memorials of Old Kent

sufficient evidence that although Binbury was a moated
mound, it had nothing to do with the Saxons, and was
not one of their burhs, or burgs (by which was meant an
enclosed town), but an early Norman earth and timber
castle of the usual mount and bailey type.

COLEBRIDGE CASTLE (Minor)

Save for some wide and deep ditches and portions of
walls, now incorporated in a modern farmhouse, nothing
remains to show that a castle formerly stood here. The

<y-

COLEBRIOQE CaSTLE

\ V

\ s

ScAlc of Ft

site is a small plateau on the southern slope of the Quarry
hills which rise here to a height of about 350 feet, and in
the valley of one of the numerous small streams that unite
lower down the valley to form the little river Sherway,
which falls into the Beult at Headcorn. In the time of
Henry III. the manor of Colebridge was held by Fulco de
Peyforer, who, in 1267, was acting as King's Escheator
in Kent. In the following reign we find him obtaining
a grant of freewarren for his lands at Colebridge, and in
7 Edward II. (or 13 14) a "licence to crenellate " or
fortify " mansum suum de Colwebrigge Kane." The
family of Peyforer was of considerable eminence in the

Some Kentish Castles 183

county from earlier times, for we find Osbern Peyforer
mentioned in Domesday Book as a tenant of Bishop Odo
of Baieux,^ and the family seem to have held lands at
Barham, Buckland, Boughton Malherb, Wichling, Mid-
ley, Wittersham, and Luliingstone in Kent ; and also in
Bedfordshire. On the resumption of Odo's fiefs by his
nephew, they doubtless continued to hold their lands for
some time directly from the Crown, and afterwards from
the new grantee, probably one of those de Malherbs who
are recorded as holding that manor in 12 John (or 121 1),
and from whom the parish takes its name. Shortly after
the building of the castle we find it in the possession of /
the family of de Ley bourne, and on the decease, in 1367,
of Juliana de Leybourne, Countess of Huntingdon, this
with other manors in Kent were conveyed to the King
by the trustees of her will.^ On the accession of Richard II.
it became vested in John, Duke of Lancaster, and
other feoffees in trust, for the performance of certain
religious bequests under the will of Edward III, and
for the better observance thereof, we find Richard II., in
1398, granting this manor to the Dean and Canons of the
College of St. Stephen at Westminster, in whose hands
it continued down to the dissolution of the monasteries
in 1545. In 2 Edward VI. it was granted to Sir Edward
Wotton, from whom it passed by successive descents,
intermarriages, and sales through the families of the
Stanhopes, Earls of Chesterfield (by whom, in 1750, it
was sold to the Manns), to the family of Comwallis, the
present holders of the manor. Philipott states^ that the
manor of Boughton Malherb was, in 36 Edward III., in
the possession of one Robert Corbye, and that in that
year, 1363, he obtained the royal licence to crenellate the
manor house he had previously built there, and as there

^Kent Domesday Book, L. B. Larking, "Extension," p. 23, lines 15,
21.

2 For the will of this celebrated Kentish heiress see Archotologia
Cantiana, vol. i., pp. 1-8.

3 Philipott's Villare Cantianum, Second Edition, p. 90.

184 Memorials of Old Kent

is a tradition that the hewn stone and other materials of
the castle of Colebridge were made use of to build
Boughton Place it seems probable that the castle of
Colebridge was demolished about this date, which would
account for there being no mention of it in later times.
As far as can be traced the outer ward appears to have
been roughly triangular in shape, having sides about 450
feet in length, surrounded by a deep ditch or moat about
60 feet wide, supplied with water by a branch of the small
stream already mentioned. Save on the north-west, and
a portion of the north-east sides, the ditch is now filled up.
Within the outer ward was the inner one, placed not quite
in the centre of the triangle, also furnished with a deep
ditch 60 feet wide enclosing a rectangular parallelogram
80 by 170 feet; on this stands the modern farmhouse, and
the south-eastern portion of the outer ward is occupied
by the farm buildings. The manor of Boughton Malherb
(of which at that time Colebridge probably formed a part)
appears on the forfeiture of Bishop Odo to have been
granted to Eudo Dapifer, the builder of the great keep at
Colchester, and, subsequently, to have passed to the de
Leybournes, who held it down to the time of Edward II.
The triangular shape of the outer ward is so unusual, and
there being no signs of any earlier "mount and bailey" type
of castle having been constructed on this site, that I am
tempted to hazard a conjecture that this peculiarity may
have been due to that William de Leybourne,^ " vaillans
horns sans mes et sans si," who, in 1300, served under
Edward I. at the siege and capture^ of Caerlaverock
Castle in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. This castle is also
triangular in plan, having sides of 152 feet, and a base
of 171 feet long. William might, on his return home, have
advised his friend and connexion, Fulk de Peyforer, to
adopt this novel form of ground plan in building that

1 The Siege of Caerlaverock, Sir N. H. Nicholas, p. 44,

2 Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland, Macgibbon and
Ross, vol. i., pp. 127-136.

Some Kentish Castles 185

new house which he had just obtained the royal licence
to fortify.

EYNESFORD CASTLE (Minor)

The earliest mention of Eynesford is to be found in
the Textus Roffensis, which contains an account of a
lawsuit, about A.D. 970, between Leofsune and the monks
of Christchurch, in Canterbury, as to the ownership of
the place. This suit being- tried before the King's
judges (of whom Archbishop Dunstan appears to have
been one), terminated in favour of the Monks, for this
reason, at the time of the Domesday Survey the Manor
of Eynesford (or as it was then called Elesford)^ was
held of the Archbishop of Canterbury, by Knight Service ;
it was then so held by one Ralph Fitz Unspak (or
Uspak), and, judging by the valuation, the place was one
of some importance. There were two mills, and what
is more remarkable two churches^ (Dartford at that time
having only one church). The early history of the
place is then a blank until the reign of Henry II., when
we find a family bearing the same name as the place
seated there, one of whom, William de Eynesford, was
Sheriff of London, and a Tenant-in-Chief of the Crown
for other lands and manors. This William may be
considered as one of the links in a chain of circumstances
which terminated in the murder of Archbishop Thomas
a Becket. In 1163 we find the two in high dispute
about the patronage of the church of Eynesford,^ the
Archbishop having excommunicated his opponent because
he had unceremoniously ejected from the living of
Eynesford one Laurence, a priest to whom it had been

1 Not to be confounded with Aylesford on the Medway, then also called
Elesford.

2 Domesday Book of Kent, Extension, pp. 98, 1. 29, and 104, 1. 3.

3 According to Hasted, vol. ii., 2nd edition, p. 536, the grandfather of
AVilliam gave the church to the monks of Christchurch, Canterbury, upon
his taking the cowl there. For his grant see Register of Christchurch,
Canterbury, Cart., 1372.

1 86 Memorials of Old Kent

given by Becket, without observing the custom by which,
before inflicting spiritual censure on one of his tenants-
in-chief, he was required to give due notice to the King.^
Henry angrily bade him withdraw his sentence ; Thomas
indignantly refused, saying " it was not for the King to
dictate who should be bound or who loosed." This
answer, albeit correct, tended to still further embitter the
strained relations between the Crown and the Church,
which terminated in the awful tragedy of December 29th,
1 1 70. After the murder of the Archbishop, the popular
feeling ran so high against all who had been his enemies
that the holder of these estates was again excommuni-
cated, and, according to one writer, " owing to super-
stitious feeling, the castle was left untenanted, and let
to fall into decay." This, however, does not appear to
have been the case at Eynesford, as another of the family
was in possession of the manor and castle in 12 and 13
John, 1211,2 and they remained therein until the reign
of Edward I., when they passed into the great Kentish
family of Criol, and having been subject to many and
frequent changes of ownership, finally descended to the
family of Hart-Dyke, of Lullingstone, the present
possessor of them. The exact date of the erection of
this castle is not known. The outer wall was doubtless
the work of one of the first Norman holders, and may
be as early as William II. The rectangular keep, with
its forebuilding, was probably erected (like most of its
kind) between 11 54 and 11 89. No licence to crenellate
existing, nor any allusion thereto shows that the castle was
already in existence before the accession of Henry III.,
in whose reign these licences are first mentioned.
The site selected for the castle was admirably chosen,
it being low, marshy ground, abutting on the south bank
of the river Darent, which was utilized to supply with
water the wide moat that surrounded it, and commanding

1 R. Diceto (Stubbs), vol. i., p. 311. 2 Red Book of the Exchequer.

Some Kentish Castles 187

that ford or passage of the river from which the place
derives its name, to which ran a raised causeway, about
30 feet wide, passing close by the north side of the
moat. The ruins are extensive, but lacking in detail,
having suffered much damage about 1830, when the place
was fitted up to accommodate a pack of hounds, and
used as hunting stables. They consist of an outer wall
(much broken down), having two small breaches, and a
rectangular keep. The outer wall was about 30 feet
high, and 5 feet 4 inches thick, and is built of flint
rubble, having a slight external batter from the base of
about 8 inches. The absence of any projections, or
towers, may be adduced as a proof that it is of early
Norman date. In shape it forms an irregular oval
polygon, of twenty unequal sides, enclosing about three-
quarters of an acre. The original entrance was on the
north-east, about 25 feet above the moat, having stone
corbels without, which served to support a wooden
bridge across it. There was another entrance at the
south end, and on the north an arched recess in the
wall below the rampart walk which would seem to have
been the window of an earlier great hall, removed when
the later keep was erected ; probably the various
domestic buildings formed a series of sheds, with roofs
leaning to the walls, extending round the northern and
western sides as least exposed to attack. The moat on
the north side was about 30 feet in width, but is now,
by filling up, nearly obliterated on the other sides. The
keep is a rectangular building, also of flint rubble
masonry, interspersed with Roman bricks, having walls
varying in thickness from 5 to 7 feet 6 inches.
Externally it measures 7i feet 6 inches in length by
39 feet 3 inches in breadth, and is divided into two
unequal compartments by a cross wall 2 feet
10 inches thick. There was a large forebuilding which
served to protect the original entrance ; this extended
along the southern face of the keep for about 55 feet,

1 88 Memorials of Old Kent

and varied in width from i8 feet lo inches to 26 feet
2 inches ; only the foundations of it now remain.
The walls of the keep itself, which was probably about
70 feet in height, have been destroyed, with the excep-
tion of about 10 to 17 feet above the ground level. There
was a newel stair 5 feet 8 inches diameter in the north-
wall, extending upwards from the ground floor in the
north-west angle of the larger room. In the smaller are
remains of what appears to be an original fireplace in
the south wall, and in the north-west angle is a door
leading to a flight of steps affording access to a small
garde-robe in the north wall. It does not appear that
any traces of a cross wall dividing the bailey were
observed (or indeed sought for) at the time of the
excavations in 1835 ; if there were such, it might have
been looked for between the two breaches in the east
wall, where is now the modern entrance, and the west
wall opposite thereto. The size of the keep is, for a
minor castle, considerable, and is only exceeded (in
Kent) by those of Dover, Canterbury, and Rochester,
to which last, indeed, it bears some resemblance, and,
like it, may have been the work of Archbishop William
de Corbeuil, who died in 1139. The keep is placed
in the centre of the north front ; with a view of
strengthening this — the weakest face of the external
defences, which is overlooked and commanded — the
distance from the outer wall varies, owing to its
curvature, between 9 and 23 feet. The level of the
bailey was about 6 feet above that of the meadow-land
without, which was formerly on the southern half of the
defences little better than a wide morass, that materially
added to the difficulty of attacking that front of the castle.^
There was formerly another manor in Eynesford, called
" Orkesden " (now, by corruption, Austin lodge), which

1 For a detailed account of the excavations at the Castle, see Archaologia,
vol. xxvii., 1838, Appendix, pp. 391-397.

Some Kentish Castles 189

in 15 Edward III., or 1342, was in the possession
of Reginald de Cobham, who in that year obtained a
licence to crenellate his house there, but it does not
appear to have been a place of any importance, and,
like its larger neighbour, passed in the eighteenth
century into the possession of the family of Hart-Dyke.

NEWENDEN-CASTLE TOLL (Minor)

It has been erroneously supposed by the majority of
the historians of Kent that this place was the site of the
famous city of Anderida, and much distorted evidence has
been adduced by them in support of their mistaken
theories. These rest, however, for the most part, upon the
evidence of a camp upon the supposed site, and its proxi-
mity to the river Rother, then, as now, a tidal stream.^
Before proceeding to describe the remains, let us take a
brief glance at the facts as they really exist. In the first
place Castle Toll is not placed upon the bank of the
Rother, but is more than half a mile distant therefrom,
nor is there any reason to suppose that the river has,
in this part of its course, ever changed its present channel,
despite its various divagations at points nearer to the
sea. Castle Toll is situated close to the Hexden
(or Haydon) channel, which formerly supplied its moat
with water. This is a small stream which, rising some
nine miles away, near Flimwell, flows into the Rother
about one and a half miles below Castle Toll, near a
place called Maytham Wharf, about three quarters of
a mile below the spot at which the remains of the
ancient ship were discovered in 1823. This ancient
vessel was 64 feet in length by 15 feet beam, and 9 feet
depth, and when discovered was buried over 10 feet
below the surface in sea sand and mud. It is supposed

1 The tide still flows to a little above Bodiam Bridge, four miles beyond
Newenden, and fifteen miles from the sea at Rye Harbour.

2 Archaologia, vol. xx., O.S., p. 553.

I go Memorials of Old Kent

to have been cast away in the great storm of 1287,
when Old Winchelsea was overwhelmed, and the very-
course of the Rother was completely changed.^ At a
time when transport by road was so difficult by the
miry and frequently impassable trackways leading
through the forest of the Weald, the river afforded an
easy and expeditious access to this part of Kent from
the coast, and it must be borne in mind that from Saxon
times down to the close of the Middle Ages the Rother
had a channel (then much deeper, both from the scour
of the tide and the greater volume of fresh water)
which was navigable by vessels with an even greater
draught of water and of larger size than that already
indicated. In 1879 the place was visited by that
eminent archaeologist, Mr. C. Roach Smith, who thus
expresses his opinion : —

I deny the possibility of these earthworks having been a Roman
station, and much less a permanent one, such as Anderida must have
been. Excavations on the site yielded no trace of pottery, coins, or building
material, nor has anything of the kind been ever found near this place.
My contention is, that even if the Newenden earthworks had been of
a far more important kind than they really are, they could never have
sheltered Roman soldiers in winter quarters, and had they ever occupied
this position for any length of time there would have been abundant
vestiges of their sojourn. — Arch. Cant., vol. xiii., pp. 489, 491.

Since these lines were penned by Mr. Roach Smith,
traces of Roman occupation have been found within
the Weald at three points, all within a few miles distance
of Castle Toll, to which it was previously supposed
they had not penetrated. A quantity of Roman cinerary
urns were found at a point about one and a quarter miles
north of Biddenden ; a Roman urn Mrith ashes and some
coins were found near Reading hill, in Tenterden ; and
a fine bronze vase at the foot of Rolvenden hill, near

1 See map in History of the Weald oj Kent, by Robert Furley, F.S.A.,
vol. ii., part i., p. 251.

Some Kentish Castles 191

the New Mills channel valley, at a point about two
miles distant from Castle Toll. The earthworks are
of two periods — a pre-Conquest one, which, while it
may have been of Roman, or Romano-British origin, is,
I think, more probably a defensive work thrown up by a
body of Saxon or Danish invaders to protect their
shipping, and possibly to form an encampment for the
winter, while raiding the surrounding country in a
methodical and leisurely manner. This camp, of which
a portion has been destroyed, was an irregular enclosure
of about 18^ acres, roughly triangular in shape, and
surrounded by a wet ditch 65 feet in width. Its extreme
length (including the destroyed portion at the apex)
measures 1,450 feet, and the breadth at the base
measures 670 feet. It is thus considerably larger than
the late Roman Castrum at Pevensey, which measures
975 feet from East to West, and 525 feet from North
to South. In the pre-Conquest period, the Hexden
channel stream may have, and probably had, sufficient
depth of water to float a hght draught Saxon or
Danish ship. Within the area of the pre-Conquest
earthwork a Norman castle of the usual type has been
subsequently erected, the mound of which has given the
place its name of Castle Toll.^ The castle has been
placed across the upper portion of the triangular
enclosure, the apex of which has been destroyed to
furnish material for its mound ; this at the top is now
65 feet and at the base about 125 feet in diameter, and
was surrounded by its own ditch, of which traces remain.
The mound stands at one corner of a rectangular bailey,
having an area of about if acres with well-rounded
corners, which measures 210 feet by 250 feet, and is
surrounded by a ditch 70 feet in width (formerly supplied
with water from the Hexden stream), having an external

IToll, being a Kentish word (now obsolescent), usually applied to
a clump, or row of tall trees, and by analogy to a low hill, or mound,
forming a conspicuous landmark.

192 Memorials of Old Kent

raised bank. The situation is admirably chosen, the
castle occupying a knoll of land now elevated some
14 feet above the surrounding marshes, which here are
only about 1 1 feet above sea level, and in the early
post-Conquest period it must have been well-nigh
impregnable as it lies out in the marshes some one and
a quarter miles to the north-east of Newenden church.
Some years ago the owner of the manor of Lossenham
had a cutting made completely through the great
mound^ to its base, when it was found to consist simply
of layers of earth piled one upon the other, and no traces
of any remains were discovered. Dr. Plot, who visited
the place in 1693,- states that even then "the banks
were very lofty," and that he was informed by an old
countryman, who had often ploughed over the site,
that in his own time both mound and banks were
become some four feet lower than when first he knew
the place. If this be taken as a measure of the rate of
waste in the lifetime of one man, what, therefore, must
have been the denudation when spread over a term
measured, not by years, but by centuries ? The marvel
is that so much has survived comparatively uninjured
down to our own time. At the compilation of Domesday
Book " Newedene," as it was then called, was held by the
Archbishop of Canterbury (to whose other manor of
Saltwood it had been attached during the reign of Edward
the Confessor), and his successors continued to do so
until 31 Henry VIII., 1540, when it was conveyed to the
Crown by Thomas Cranmer, in exchange for other
estates elsewhere. The manor of Lossenham, on the hill
above Newenden village (of which Castle Toll is now
a part), was at the time of the Survey held by the family
of FitzAucher, and in 26 Henry III, 1241, one of them
founded there a Priory of Carmelites, of which nothing
now survives but a portion of a moat, the last remains

1 Arch. Cant., vol. xiii., p. 490. 2 Harris's History of Kent, p. 215.

Some Kentish Castles 193

of the foundations of both church and monastic buildings
having been grubbed up to mend roads with many years
since! In the Hundred Roll of Kent, i Edward I.,
1272, the lord Ralph de Seyntleger is recorded to have
held " the fourth part of a Knight's fee at Lossenham,
in Newenden, of ' our Lord the King,' but the town of
Newenden is now in the hand of the Lord Richard de
Waleys, who wrongfully takes a toll of sixpence there
from all boats passing, and, moreover, he claims the
right of a gallows, with the assize of bread and ale there,
and this by the liberty of the Archbishop."^ King
Edward 1. had a seat at Newenden (possibly this castle
of which FitzAucher may have been the Castellan). He
was there hunting in 1299, 1300, 1302 and 1304, or, if
the Castle were then in the Archbishop's manor, de
Waleys may have served in that capacity to His Grace. y

In 20 Edward III, 1347, Henry FitzAucher paid for ^/
one-fourth of a Knight's Fee in Lossenham — ten shillings
to the Aid for Knighting the Black Prince. There is
no recorded date for the construction of the castle, which,
however, must have been built soon after the Norman
Conquest, nor when it was allowed to go to ruin.

SISSINGHURST CASTLE (Minor)

Strictly speaking this was not a proper castle, but a
defensible quadrangular manor house such as Old Brock-
hill, Hever, and Ightham Mote — of this nothing now
remains except stone foundations of its outer walls, and
a portion of the moat on the eastern and southern sides.
At the close of the reign of Henry VII. the manor was
sold to Thomas Baker, whose grandson, Sir John Baker,
was Speaker of the House of Commons, and under Queen

IBy this IS meant what is known as " High," as opposed to " Middle
and Low " Justice, and carries with it the power not merely to fine
and imprison, but to inflict the death penahy.

O

194 Memorials of Old Kent

Mary played a prominent part in the burning of the
Kentish Martyrs at Cranbrook and Canterbury. The old
house (then very ruinous) was pulled down by him, and
a new half-timbered one built, with a lofty three-storey
gatehouse of brick, having stair turrets at the angles ; his
son. Sir Richard Baker, entertained Queen Elizabeth here
in 1573, on her return from Rye. Subsequently the estate
passed to the Manns of Biddenden, whose friend, Horace
Walpole, visited the place in 1752, when he wrote: "The
park is in ruins, and the house is in ten times greater
ruins, for the back of it is but lath and plaster, hence its
speedy decay." Shortly afterwards it was used as a place
of detention for French prisoners of war, and more
recently as a parish poor house. It is now a farm, and
the site of the castle is an orchard.

STOCKBURY CASTLE (Minor)

The history of this castle closely resembles that of
Binbury, for, as there, the manor was originally part of
the vast Kentish possessions of Bishop Odo ; but upon
their forfeiture it passed to the family of Auberville, who
held it by the usual knight service tenure. William de
Auberville in 4 Richard I., 1192, founded the priory of
West Langdon, near Dover. His granddaughter Joan
carried the estate by marriage to Nicholas de Criol, who
for his good service at the siege of Caerlaverock Castle,
Scotland, was created a Knight Banneret in 28 Edward I.,
1300, and it remained in his family down to 38 Henry VI.,
^^1460. In 20 Edward III., 1347, the manor contributed
an aid of seventy shillings towards the Knighting of
Edward the Black Prince.^ The site of the castle is to
the east of the village, which lies on the northern slope
of the great chalk range of the North Downs (here
371 feet above sea level) near what was probably an

l Arch. Cant., vol. x., p. 142, sub. " Stokebery."

Some Kentish Castles 195

ancient Roman road^ between Maidstone and a place
now called Key Street, near Sittingbourne, upon the
Watling Street, from which last-named town it is about
four and a quarter miles distant. Although the great
mound has been improved away, and one-half of its ditch
filled up, that of the crescent-shaped inner bailey is nearly
perfect. Both are about 50 feet in width, the mound
being probably about 220 feet in diameter at the base?
Like Richard's Castle, in Herefordshire, and that of
Earl's Barton, in Northamptonshire, it has the peculiarity
of having a church^ situated close to the bailey, or in
this instance in what may have been an outer bailey, part
of the ditch of which is preserved in a sunk road leading
to a now disused gravel pit. The mound itself (and the
inner bailey) has been levelled, and the site is now occu-
pied by the house and outbuildings of Church Farm.
The castle was of the usual " mount and bailey " type,
but owing to the Criols having their principal seat at
Westenhanger, Stockbury was allowed to go to ruin,
probably about the end of the reign of Henry III.

SUTTON VALENCE CASTLE (Minor)

This is a small castle situated on a spur of the Quarry
Hills (so called from their rag-stone beds). It com-
manded the road from Maidstone to Rye, and Old
Winchelsea. By whom or when the keep was erected is a
matter for conjecture, as no architectural detail remains,
but like others of its kind it was probably built during
the reign of Henry II. The keep of Peak Castle, in
Derbyshire (which is smaller than this), was built in

1 Archaologia, vol. li., Map of the Archaeological Survey of the
County of Kent.

2 About the same size as the Binbury mount.

3 The church at the present time contains much good Early English
work, but no traces of Norman architecture are visible. It was
drastically restored about 1851, at which time evidence was found that
the tower had been repeatedly injured by fire.

196 Memorials of Old Kent

22 Henry II., 1 1 y^. The site of the bailey has been
levelled, and the ditch filled up. It is now a hop garden ;
nothing is left save a crumbling wall on the western
side, and the ruins of the small rectangular keep at the
southern extremity. It is about 38 feet square, with
walls 8 feet thick, the floors being of timber ; in the
south front of the upper storey are the beam holes, and
two mural chambers, which may have been an oratory
and a garderobe. There were large windows on this
floor, the basement being lighted by loops. The walls
are much broken down ; on the north side are rem^ains
of what may have been a destroyed forebuilding. The
simple construction and rude masonry, together with the
absence of any known licence to crenellate, all point to
its having been built about the time of Henry II. The
castle was probably allowed to go to ruin about the time
of Henry IV., and it had no interesting incidents con-
nected with its history.

Sutton Castle may have been the work of William le
Gros, Earl of Albemarle, who died in 25 Henry II., 1179,
as in I John, 1199,^ his daughter and sole heiress
Hawisia, married Baldwin de Bethune, who held Sutton
jure uxoris. Their daughter carried the estates into the
family of Mareschal, Earls of Pembroke, from whom, they
passed to Eleanor, daughter of King John, and so to her
second husband Simon de Montfort. After his death at
Evesham, their estates were forfeited to the Crown, and
Sutton was subsequently granted by Henry III. to his
half-brother, William de Valence, who bestowed his own
name upon the place, in order that it might be more
readily distinguished from the many other Suttons in
Kent. After passing through the families of Hastings
and Grey it was sold, and at the present time is held by
Sir Robert Filmer, a descendant of the author of the
Patriarcka.

1 Arch. Cant., vol. xxv., p. 205.

Some Kentish Castles 197

THORNHAM CASTLE (Minor)

The history of Thornham is substantially that of
Binbury, save that before becoming a fief of the de North-
wodes it passed intermediately through the families of
Say and Turnham, of which last Robert de Turnham (the
founder of Combwell Priory, near Goudhurst) held it in
the time of Henry II., sind it did not vest in the de North-
wodes till about 1270. It remained in their family until^
3 Richard II., 1379, when it became the property of
Robert Corbye, of Boughton Malherb, from whom it
passed to the Wottons. The castle crowns the point of
a steep spur that juts out from the great chalk range of
the North Downs, which rise here to their maximum
elevation of 650 feet. It lies about four miles north-
east of Maidstone, and is placed about 50 feet below the
summit of the range, and some 300 feet above the village
of Thornham, from which it is named, thus serving to
command not only the road from Maidstone to Sitting-
bourne, but also the old Pilgrim Way to Canterbury.

The castle is, as might be expected, of the usual
Norman mount and bailey type, but here masonry has
from a comparatively early date taken the place of its
primitive wooden defences. The ground has been so
extensively quarried for chalk, that it is now somewhat
difficult to trace the original design, as the site is encum-
bered with heaps of quarry refuse. The bailey is placed
on the west side of the mound, upon a platform of about
three-quarters of an acre in extent. Advantage has been
taken of the steep slope of the hill to reinforce the south
face of the enceinte by a bank and ditch, thus converting
it into an outer and lower bailey, commanding the road
that winds up the ridge from below, and which in its
turn is commanded by the inner bailey and the mound.
There are two parallel walls of the inner bailey gatehouse,
which project some 25 feet northwards beyond the
external face of the bailey wall. In them are two round-
headed recesses, dividing the gate passage into two bays.

198 Memorials of Old Kent

and there are two small round-headed doorways, which
led into rooms on the east side of the gatehouse, probably
those of the porter's lodge and the guard room. A low
curtain wall (now about 12 feet high and 4 feet thick)
extends about go feet westwards from the gatehouse,
where it terminates in a broad, flat pilaster buttress,
possibly the base of a corner tower. Remains of the
wall are traceable southwards for about 200 feet along
the edge of the bank, after which it turned eastward and
ran up the mound. There are now no traces of any
ashlar, but much of the wall shows a face of coursed flints,
resembling that of Berkhampstead Castle in Hertford-
shire. The great mound at its base is about 280 feet in
diameter, diminishing at the summit to about 75 feet
diameter. It is slightly oval in shape, like that of Tun-
bridge Castle, and was upwards of 100 feet in height.
The traces of flint masonry which remain upon it show
that it was crowned by a polygonal or oval shell keep,
resembling that of Lewes in Sussex (prior to the subse-
quent insertion of its towers). The bailey walls were
carried up the mound on each side, to unite with the wall
of the shell keep (as at Richard's Castle, in Herefordshire).
A sunk road cut in the chalk winds up round the
castle from below, beneath, and close to the west wall,
and bending sharply to the right, gives access to the gate
of the inner bailey on the north face, where alone any
masonry remains above ground, as on the other sides the
walls have been quarried away, and demolished down
to the foundations.

At a point about two miles east of Thornham Castle,
and, like it, a little below the summit of the ridge, the
place-name " Snakeshaw Castle " occurs on the one-inch
Ordnance map. It does not, however, appear that there
ever was any castle here, nor do any of the County
Histories contain any reference thereto, so that, to borrow
from the nomenclature of the Patent Office, it is probably
" an invented name."

Some Kentish Castles 199

TONG CASTLE (Minor)

Tong forms yet another item in the interminable list
of manors held by Odo of Baieux, who might, from the
extent of his possessions in Kent, be fitly described in
the expressive language of the old Norse poets as
" braid gripr," the widely seizing one. At the time of
Domesday Survey Hugh de Port held Tangas (as it
was then called) from the Bishop, and the village even
then boasted a little church, m which at the present day
Norman work is still in evidence. The legend of Hengist
the Jute having built the castle upon ground measured
with thongs of ox-hide may be dismissed as an idle tale.
After the de Ports the manor was held by the St. Johns,
and in 34 Edward I., 1306, by Ralph FitzBernard,^ whose
daughter carried it to the de Badlesmeres, Castellans of
Leeds Castle, passing afterwards through the families of
Bohun and Mortimer to Richard Duke of York (father
of Edward IV.). On his death at the battle of Wakefield,
in 1460, it reverted to the Crown, and was re-granted in
I Edward VI., 1547, to Sir Ralph Fane, from whom it
has since passed through many hands by purchase and
sale. The castle stands embowered in cherry orchards
about 1 1 miles east of Sittingbourne, and close to the
line of the L. C. & D. Railway. It is of the usual Norman
mount and bailey type, surrounded by a wide moat. A
portion of the bailey on the south side has been excavated
away in order to form a yet larger store pond for Tonge
mill, which stands just without the bailey on its east
side, so that the Manorial Mill might receive the protec-
tion of its owner's castle, as at Little Billing, on the Nene,
in Northamptonshire. The millpond and the castle moat
were supplied with water by a small stream that, rising

1 Aid of 20 Edward III., 1347, towards Knighting the Black Prince
Hundreduni de Mideleltone, De' Domino Willelmo de Bonn, Comite
Norhamtonie, pro. ii. f. que Radulphus filius Bernardi, tenuit apud
Tonge de predicto Johanne de Sancto Johanne, iiij. li. (equivalent to
four pounds sterling, or at the rate of 40 shillings for each Knight's
fee, one of the few payments recorded as made in pounds).

200 Memorials of Old Kent

about a quarter of a mile away, at the spring of St. Thomas
a Becket, hard by the vanished wayside chapel of the
martyr in the village of Bapchild, on the Watling Street,
flows into Teynham Creek leading in from the Swale,
here some two miles distant. The mill dam also contains
an island 120 feet square, a little to the south of the
bailey, from which it is reached by a bridge. Probably
it was the site of a later manor house, when the old castle
was abandoned on account of its unsuitability to more
modern residential requirements. The great mound is
about 80 feet in diameter at the summit, which is slightly
oval in shape. The ditch surrounding it and the bailey
is about 40 feet in width, and is now dry. It is nearly
perfect on two sides and part of a third.

WESTENHANGER CASTLE (Minor)

At the Domesday Survey Westenhanger or, as it was
then called, " le Hangre," was divided between two
manors — Heyton, then held by Hugh de Montfort ; while
the land where the castle now stands was a part of the
manor of Berewic, or Berwick, then held by William de
Eddesham (or Adisham) from the Archbishop of Canter-
bury. At a later period the manor appears among the
possessions of the de Aubervilles (already mentioned in
connection with Stockbury Castle). By the marriage of
Joan de Auberville to Nicholas de Criol, or Kiriel, the
manor was transferred to that great Kentish family. One
of them is said to have rebuilt the old manor house at
" le Hangre " during the reign of Henry III. The present
castle came into existence in 17 Edward III., 1344, in
which year John de Kiriel has a licence to crenellate
" mansum suum de Westynhangre, Kane." The Kiriels
seem to have retained the manor down to 1461, when, on
the death of Thomas de Kiriel without male issue, the
estate passed to Thomas Fogge, of Ripton, near Ashford,
who had married his daughter Alice. In 18 Henry VII.,

Some Kentish Castles 201

1503, it came by bequest to Sir Edward Poyning (himself
a descendant of John, younger brother of Nicholas de
Kiriel). The estates subsequently lapsed to the crown,
and in 1585 they were granted to Thomas Smythe,
farmer of the Customs to Queen Elizabeth. From him
tliey passed through divers families, and the castle is
now a mere farmhouse surrounded by the buildings of
the Folkestone race course. In 1347 John de Kiriel paid
the forty shillings customary for a Knight's fee to the
Aid for Knighting the Black Prince.

Westenhanger Castle is situated in the valley of
the East Stour, about 400 yards from the S.E.R.
station of the same name. It is a moated, castellated
house, of the novel type introduced into England
towards the close of the fourteenth century, the
inception of which is due to French influence.^ The
house is a rectangle of about 200 feet square in plan,
having at three angles drum towers about 22 feet diameter,
and at the fourth a tower 16 feet square, standing like
a diagonal buttress to both faces of the walls. On the
north, east, and south faces are similar square towers,
placed about the centre of each front. On the west face
another square tower contains the principal gatehouse.
There was a central courtyard 100 feet by go feet square,
round which were arranged the kitchen, great hall (50 feet
by 32 feet), the private chapel, and other apartments.
Access to the upper floors was obtained by newel stair-
cases at the angles of the courtyard. At the present time
all that remains of this are portions of the west, north
and east walls, and portions of the towers. An early
sixteenth century house, having eighteenth century
additions, occupies the north-east angle of the court, and
a new approach has been made on the east face. The site
of the great hall and chapel is now a garden. There was
an exterior courtyard on the west front in which were

1 Scotney, Bodiam, Cowling, Lumley, Bolton, Wressle, Sheriff,
Hutton, Maxtoke, Shirburn, and Nunney Castles are all of this type.

202 Memorials of Old Kent

situated stables, barns, a large chapel dedicated to
St. John, and the manorial mill worked by the Stour,
which was dammed up and diverted to supply the moat
(about 50 feet wide) which surrounded the castle on all
four sides. The greatest damage was done to the place
in 1 70 1, when it was sold for ;^ 1,000, and two-thirds of
the house and St. John's Chapel were pulled down for the
sake of the building materials. The Roman road running
from Lympne to Canterbury, known as the Stone Street,
passed about a quarter of a mile to the east of the castle.

BRENCHLEY CASTLE (Minor— Non-Existent)

The Hundred of Brenchley is not mentioned in the
Domesday Survey (like several other places lying within
the Weald), because it was then probably wild, un-
reclaimed forest land. As early as 1190 the village was
of sufficient importance to have a small church, which
was given by Richard de Clare to his newly-founded
Priory of Tunbridge in Frankalmoign. According to the
Hundred Roll for Kent, completed in 3 Edward I., or
1274, the entire Hundred is returned as being "in the
King's hands, and as worth only one mark (13s. 4d.) by
the year, because there is not in the said Hundred one
penny of rent." The manor, however, about the time
of Henry IH., was held by Richard de Clare, Earl of
Gloucester, and probably was included for want of a well-
defined boundary in his holding of the Lowy of Tun-
bridge. The castle seems to have been absolutely devoid
of history, nor is the date even of its erection known.
It was probably abandoned for the more important one
at Tunbridge at a very early date. All that now remains
to mark the site is a large mound, roughly circular in
shape, about 200 feet in diameter at the summit, and
surrounded by a ditch about 40 feet in width. Standing
as it does about 70 yards from the road, and buried in
copse wood, it easily escapes the notice of the casual

Some Kentish Castles 203

passer by. There is no trace of any bailey or ditch
surrounding it. The position is an elevated one, about
a mile north-east of Brenchley village on a by-road lead-
ing to Pearson's Green and Yalding, and about 250 feet
above the Medway Valley. Not far from it is the con-
spicuous clump of tall trees known locally as " Brenchley
Toll."

BROMLEY— SIMPSON'S MOAT (Non- Existent)

Strictly speaking this was not a castle but a fortified
house. It was rectangular in shape, 102 feet long by
45 feet broad, and was surrounded by a deep moat 30 feet
wide. The walls were of flint and rubble masonry, with
large buttresses at the angles, having facings of dressed
stone.

Originally it was probably a defensible house of the
courtyard type, but about the time of Henry VIII. this
was partly pulled down and a timber and brick house
erected on the old foundations.^ The moat was filled
up by the last tenant before 1815.^ The house stood in
the valley of the Ravensbourne (then a considerable
stream), the moat being fed by a small brook, which ran
through it on its way to the Ravensbourne. The site
was to the south-west of the main road to Sevenoaks,
about a quarter of a mile west of the present L. C. & D.
Railway Station. Soon after 181 5 it ceased to be occu-
pied, and falling gradually to decay, was finally pulled
down and the site built over about 1869.

In 862 Ethelbert IV., King of Wessex, gave ten caru-
cates of land^ at Bromley to one of his thegns, and

1 See ArchcEological Journal, 1868, vol. xxv., p. 176. A drawing of
the house about 1800 is preserved in the King's (George III.) Library,
British Museum. See also Warren's Sketches of the 'Ravensbourne.

2 Jeremiah Ringer, who lived there over fifty years, and whose name
is preserved in that of Ringer's Lane, Bromley, so called from its
leading from the main road to his house.

3 A carucate varied from a geldable Domesday carucate of 60 acres
to one of 180 acres in some manors.

204 Memorials of Old Kent

subsequently King Edgar granted about the same amount
of land there to the church of Rochester. In 1076 there
was a dispute as to the ownership of the manor, and the
holding of the Bishop of Rochester was reduced to three
sulings (a measure of land only found in Kent, which
varied in different manors from 2 to 6 carucates), for which
he was duly taxed at the time of Domesday Survey.
About 1 1 80 the Bishops of Rochester had converted
portions of their land in Bromley into knights' fees held
by the usual military service, but in the absence of any
evidence to connect this manor (afterwards known as
Simpson's) with their estates, it would rather seem that
it was not a portion thereof. It appears that a family
named de Banquel,^ who held the manor in 1 296, also held
a great part of the land comprised in the Saxon Charter
of 862, which was not subsequently bestowed upon the
church. The de Banquels were great landholders in Lee,
Bromley, Beckenham, Hayes, and West Wickham. The
family was of considerable importance. William Bonquer,
or Banquel, in 1256 was employed by Henry III.^ to
negotiate with the Pope the purchase of the Crown of
Sicily for Prince Edmund Crouchback. At a later date,
between 1262 and 1265, we find him acting as Sheriff of
Norfolk, and a Justice in Eyre for Kent. In 1307-8
John de Banquel is one of the Barons of the Exchequer.
In 1305 there is a protection for John de Banquel and
William de Bliburgh, who were going beyond the seas on
account of the affairs of Edward, Prince of Wales and
Earl of Chester.^ In the Patent Rolls of the next reign
there is a licence to this William de Bliburgh, the King's
Clerk, to crenellate his dwelling house at Bromle, Kent.*
From the connection between de Baquel and de Bliburgh

1 They appear in the Bishop of Rochester's register as Bakwel,
Bacquel, and Bankwelle ; most probably the name is a corruption of
Bonquer, or Bon Coeur, as Crevequer was of Creve Cceur.

2 Close Roll, 43 Henry III., m. 13, d.

3 Pat. Roll, 33 Edward I., part ii., memb. E.E.

4 Pat. Roll, 4 Edward II., part i., memb. 17.

Some Kentish Castles 205

(who was Rector of Bromley about 13 10), it is not
improbable that this licence may have related to the
house afterwards known as Simpson's Moat. In 1302
there is a grant of free warren to Sir John de Banquet
and his wife Cecilia,^ of their demesne lands in Bromley
and elsewhere.-^ According to Philipott, their estate
passed temp. Henry V. " to one William Clarke, who
received a licence to crenellate his house there," but I
may say that a careful search among the Rolls has failed
to reveal the existence of any reference either to Bromley,
or a licence to crenellate there during that reign, nor
could Lysons, writing in 1792, find any reference to such
a grant among the Records (then kept at the Tower of
London), and the licence cannot be assigned to that reign
with due certainty.

From the Banquels the estate passed to Sir Richard
Stury, the friend of Froissart.* There would appear to
have been some confusion between the William de
Bliburgh, clerk of the earlier reign, and a hypothetical
William Clarke of the later one ; but in 1 1 Edward IV.,
1472, Robert Sympson died possessed of this manor,^
and his descendant Nicholas Sympson (said to have been
barber to Henry VIII.) re-built the house, and sold it to
the Styles of Langley ; yet the name of Simpson's Moat
has, despite other changes of the ownership to the
Raymonds and Burrells, clung to the place since that
date until its extinction in recent times under the
advancing tide of suburban brick and mortar.

1 The same, who, at the Coronation of Edward II., was pressed to
death in the crowd. Fabian, 417, Ellis. Stow, Amtals.

2 Quo Warr., 314, 6 Ed. II., Ro. 4.

3 The residence of the de Banquels was a house called " Banquels,"
since, by corruption, " Bankers," in Lee, of which it was one of the
manors.

4 Froissart, Chronicles, vol. ii., ch. xlvi., p. 574; Edn. of Thomas
Johnes, 1844,

5 It is a curious coincidence that in 19 Henry VII., or 1504, Robert
Sympson and Cecilia, his wife, sell property in Bromley and elsewhere
(including a mill close to Sympson's moat) for ,2^200 ' to Sir Richard
Guldeford and his heirs. East, 27.

2o6 Memorials of Old Kent

DEPTFORD CASTLE (Non^Existent)

The manor of Deptford having been granted by
WilHam the Conqueror to Gilbert de Magminot, he is said
to have erected a castle there, which, as it would have
commanded the passage of the Thames, the adjacent
great road to Dover, and the deep ford of the Ravens-
bourne, is by no means improbable. The family becom-
ing extinct in 1192, the castle seems to have fallen into
ruin at a very early date. Hasted, writing in 1778,
remarks that the site of it was to be traced in some old
foundations " not far from Says Court, near Bromfield, on
the bank of the Thames adjoining the mast dock." The
site has long since been built upon, and incorporated in
what is now the Royal Victualling Yard. There was
another old house in Deptford commonly called " the
I moated place," " Stone, or King John's House," from that
monarch having been supposed to have built it. Edward
ni. is known to have resided there, ^ and Henry IV. dated
his will, 21 Jan., 1408, from his manor of Greenwich. It
was no doubt just such a hunting seat as King John's
House at Tollard Royal, Wiltshire, a defensible house of
no great strength or importance, but for additional
security protected by a moat.

After the death of Charles I. the surveyors for the sale
of the Crown lands presented^ " that the moat house
was in (Rederith) Surrey,^ and that it consisted of a hall
and kitchen, several rooms below, with six or seven
chambers above, a courtyard, and stables, and that, to-
gether with seme workshops then lately erected for the
manufacture of earthenware pottery, it was let for £^0
per annum."

I Rymer Fader a, v., 68, 638.
^ Pari. Survey, Kent, No. 53.

3 Now Rotherhithe. It is really in Kent, but at that time the county
boundaries were not very carefully defined.

Some Kentish Castles 207

FOLKESTONE CASTLE (Non- Existent)

In 1066 there was apparently a small harbour at
Folkestone, probably little more than a creek forming the
embouchure of the little river Foord. At the time of the
Domesday Survey the place boasted no less than five
churches and seven mills, and was of sufficient importance
to warrant William de Arcis in erecting a castle there for
the protection alike of town and harbour. Owing to the
rapid denudation of the cliffs (here composed of layers of
lumps of rag stone, interspersed with sand, resting on a
bed of wet soft clay), the castle was undermined and
washed away by the sea at a comparatively early date,
for Leland, writing in the reign of Henry VIIL, mentions
a place " hard upon the shore called the castle yard, where
was a great ruin of an ancient nunnery," which from his
description appears to have stood some little distance
to the south and west of the present church of St. Eans-
with ; but castle yard and nunnery ruins have long since
entirely disappeared, some 800 yards of cliff having been
washed away or been destroyed by landslips since the
Norman Conquest.

LULLINGSTONE CASTLE (Non^Existent)

At the time of the Domesday Survey the manor of
Lolingstone was held of Odo of Baieux by three tenants :
Malger, Goisfrid le Ros, and Osborne Peyforer, who has
been mentioned elsewhere. In 1307 the manor was held
by the family of de Poyntz, and during the reign of
Edward IV. there was a lawsuit as to its ownership,
which terminated by its passing into the family of
de Newborough, by whom it was held from the Crown by
knight service tenure till the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
In 1347 the fief paid forty shillings to the Aid for V
Knighting the Black Prince.^ The old castle was situated

1 Aid of 20 Edward III., 1347. Hundredum de Godeshethe, De
Roger de Chaundos Milite pro. j. feodo quod Hugo de Poyntz tenuit
in Lullyngestone, de Archiepiscopo Cantuariensi, xl. s.

2o8 Memorials of Old Kent

close to the western bank of the river Darent, about three-
quarters of a mile to the south of Lullingstone Church ;
but Leland, writing in the time of Henry VIIL, states
that the castle had long been in ruins, and was so in his
own time. The site is now occupied by a comparatively
modern farmhouse called " Shoreham " Castle. The house
at Lullingstone Park had the name of the old castle
transferred to it about 1740, when the estates of the
family of Hart, then seated there, passed by marriage to
that of Dyke of Horeham, in Sussex (now known as
Hart-Dyke). There was a fine outer gatehouse of late
Perpendicular work, with bold projecting turrets and
machicolated parapets, formerly attached to Lullingstone
House, but Sir John Dixon Dyke had it pulled down and
the moat filled up about 1763, because he disliked passing
over a bridge every time he entered or left the house !
A similar inner gatehouse still remains. The old castle
(now called Shoreham Castle) is invariably meant when
" Lullingstone " Castle is mentioned in the early records,
which do not apply to the present house in Lullingstone
Park.

SANDWICH CASTLE (Non^ Existent)

There are no remains of the castle which formerly
stood here, and little is known of its history, but from the
time of the Norman Conquest the place appears to have
taken the lead among the Cinque Ports on account of
its safe and commodious harbour, and it was a favoiurite
port of entry from the Continent. Becket and Richard I.
both landed here, one on his return from exile in 1 1 70,
the monarch on his arrival fresh from his Austrian
captivity. Edward III. frequently used the port as a point
^A of departure for his foreign expeditions, and the first
mention of the castle occurs in his reign. The foreign
pilgrims to the shrine of St. Thomas of Canterbury
generally landed here.

Being apparently a royal castle, the Castellan was

Some Kentish Castles 209

appointed by the governor of Dover Castle. The French
plundered and burned the town in 16 Henry VI., 1438,
and in 1471 the castle was held by the bastard Falcon-
bridge against Edward IV., but was surrendered on the
approach of the King. The town was protected by a
wall with a broad ditch and five gates, of which the
Fishers Gate and a portion of the Barbican Gate on the
Margate road still remain. The castle stood immediately
without the town on its south-west side, commanding the
entrance to the old harbour and the approach by the
Deal road. The site is low and level, the ground being
not more than 12 feet above sea level. The Grammar
School in Manwood Road occupies a portion of it. Like
the town, the castle probably relied for protection on wide
ditches filled by the tide and the river Stour. The
adjacent town ditch (here 50 feet wide) may also have
served for that of the castle bailey, which would have
communicated with the town by the now destroyed
Sandown Gate. The dates alike of the foundation of the
castle, and when it was allowed to go to ruin, are unknown,
but we may presume the latter to have been coeval with
the decay of the town, which dated from the sinking of
a " grete caryke " in the haven in 1464; and Sir Thomas
More, in his dialogues, relates how funds were diverted
by the Archbishop of Canterbury (to whom the town
belonged^) which should have been employed in keeping
the haven free from " wose mudde and sande," and
employed in the building of Tenterden church tower, of
which living His Grace was patron. The shipwreck in
the harbour mouth of a great Spanish ship belonging to
Pope Paul IV., ^ which could not be removed, accelerated
the shoaling up of the port, and would appear to have
administered the final coup de grace to the naval pros-
perity of the town.

1 Kent Domesday Book extension, p. lo. The Archbishop of
Canterbury holds the Borough of Sandwich, which lies in its own
hundred.

- In 1557. Cinque Ports, Burrows, p. 200.

P

210 Memorials of Old Kent

SHURLAND CASTLE (Non- Existent)

The family of Shurland had a fortified quadrangular
manor house near the village of Eastchurch, in Sheppey,
that occupied the site of an earlier castle, of which
nothing now remains. Sir Geoffrey de Shurland was
Constable of Dover Castle in 9 Henry III., 1225. His
son. Sir Robert, with other levies from Kent, fought in
the Scotch wars of Edward I., and for his services at
the siege of Caerlaverock Castle had a grant of all the
wreckage on the sea coast of his manors. He lies buried
in the Church of Minster, in Sheppey. The horse's head
carved upon his tomb commemorates the curious story
of the cause of his death, which may be read at length
in the Ingoldsby Legends, under that of " Grey Dolphin."
The estate passed by the marriage of his daughter to the
Cheyneys, and her descendant. Sir Thomas Cheyney,
again rebuilt the house in the time of Queen Elizabeth.
It was sold by his spendthrift son, and after many vicissi-
tudes has been converted into a farmhouse. Nothing now
remains of the second mansion of the de Shurlands save
the old gatehouse.

THE BLOCK HOUSES

The so-called " castles " erected by Henry VIII. for
the defence of the coast in 1539, after the suppression of
the monasteries, having been constructed for use with
modern fire artillery, can scarcely claim to be regarded as
such in the feudal acceptance of the term. A leading
principle is apparent in their plans, which only differ in
detail. The forts of Sandown, Deal, Walmer, Sandgate
in Kent, and Camber in Sussex, all have a low, central
tower, surrounded by an outer enclosure of semi-circular
bastions, which, varying in number from three to six,
caused the plan to assume a trefoil, quatrefoil, or sexfoil
figure. They appear to have carried batteries of 12 or

Some Kentish Castles 211

14 guns, which were probably armed with culverins of
about 5^ inch bore, carrying 17 lb. shot.^ Those who
desire to know more of their history should consult the
interesting papers by Mr. W. L. Rutton, F.S.A., in Arch-
cBologia C antiana^ in which they are exhaustively de-
scribed in detail. It is interesting to observe in them
how the earlier mediaeval influence continues to prevail
so long after the introduction of modern fire artillery, and
how, as in the feudal castles, elaborate precautions are
taken to mask their entrances and render them difficult
of access, and how the idea of the ancient keep is replaced
by the low tower, forming the central battery. Hasted^
supposed there had formerly been a castle at Sandgate, and
quotes in support of that opinion a writ of 22 Richard II.,
1398, directing the captain of his castle of Sandgate to admit
his cousin Henry of Lancaster (afterwards Henry IV.)
with his family and train (he being then banished the
realm), and allow him to tarry there for six weeks in
order to refresh himself. This writ is, however, followed
by a similar one of like tenor and date (3 October, 1398),
directed to the Captain of Calais Castle. There being
then a castle at the French Sandgate (now Sangatte), then
within the English pale, about nine miles from Calais,
it is clear that the French, and not the Kentish Sandgate
is the one alluded to in the writ, especially as there is no
mention in any record of even as much as a watch tower
at the latter place before the building of Henry VIII.'s
"castle" there.

The " castle " at Upnor is on the north bank of the
Medway, nearly opposite to Chatham dockyard, and was
built in 1 56 1, by the order of Queen Ehzabeth, for the
defence of this reach of the river. It consisted of a long,
castellated, oblong building, three storeys in height,

\ Archaologia, vol. vi., p. 129, " Sir William Monson's Naval Tracts."
'^ Arch. Cant., vol. xx., pp. 228, 257, "Sandgate Castle"; vol. xxi.,

^p. 244, 259, " Sandgate Castle " ; vol. xxiii. pp. 24, 30, " Castles of

Henry VHI."

3 Hasted History of Kent, 2nd edn., vol. viii., p. 182.

212 Memorials of Old Kent

having a high, round tower at either end, to which has
been added a casemated ravehn in front, where was a
platform for guns at the river's edge, defended by a
stockade. The entrance was by a square tower at the rear
of the west side, the governor having quarters in the south
tower.

Gilhngham, as already mentioned, had not even as
much resemblance to a castle as Upnor ; it was a
regular modern fort for guns, built in the reign of
Charles I. for the defence of the dockyard at Chatham,
which lies about one and a half miles to the south-west
of it.

OLD MAP OF CANTERBURY

A twofold interest attaches to this curious old map,
from its being the earliest known plan of the city, while
the name of its designer is a matter of some uncertainty.
The original from which it has been reproduced forms
one of the illustrations to a work called Civitates Orbis
Terrarnm, published at Cologne by Braun in 1572.
Possibly the work of Remigius Hogenberg or Cornelius
Hogius, two Flemish artists employed by Braun, it has
been usually attributed to George Hoefnagel, who is
known to have executed large maps of Bristol and
Oxford for the work in question (both of which are the
earliest known maps of these cities),^ but, unlike his
other drawings, it does not bear his signature, and it
remains open to question whether it is by him. From
internal evidence, the map is considerably earlier in date
than 1572, and may possibly have formed one of a series
of drawings of Kentish scenery executed for Philip IL
of Spain in 1558 by Antony Van den Wyngaerde,
several of which, after many and strange vicissitudes,
are now preserved in the Bodleian Library at Oxford.

1 ArchiEologia Cantiana, voL xxv., pp. 250-254.

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Some Kentish Castles 213

As regards accuracy, these early attempts to combine
plans with bird's-eye views must be taken cum grano
salis, yet the artists were careful to render what they
saw with attention to detail, albeit in faulty perspective.
The point of view is from the rising ground to the
south of Canterbury, which is shown surrounded by
the wall with its six gates, two posterns, and various
towers. The monasteries of Christ Church, St. Augus-
tine's, and the Grey Friars are readily distinguished.
No less than twenty-four other churches appear, several of
which (among them those of St. Mary de Castra and
St. John le Poor) are no longer in existence. The Stour
is seen dividing into two arms, enclosing the great
island called " Binnewith," upon which, m 1273, the
Franciscan Friars founded their church. A branch is
shown extending further eastwards from the eastern
arm of the Stour, possibly all that then remained of
that ancient watercourse which (according to Somner)^
once flowed through the centre of the city, passing what
is now known as the Butter Market, and which perhaps
formed the outer ditch of the Roman city, at which time
the site of the present Cathedral was an impassable
morass.- The manner in which the city wall was carried
across the Stour upon arches is clearly shown. The
northern ones were not removed until 1769, the southern
ones having been previously demolished. Next to the
last is the postern gate ; some distance in the rear of
it is seen St. Mildred's Church with its early tower on
the north side ; then comes the castle with the great
keep surrounded by a wall with towers, and having a
ditch with a bridge facing the city, remains of which
were found in 1868 during the excavations for the
drainage works.^ The so-called " Roman " arch of

1 Somner, Antiquities of Canterbury, First Edition, pp. 38"4S-

2 Archrcologia Cantiana, vol. iv., pp. 27-42.

3 Archixologia, vol. xliii., p. 151 et seq.

214 Memorials of Old Kent

Worth gate, having been long stopped up, is of course
not shown, but Wincheap gate is seen much as it remained
until its removal, about 1786. Beyond it is the low
hummock subsequently converted into the sham mound
now known as the Dane John. The city ditch, filled
with water from the Stour, is shown encircling the
southern side of the wall as far as St. George's gate,
beyond which the curve of the wall conceals the rest of
its course. By the closing years of Elizabeth's reign
much of the northern portion had been filled in and
built upon.

PENSHURST PLACE

By Philip Sidney

IHE Crown Manor of Penshurst was granted, as
an inscription over the gateway tells us, by
" the most religious and renowned Prince
Edward the Sixt " to Sir William Sidney^
Knight-Banneret, in the year 1552. At the Norman
Conquest, it had been given to a family of the name of
Penchester, or Pencestre, whose most distinguished
member was Sir Stephen de Pencestre, Lord Warden of
the Cinque Ports under Edward I. Dying in the year
1299, he was buried in the Church of St. John the Baptist,
Penshurst. Twice married, he left no son to succeed him,
and his lands were divided between his two daughters, the
younger of whom, Alicia, married John de Columbers, and
inherited Penshurst. From her heirs the estate was
bought by the wealthy Sir John de Poulteney, four times
Lord Mayor of London, and at his death passed from the
Louvaine family into that of the Saint Cleres, from whom
it was purchased by the Duke of Bedford, then Regent
of the Kingdom, at whose decease it went to his brother,
Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and thence to the luckless
line of the Staffords, Dukes of Buckingham.

After the execution, in 1521, of Edward Stafford, Duke
of Buckingham, Penshurst reverted to the Crown, but soon
passed, for a short time, into the hands of Sir Ralph Fane,
at whose attainder Edward VI. presented it to Sir William
Sidney, chamberlain and steward of his household, and
eldest son of Nicholas Sidney by Anne, daughter of
Sir William Brandon, and aunt of Charles Brandon, Duke

215

2i6 Memorials of Old Kent

of Suffolk, husband of Mary Tudor, sister to King
Henry VIII. This Sir William Sidney was lineally
descended from Sir William de Sidenie, who came over
to England with Henry II. in 1154, and from whom the
present owner of Penshurst, Lord De L'Isle and Dudley
is also descended, although in the female line.

Penshurst Park adjoins Penshurst village, and is
situated about five and a half miles west-to-south-west of
the Norman town of Tonbridge, and about six miles
north-west of the more modern Tunbridge Wells. It lies
low down, surrounded by an undulating park, now not half
its original size, but still containing some magnificent
timber. The church stands within a stone's-throw of the
Place. It is situated in the prettiest part of Kent, within
an easy distance of other fine historic houses, such as
Knole Park, Hever Castle, Ightham Mote, Bayham Abbey,
Eridge Castle, and Groombridge Place. Of these country
seats, Hever, Ightham, and Groombridge are surrounded
by moats. Penshurst was never moated ; yet of all the
" Stately Homes of England," hardly one presents a more
impressive and picturesque appearance than this old
mansion, the birthplace of the accomplished Sir Philip
Sidney, " The great glory of his family, the great hope
of mankind, the most lively pattern of virtue, the glory of
the world." Its old walls possess a majestic charm
which no pen can faithfully describe on paper. The very
air seems to inspire the curious visitor with stirring
memories of the bygone days of chivalry, and the pilgrim
approaching this Kentish shrine appears to have wandered
into the glorious realm of that veritable Arcadia portrayed
by Penshurst's worthiest son.

Here " Sacharissa's Walk " calls to mind the love-songs
of her rejected admirer, Edmund Waller, who soon,
however, consoled himself by marrying a wealthy heiress.
Here stayed Henry VIII. on at least one pleasant visit.
Here often stayed Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex,
foundress of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. Here

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Pensiiurst Place 217

Edmund Spenser composed a part of his Shefheardes'
Calendar ; here Lancup Well recalls Ben Jonson's
oft-quoted lines, included in his poem called The Forest^
commencing : —

Thou arti not Penshurst, built to envious show
Of touch or marble, nor can boast a row
Of polished pillars, or a roof of gold ;
Thou hast no lantern, whereof tales are told.
Or stair, or courts ; but stan'st an ancient pile,
And these, grudged at, are reverenced the while.
Thou joy'st in better marks of soil, of air.
Of wood, of water, therein thou art fair.

Here came Queen Elizabeth and danced with her
favourite, Robert Dudley, in the ball-room. Here
suddenly arrived, whilst out hunting one day, King
James I., with his son Henry, Prince of Wales. Here
came John Evelyn, a day too late, as he noted in his
diary, to attend the second marriage of the peerless
" Sacharissa " with his old schoolfellow, Robert Smythe.
Here was born Sir Robert Sidney, Governor of Flushing,
and the first Earl of Leicester of the Sidney line. Here
Algernon Sidney walked and mused beneath the oaks and
beeches. Here for a time, by order of the Parliament, the
Duke of Gloucester and his sister, the Princess Elizabeth,
were confided to the tender care of the Countess of Leicester,
sister of the famous Lucy, Countess of Carlisle, after the
execution of King Charles I. had deprived these royal
children of their father. Here Sir William Temple, the
statesman, the husband of Dorothy Osborne and patron
of Swift, was educated by his relative, the pious Dr. Henry
Hammond, who was Rector of Penshurst in the reign of
Charles I. before the Civil War, at the outbreak of which
the Loyalist Hammond fled from his rectory at night and
joined the King at Oxford.

The architecture of Penshurst Place goes back, as
regards its older portions, to the time of King Edward III. ;
as regards its later, to that of Robert Sidney, Earl of
Leicester, whose father. Sir Henry, the Lord President

2i8 Memorials of Old Kent

of Wales and Viceroy of Ireland, built the gatehouse, and
added largely to the original edifice, in the reign of
Elizabeth. A portion of the pile is still called, in his
honour, the " President's Court." But the masterpiece of
all is the old and unrestored feudal hall, probably the finest
and best-preserved example of its kind extant in Great
Britain. It forms a perfect specimen of the hall of a
nobleman or country gentleman's residence during the
era of the later Plantagenets, and its central chimney and
hearth, oak tables, dais, and minstrels' gallery have luckily
suffered lightly at the hands of Time. Tradition relates
that the Black Prince and his young wife, Joan, the " Fair
Maid of Kent," once ate their Christmas dinner in this
hall.

From the baronial hall a stone staircase leads upwards
to the state apartments, the first of which is the ball-room,
whence one passes into the tapestry-room. Queen
Elizabeth's drawing-room, the picture-gallery, and the
china-closet. On the walls of these rooms hang paintings
by Holbein, Zucchero, Marc Gheeraedts, Guido, Lely,
Van Dyck, Rubens, Poussin, Titian, Gainsborough,
Dobson, and Lawrence. Family pictures are very
numerous, and many generations of sad-faced and
auburn-haired Sidneys look down from their frames
upon the visitor. They include portraits of Sir Philip
Sidney ; Sir Henry Sidney, " the brave soldier, the
consummate general, the able counsellor, the wise
legislator " ; Sir William Sidney ; John Dudley, Duke
of Northumberland ; Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester ;
Dorothy Sidney, Countess of Sunderland, the " Sacharissa "
of Waller's verse ; Henry Sidney, Earl of Romney ;
the stem and solemn patriot, Algernon Sidney ; Lady
Mary Sidney, Sir Philip's mother, of whom he wrote,
" For my own part, I have had only light from her " ;
Mary, Countess of Pembroke, the subject of William
Browne's immortal epitaph (so often ascribed in error to
Ben Jonson) : —

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Penshurst Place 219

Underneath this sable hearse
Lies the subject of all verse :
Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother.
Death ! ere thou hast slain another
Learn'd, and fair, and good as she.
Time shall throw his dart at thee ;

and Barbara Gamage, the Welsh heiress, whose secret
marriage with Sir Robert Sidney proved to be a happy
and fitting ending to a most sensational courtship.

There stands no more romantic manor-house in all
England than the classic home of " Astrophel," the lover
of " Stella," of " Sacharissa," and of Algernon Sidney, " the
noblest Roman of them all " ; it has figured vividly in the
pages of our history, and kings, queens, princesses,
soldiers, statesmen, and poets have lodged within these
walls. Well might Southey ask : —

Are days of old familiar to thy mind,
O reader? Hast thou let the midnight hour
Pass unperceived, whilst thou in fancy lived
With high-born beauties, and enamoured chiefs.
Sharing their hopes, and with a breathless joy.
Whose expectation touched the verge of pain.
Following their dangerous fortunes? If such love
Hath ever thrilled thy bosom, thou wilt tread,
As with a pilgrim's reverential thoughts.
The groves of Penshurst.

&'

The church at Penshurst, dedicated in honour of
St. John the Baptist, is well worthy of its surroundings,
and from the summit of its tower a very fine view of the
Place can be obtained. Although restored, it has been
renovated in good taste. Its Sidney Chapel contains many
interesting monuments and tombs ; in it are buried the
valiant Sir William Sidney, who did yeoman service fighting
against the French at sea, and on land against the Scots
at Flodden ; Sir Henry Sidney, K.G. ; and Sir Stephen
de Pencestre : whilst beneath its floor has long ago
crumbled into dust the headless corpse of Algernon Sidney,
executed on Tower Hill, Friday, December 7th, 1683, after
having been condemned to death by Judge Jeffreys for his

220 Memorials of Old Kent

alleged share in the Rye House Plot, of whose untimely-
end Lord John Russell truly testified, " There is no murder
which history has recorded of Cassar Borgia exceeds in
violence, or in fraud, that by which Charles II. took away
the life of the gallant and patriotic Sidney."

It has often been conjectured that Sir Philip Sidney
may have written his great pastoral romance, Arcadia, at
Penshurst Place. But this was not so, for a part of it was
written when he was staying with his sister, Lady
Pembroke, " the greatest patroness of wit and learning
of any lady of her time " (to whom it was dedicated), at
Wilton, and a part of it at Ivybridge House, close to
Salisbury ; whilst John Aubrey tells us that he would
even compose some of its passages whilst out hunting on
Salisbury Plain. That he had, however, Penshurst and
" the hills and humble valleys " of its neighbourhood in his
mind when writing cannot be doubted ; and the following
extract would aptly describe his birthplace as it appeared
in Tudor times : —

The house itself was built of fair and strong stone, not affecting so
much any extraordinary kind of fineness as an honourable repre-
senting of a firm stateliness ; the lights, doors, and stairs rather directed
to the use of the guests than to the eye of the artificer, and yet, as
the one chiefly heeded, so the other not neglected ; each place hand-
some without curiosity, and homely without loathsomeness ; not so
dainty as not to be trod on, nor yet slubbered up with good fellowship ;
all more lasting than beautiful, but that the consideration of the exceeding
lastiness made the eye believe that it was exceeding beautiful ; the
servants not so many in number as cleanly in apparel and serviceable
in behaviour, testifying even in their countenances that their master
took as well care of served, as of them who did serve."

Sir Philip Sidney, " Lumen famili^ suae," as his father
called him, was born at Penshurst " at a quarter before
five of the clock." on the morning of Friday, November
30th, 1554. His sister, the Countess of Pembroke, was
not born at Penshurst, in 1555, as her biographers
erroneously state, but at Ticknell House, Bewdley, in
Worcestershire, on October 27th, 1561. She died at

Penshurst Place 221

Crosby Hall, London, in 1621, and was buried in a plain
grave in Salisbury Cathedral. Algernon Sidney was,
perhaps, born at Penshurst, although Baynard's Castle,
London, has also been named as his birthplace. That gay
and careless cavalier. Colonel " Robin " Sidney, reputed
by King James II., John Evelyn, and others of his
contemporaries, to have been the father of the ill-fated
Duke of Monmouth, was buried, but not born, at Penshurst.
He and his brother, Henry, Earl of Romney, were both
born at Paris. The Countess of Sunderland, " Sacharissa,"
was born at Syon House, Isleworth, the property of her
grandfather, the Earl of Northumberland. The historic
tree, immortalised in the verse of Ben Jonson, Edmund
Waller, and Robert Southey, planted, on the day of
Sir Philip's birth, in Penshurst Park, has long ago withered
away, although too-credulous visitors still have an oak tree
frequently pointed out to them as " Sidney's Tree." As
a matter of fact, it is rather doubtful whether the original
tree was an oak at all, and Southey may be somewhat in
error when he says : —

Upon his natal day an acorn here
Was planted : it grew up a stately oak,
And in the beauty of its strength it stood
And flourish'd, when his perishable part
Had moulder'd, dust to dust.

The aged and gigantic " Bear Oak " is still standing in
the park, and is probably the one mistaken so often for
" Sidney's Tree." It was standing long before 1554.

Lovers of Penshurst Place in particular, and students
of English history in general, must ever be grateful to the
researches of the indefatigable Arthur Collins, the
genealogist, who visited Penshurst during the middle of
the reign of George II., for the purpose of editing his
Sidney State Papers. Workmg diligently, with the help
of able assistants, at his laborious task, he printed the
greater part of the priceless collection of historical
manuscripts, comprising numerous important letters of

222 Memorials of Old Kent

Sir Henry, Sir Philip, and Algernon Sidney, as well as of
Sir Robert Sidney (afterwards Earl of Leicester), of
Rowland Whyte, his faithful and clever agent, and of his
son Robert, Earl of Leicester. He also printed and
published, for the first time, the hitherto almost unknown
defence of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, written by
his nephew, Sir Philip Sidney, in reply to the slanders
contained in the notorious " Leycester's Commonwealth,"
which formed the groundwork of Sir Walter Scott's
Kenilworth. A great number of the manuscripts printed
by Arthur Collins are no longer at Penshurst Place, and
he, therefore, made students of our history for ever his
debtors by publishing his timely work when he did.
A further series of Sidney Papers was afterwards
compiled and printed by Mr. Blencowe, a clergyman, who
published in book form the invaluable Journal of Robert
Sidney, Earl of Leicester, some time Ambassador at Paris,
as well as the Diaries of Henry, Earl of Romney, " le beau
Sidney " of De Gramont's Memoir Sy who carried to
William of Orange a copy of the celebrated Invitation
to that Prince to come over to England. A cursory, and
decidedly deceptive, examination of the remaining
Penshurst manuscripts has been made more recently by
a representative of the Historical Manuscripts Commission,
and is published in the Official Report of that body. The
original holograph copy of Algernon Sidney's Essay on
Virtuous Love, in the author's firm hand-virriting, is
preserved in the Manuscript Department at the British
Museum.

As in the case of the missing manuscripts, the once
splendid collection of armour at Penshurst was in the main
dispersed during the latter part of the eighteenth century,
during which period Leicester House, the Sidneys' London
residence, after being let for some time to Frederick,
Prince of Wales, and his family, was sold. Leicester
Square and some of its adjoining streets are named after
the titles and badges of the Sidneys ; hence the existing

Penshurst Place 223

Lisle Street, Sidney Street, Bear Street, Leicester Place,
and the Porcupine Hotel. The badge of the bear and
ragged staff came into use in the Sidney family by the
marriage of Sir Henry Sidney, the ruler of Wales and
Ireland, with Lady Mary Dudley, eldest daughter of John,
Duke of Northumberland, who had assumed it in right
of his earlier title of Earl of Warwick. On the death of
the last of Northumberland's children, without legitimate
issue other than that of Lady Mary, her surviving son.
Sir Robert Sidney, adopted the bear as his additional
crest or badge. The almost unique crest of his family
was a porcupine, quilled, collared, and chained ; his motto,
" Quo Fata vocant " ; the charge on his shield, a pheon or
broad-arrow, with engrailed inner edges, was adopted
by his grandson, Henry Sidney, Earl of Romney, as a
stamp upon all Government stores in the reign of William
and Mary. Finding, in his official position as Master of
the Ordnance, that so many public stores and belongings
were often being lost for want of a stamp to identify
them. Lord Romney had them marked with his own arms.
His practice has survived to this day, and the Government
" broad-arrow " is nothing more than an imitation of the
Sidney arms, with the difference that the interior edges
in the copy are smooth instead of being wavy as in the
original.

Father Time has, on the whole, dealt leniently with
Penshurst Place, in spite of its great age and eventful
history. Its low and sheltered position, aided by the
spacious and generous lines on which the mansion was
originally laid out and designed, has conduced
considerably to its preservation. Of Penshurst, indeed,
with its majestic and classical exterior, much the same
might be said as the author of Lotkair wrote of " Vauxe "
(generally supposed to be Knole, Sevenoaks) : —

Vauxe was the finest specimen of the old English residence extant.
It was the perfection of the style, which had gradually arisen after the
Wars of the Roses had alike destroyed all the castles and the purpose of

224- Memorials of Old Kent

•those stern erections. People said Vauxe looked like a college : the truth
iSj colleges looked like Vauxe, for when those fair and civil buildings rose,
the wise and liberal spirits who endowed them intended that they should
resemble as much as possible the residence of a great noble.

Truly, Penshurst may lay claim to owe its foundations to
" wise and liberal spirits." Even if it does not look exactly
like any particular Oxford college, more than one Oxford
college looks like Penshurst. Moreover, as affording some
evidence of the spacious way in which the house is built,
it should be stated that the hall alone measures some
forty-two feet by fifty-four feet, and that its altitude is
over sixty feet ; whilst the picture gallery is about ninety
feet long. These rooms remind us again of Disraeli's

■ it "t 7 J'

Vauxe : —

The house was full of galleries, and they were full of portraits. Indeed,
there was scarcely a chamber in this vast edifice of which the walls
"were not breathing with English history in this interesting form.

In addition to its family portraits, old china, tapestry,
historical manuscripts, and miniatures, Penshurst Place
possesses many other valuable treasures. From the ceiling
of the ballroom is suspended the first pair of crystal
chandeliers used in England, said to have been given to
Queen Elizabeth by her favourite, Leicester, Sir Philip
Sidney's uncle. Queen Elizabeth's Drawing-room is
furnished with the same chairs and tables expressly bought,
or brought here, for her use when staying as the guest
of Sir Henry Sidney at Penshurst, and in this room several
specimens of needlework by the Queen's own hands are
still to be seen. Of other pieces of antique furniture, the
finest are undoubtedly a pair of splendidly carved and
decorated Dutch cabinets, presented by King James I. to
Robert Sidney, Earl of Leicester, K.G. Among the curios
are especially noticeable Sir Philip Sidney's shaving-glass.
Sir William Sidney's helmet worn by him at Flodden Field,
surmounted by his crest, a wooden effigy of a chained
porcupine, Algernon Sidney's jack-boots, Robert Dudley,
Earl of Leicester's two-handled sword, an ancient spiten,
a stick that belonged to William IV., and an ebony cabinet

Penshurst Place 225

that was once the property of Cardinal Wolsey. Among
family relics, the most interesting are the various locks of
hair, carefully preserved, of many of the Sidneys, including
a lock of Sir Philip's, auburn-hued, of the traditional family
shade, as is that of his great-nephew, Algernon Sidney.^
At Wilton House, where " Astrophel " wrote his Arcadia,
is kept a piece of Queen Elizabeth's hair, presented to
him by the Queen herself.

One of the most remarkable of the many pictures,
although not endowed with such distinct artistic merits as
those referred to above, is the famous " three-legged "
picture of Queen Elizabeth dancing with Robert Dudley,
Earl of Leicester. On its canvas Leicester is depicted
holding the " Virgin Queen " high off the ground, in such
an exalted position that she is made to look as if she had
taken a leap into the air, whilst below and behind her skirts
is clearly conspicuous the leg of another dancer, painted
in such a manner as to appear as if Elizabeth had three
legs instead of two. This seemingly boisterous dance, in
which the Queen is represented as indulging, must have
died out a very long time ago in England, although a
somewhat similar form of revelry is said still to be in use
among the peasants of Brittany. Another strange portrait
is one, by Vandyck, of the Duke of Richmond. The Duke
is painted in his night-dress, with a hound standing beside
him having a string of pearls round its neck. This is in
allusion to the circumstance that, a burglar having hidden
himself under the Duke's bed, the dog gave timely alarm
and aroused his master in the night. The grateful Duke,
in reward, gave the faithful animal a string of pearls for
his collar. Yet another rather remarkable portrait is that
of Barbara Gamage, Countess of Leicester, with six of her

1 Although Algernon spelt his name "Sydney," and not "Sidney," I
have, for the sake of convenience, used the latter form throughout. Sir
Philip used both forms, signing himself sometimes " Sydney," and sometimes
"Sidney." Sir Henry generally wrote himself "Sydney," but most of his
descendants, including Algernon's brothers and sisters, wrote themselves
" Sidney."

226 Memorials of Old Kent

children, curiously grouped, and attired in the quaint
dresses of their period. It was concerning this Lady
Leicester that Ben Jonson wrote, in reference to the
surprise visit of James I. to Penshurst : —

That found King James, when hunting late this way

With his brave son, the Prince ; they saw the fires

Shine bright on every hearth, as the desires

Of thy Penates had been set on flame

To entertain them ; or the country came,

With all their zeal, to warm their welcome now.

What (great, I will not say, but) sudden cheer

Didst thou then make 'em. And what praise was heapM

On thy good Lady, then ! Who therein reap'd

The just reward of her huswifry.

To have her linen, plate, and all things nigh,

When she was far : and not a room but drest,

As if it had expected such a guest.

But all the glories of Penshurst are not to be found
only indoors. The old English flower-garden alone is
worth a visit, with its strange sense of a far away, silent
charm ; with its clear-cut yew hedges, its white and
golden lilies floating in " Diana's Bath," its winding walks,
its climbing plants, and its Pride of Penshurst, a plant
peculiar to the place. In such a haven of repose as this
Time seems to have stood still, and one almost expects
to meet " Sacharissa " wandering on the terrace, listening
once again to the Jove-lays of Edmund Waller; to see
Spenser studiously composing his Shefheardes' Calendar ;
or to hear " Rare " Ben Jonson expatiating on the
pleasures of the hospitality here, upon which he set so
much store. From the garden a gate leads into
the churchyard, and, going through it, we recognise,
alas! that Time has indeed moved, and still moves,
on ; the white graves outside the church and the
stately monuments to the illustrious dead within,
call us sadly back to the real life of the present day. From
the church's peaceful precincts we pass out by the ancient
church-house into the primitive village, and soon leave

Penshurst Place 227

behind us, sheltered amongst its trees, encircled by the
sluggish Medway, the noble house of Penshurst Place,
whose venerable walls, standing out above its verdant
park-land, form a magnificent memorial to those fair
women and brave men who formerly lived within them,
the stories of whose deeds are imperishably recorded ni
the golden annals of our country's history.

HEVER CASTLE

By the Rev. P. H. Ditchfield, M.A., F.S.A.

ENT is a county that abounds in noble houses.
A county that can boast of Knowle, Ightham,
Leeds Castle, Penshurst, and Hever, is indeed
rich in historic mansions, and amongst them, on
account of its natural beauty, and pathetic and romantic
associations, the home of the Boleyns will be found to
possess attractions in some respects unique. Hever is a
fifteenth century castle, erected on the site of an earlier
fortress, which was built by Thomas de Hever, in the
reign of Edward III, who obtained free warren and liberty
to embattle his mansion. The erection of such strong-
holds of the type of Hever marks some progress in our
social habits and customs. No longer the proud, gaunt
keep, or donjon, " four-square to every wind that blew,"
frowns down upon the intruder. The sterner features
of defence are modified. No terrible underground dun-
geons echo with the shrieks of tortured prisoners. In the
middle of the fifteenth century there was greater security
for life and property. And yet the need of defence had
not yet passed away. Hever is a curious mixture of a
domestic house and a feudal castle. The wide-spread
moat, the strong gate, the old portcullis, the loopholes in
the walls and towers, which flank each angle of the front
of the house, the strong machicolated parapet, and thick
oaken doors, all sufficiently show that times of danger
had not passed away, and that each man was obliged to
protect his own by strong arm and stronghold from injury
and spoliation.

228

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Hever Castle 229

Hever Castle stands in a valley, like many of its
brethren. This fact does not prove any lack of discern-
ment on the part of the mediaeval military architects. It
was so placed in order that the waters of the Eden river
might be coaxed to form a moat, and guard the castle
from marauders and surprise. Before the days of cannon
a fortress did not need to fear the danger of surrounding
heights, and a good, broad moat with a strongly-fortified
entrance gate were sufficient to defy the approach of an
enemy. Hence the owners of Hever could view with
complacency the surrounding hills, and trust to their own
embattled pile girt by the guarding Eden waters for
safety against their foes. History tells little of any fights
or sieges which befell the old house. As I have said, the
De Hevers held the property, and Thomas de Hever, in
the time of Edward III., had a licence to crenellate his
house. It passed, by the marriage of his daughter Joan,
to John de Cobham, of Starborough, and was bought
during the reign of Henry VI. by Sir Geoffrey Bullen, or
Boleyn, Lord Mayor of London in 1453. Sir Geoffrey
was a distinguished member of the Mercers' Company of
London, and was the son of Geoffrey Bullen, of Salle,
in Norfolk.

Judging from its style and architecture, it is extremely
probable that he built the present castle, and it is with
his family that its chief historical interest is associated.
Sir Geoffrey had a son, Sir William, Knight of the Bath
at the coronation of Richard III. His son was Sir
Thomas Bullen, who, on account of the affection of
Henry VIII. for his daughter, the famous Anne, " that
brown girl with the perthroat and an extra finger," as
Margaret More maliciously described her, was raised to
high rank, and became Earl of Ormond and Wiltshire.
It is with that " brown girl " that Hever has most to do.
History is uncertain as regards her birthplace. Blickling
Hall, in Norfolk, and Rochford Hall, in Essex, compete
with Hever the honour, but it is certain that her childhood

230 Memorials of Old Kent

was spent at this castle, years of happiness and sweet
content, to which, from the ghtter and dangers of a throne,
she must have often looked back with fond and touching
remembrances. There her father lived in the free and
hospitable style of an old English squire, entertaining
lavishly in the rush-strewn hall, hunting and hawking.
His wife was the daughter of Thomas Howard, Duke of
Norfolk. He took a leading part in the affairs of the
time, went as ambassador to the Emperor Maximilian
and the King of Spain, arranged the details of the Field
of the Cloth of Gold, and was Governor of Norwich
Castle. Anxious to gain from the King the lands of
Thomas Butler, late Earl of Carrick and Ormond, in
Ireland, and Lord Rochford, in England, he was not very
careful or scrupulous about the means for obtaining the
favour of the King. It seems fairly certain that his elder
daughter, Mary, afterwards provided with a husband,
Wilham Carey, was one of Henry's mistresses. The
advice and guidance of such a father could not have been
of much value in the training of the early life of the
" little brown girl." For a time she enjoyed life in the
old castle, wandering in the old-fashioned garden, now
converted into a tennis-lawn, working embroidery, and
studying lessons with her governess. There is a letter
of hers extant, which shows that she was not a very
learned child. Her father had written to her a stern
letter of reproof, and bade her answer it without the aid
of her governess or masters. You can imagine the
youthful Anne, sitting in the pleasant parlour, squaring
her shoulders and preparing to write this terrible letter.
Probably she cried over it. It was not a very good letter.
You can read it to-day, or try to do so ; some of it is
illegible, and much unintelligible ; but the writer was only
about ten years old, and her engaging ways made amends
for her strange caligraphy. While still young, as a maid
of honour, she accompanied to Paris, Henry's sister, Mary,
the bride of Louis XII., after whose death she remained

Hever Castle 231

at the French Court as maid of Claude, the austere Queen
of Francis I. She loved the gaiety of that brilliant throng,
and legend tells of her presence at the gorgeous pagean-
try of the Field of the Cloth of Gold, and how she there
attracted the attention of the English King. After seven
years of brilliant pleasure she was recalled to England, and
renewed her triumphs. She played and danced, and sang
with more grace than any other lady at Court, and the
gaiety of her conversation, with the buoyancy of her dis-
position, attracted a crowd of admirers, among whom was
the amorous Henry. She fell in love with, and was
beloved by. Lord Percy, the son of the Earl of North-
umberland. What a different fate had been hers if the
course of this true love-match had been allowed to run
smoothly. It was opposed by the King. Wolsey was
ordered to separate the lovers. For Percy was found
another bride, and poor Anne returned disconsolate to
Hever to mourn her lover as she paced the box-lined walks
of the garden, to vow vengeance against the Cardinal, as
she stamped her angry foot while she walked along the
old corridor, and to dream of power and ambition, which
the attentions of Henry had encouraged. Sir Thomas
Wyatt, her devoted admirer, would often come to Hever,
from his own grey towers of Allingham, to console and
talk with her. He has given us a portrait of her when she
came home from the French Court, describing —

The rare and admirable beauty of the fresh and young Lady Anne Bolein.
. . . In this noble imp the graces of nature graced by gracious
education seemed even at first to have promised bliss unto hereafter
times. She was taken at that time to have a beauty not so whitly clear
and fresh, above all we may esteem, which appeared much more excellent
by her favour passing sweet and cheerful, and these both also increased
by her noble presence of shape and fashion, representing both mildness
and majesty more than can be expressed.

Sir Thomas fails not to tell of her defects — of that " little
show of a nail upon one side of the nail on one of her
fingers," and of the small moles which rumour stated
appeared on certain parts of her body ; but these only

232 Memorials of Old Kent

increased his admiration. That ungallant Venetian
Ambassador, Ludovico Falier, dared to write that " my
lady Anne is no beauty. She is tall of stature, with a
sallow complexion, long neck, large mouth, and narrow
chest. In fact, she has nothing in her favour besides the
King's great passion for her, and her eyes, which are indeed
black and beautiful." If good Sir Thomas Wyatt had read
that description of his adored one there would have been
a mighty duel.

So Lady Anne rages and sighs and waits at Hever.
And presently the King comes. He had been hawking
and lost his way. Her father welcomes him, and regrets
that Anne is ailing and cannot be there to greet her
sovereign. Henry returns again and again. There are
tender talkings in the old garden. These old walls have
listened to the story of that strange love-making, and
heard the indignant answer of the lady who declared that
she could not be the wife of a married monarch, and
would not be his mistress.

And so the affair progressed. The notion of Henry's
divorce from his faithful queen was started, and the course
of history changed. It was probably at Hever that Henry
betrothed his new bride. We will not follow her to her
Court. I prefer to picture her the brown girl at Hever.
Here she came again before she became Henry's queen.
A mysterious disease developed in England, termed the
sweating sickness, which seems to have been somewhat
similar to our modern influenza. Anne's attendants caught
the malady, and she was sent by the King's orders to her
home at Hever. But she carried the infection with her,
and communicated it to her family. Both Anne and her
father were m imminent danger, and the old house echoed
with anxious whisperings. .Scared faces were seen in the
long gallery and the sick room. Dr. Butts, the King's
physician, was in constant attendance, and by his skill the
patients recovered. Well would it have been for her if
the good doctor had not been so careful, and if she had

z

O

Hever Castle 233

breathed her last in the quiet old house at Hever, ere that
" crowded hour of glorious life " had run its course, the
pageants and the plays, the roars of London's welcome,
the pomp and glittering show of that brief triumph that
ended in treachery or frailty, in the gloomy prison in the
tower, and that piteous scene on Tower Hill, where the
headsman from Calais stood ready to strike off the fairest
head in England, " perhaps the most revolting murder ever
committed." And as we wander in the garden that she
loved, or pace the long gallery and corridors that once
echoed with her tread and heard her merry laugh, we
shall hesitate before we condemn the maid who refused
the unworthy attentions of a King, and who was not likely
to yield to the seductions of inferior and baser suitors.
Whatever her faults were, we shall not think of them at
Hever, redolent with the memories of the Lady Anne.

The rest of the story of the castle is soon told. Henry,
not content with the murder of his queen, ordered her
brother to share her fate, and, on the death of her father,
two years later, seized the castle and property. The old
house must have been partially dismantled, as Sir John
Tebold wrote to Thomas Cromwell in 1539: "Much of
the goods in the manor house at Hever has been removed
by the advice of the Archbishop of Canterbury ; part of
the stuff and all the implements yet remain. I have
stayed them by the advice of Sir Thomas Willoughby till
the King's further pleasure." Some panelling seems to
have been used for increasing the height of the pews in
the church. The King subsequently gave the castle to
another of his many wives, Anne of Cleves, and some re-
ports state that she died there. It was sold in 1557 to Sir
Edward Waldegrave, Bart., Lord Chamberlain to the
Household of Queen Mary, whose descendant, James, Lord
Waldegrave, conveyed the property to Sir William Hum-
freys. Lord Mayor of London in 17 16. In 1745 it was
bought by Sir Timothy Waldo, who came of a Huguenot
family, a Solicitor in Chancery and Under-Sheriff of

234 Memorials of Old Kent

London. The last event in the history of the castle is
its purchase by America's famous son, Mr. William Waldorf
Astor, who also owns another historic house, Cliveden, on
the banks of the Thames. Mr. Astor is a scholar, and a
lover of all that is ancient, and we feel sure that in the very
complete restoration which he is inaugurating, he will
treat the historic walls of Hever with reverence and care.
He found the castle in a sad condition. It has been used
as a farmhouse. Sightseers often visited the old place,
carved their names on the stonework and panels, carried
away some of the panelling, and did more harm to Hever
Castle than the lapse of centuries had caused. Mr. Astor
will restore the castle to its ancient glory. He has built
a Tudor village in the place of a cluster of barns and out-
houses. The cottages are about a hundred in number, all
under one roof, which is composed of old red tiles, and
connected with the castle by a bridge and a subway. They
are intended for guests and servants. An Italian garden is
being constructed on the eastern side of the castle, bounded
by walls, and in this are four pavilions with arched roofs
and a beautiful arbour. A new lake is being formed,
covering forty-five acres. The second or outer moat is
to be re-opened, the ancient drawbridge re-constructed,
a model farm, an extensive deer park, a new public road
and bridge spanning the Eden river, and many of the
modern requirements of a gentleman's twentieth century
house added. About 2,000 workmen are employed upon
these vast operations.

But we will visit Hever Castle before its renovation, and
try to picture it as it was when poor Anne Boleyn, " the
brown girl with the perthroat," lived and dreamed in its
pleasance garden, or listened to the quaint discourse of
Sir Thomas Wyatt. It is girt by a broad moat. The
principal entrance is embattled and strongly machicolated,
in order that the defenders might hurl missiles and weapons
upon any foes who attempted to force the gates. Above
the doorway there is some delicate perpendicular arcading.

Hever Castle 235

and on the projecting buttresses some carved panel-work.
The gateway is in three storeys, and has perpendicular
windows. On the right is a tower, which may be older
than the gateway ; and on the left an ivy-clad tower and a
two-storeyed building recessed. The gateway itself looks
formidable, defended by a portcullis, made of timber, like
a great harrow, riveted with iron ; two thick oaken doors,
studded with iron ; and on either side of the entrance are
guard-rooms. There is also an iron portcullis, and another
timber one. Beneath this archway Henry VIII. often rode
when he came to visit the Lady Anne. Passing through
the arch, we enter the small but picturesque courtyard,
about 40 feet square, around which the various chambers
are grouped. There are two storeys, and the building is
half-timbered. The first floor is built of stone. Above
these are perpendicular timbers with windows let in at
intervals, and surmounted by a sort of frieze, curved-shaped
timber being used, which form a pleasing picture. On one
side of the courtyard, according to Nash's view, these
curved timbers were used in the construction of the whole
of the wall above the stone base ; but if that was so in his
time it has since been altered. Some of the bays in which
the windows are placed project from the wall, breaking the
line, and giving a picturesque effect. The windows are
filled with diamond-paned glass. The hall is the principal
room in every mediaeval house, and at Hever it is a fine
chamber, panelled, and beneath the window, on the left
of the huge fireplace, are two aumbries, where doubtless
Sir Thomas used to keep his plate. There is the minstrels'
gallery, and there was a large and aricient oak table, which
has lately been removed. The entrance corridor has a
large fireplace and fine-beamed ceiling, and out of this
we pass up the quaint staircase to the main corridor on
the first floor. The long gallery, which is about 100 feet
long and 14 feet wide, is a charming feature of the house,
with its deeply -recessed window, known as Henry VIII.'s
window, where doubtless he used often to sit with his future

236 Memorials of Old Kent

queen. The ladies' parlour, formerly called the council
room, is over the main entrance of the castle, and here are
preserved some family pictures, a small portrait on panel
of Anne Boleyn, and some old furniture and needlework,
the latter being attributed to the queen. The tracing over
the fireplace is worthy of notice. It consists of two angels,
each holding two shields, showing the arms and alliances
of the Gary and Boleyn families, of Gary and Stafford,
Boleyn and Howard, and Henry VIII. and Boleyn. One
of the bedrooms is still known as Henry VIII. 's room, and
Anne Boleyn's chamber still is redolent with the memory
of the luckless queen. Another chamber is known as Anne
of Gleve's room. Endless other chambers may be explored,
amongst others the chapel, which has been divided into
several rooms. If Mr. Astor's workmen have not scared
away the ghost of the Lady Anne she, too, may be seen,
if legends be true, as her unquiet spirit is said to cross the
old bridge over the river at Ghristmastide. But the old
bridge has disappeared, and, perhaps, the ghost has gone
too. Another ghost once haunted the castle — that of a
farmer named Humphrey, who, returning home from
Westerham, was robbed and slain. After this a shrouded
figure was seen wandering from room to room, and again
peering into the sullen waters of the river. The rector,
however, effectually laid this spirit by means of a bowl of
Red Sea water, and it was seen no more.

Nothing can exceed the picturesqueness of this old
dwelling-place of the Boleyns. The grey stone walls of the
fortified portion blend harmoniously with the mellowed
brickwork of the chimney shafts. There is no sign here
of the rich and vast elegance of the other Kentish houses
of Knowle, Gobham, and Penshurst ; but the interesting
historical association of Hever, its peculiar and quaint style
of architecture, and its wondrous picturesqueness render it
most pleasingly attractive. We have reason to hope that
its thorough restoration will in no wise spoil this historic
mansion, or drive away the memories of its former greatness.

Hever Castle 237

In the village there is the old inn named after Anne
Boleyn's lover, Henry VIII., and the ancient church con-
tains several memorials of the former owners of the castle.
Here is the tomb of John de Cobham, who married the
elder daughter of William de Hever, the last of the lords
of the manor of Hever of that family, whose other
daughter, Margaret, married Sir Oliver Brocas, of Beau-
repaire Park, a famous warrior, and hereditary master of
the Royal buckhounds. The most important memorial is
the Garter Brass of Sir Thomas Boleyn, or Bullen, the
father of the luckless Anne. He is attired in armour, and
wears the robes of a Knight of the Garter, with collar,
order, and garter complete. The inscription runs : —

Here lieth Sr Thomas Bullen, Knight of the Ordre of the Garter,
Erie of Wilscher, and Erie of Ormund, which decessed the 12th dai of
Marche in the yere of our Lorde 1538.

Of him the faithful " steward of his house and surveyor
of his lands," Robert Cranewell, wrote from Hever the day
after the Earl's death : —

He departed this transitory world I trust to the everlasting Lorde, for
he made the end of a good Christian man, ever remembering the goodness
of Christ.

We will leave the old knight who gained the height
of his ambition and saw his daughter seated on a throne,
and then witnessed the destruction of all his power, and the
inhuman murder of his daughter and son, sleeping calmly
his last sleep, and muse upon the transitory nature of
earthly glory, and the sad story which Hever tells.

DICKENS AND KENT

By the Rev. Canon Benham, D.D., F.S.A.

iICKENS can hardly be said to have done for
Kent what Scott and Burns did for Scotland.
He was not born in Kent, nor was the greater
part of his life spent there. Much of his best
work has London scenes for its subject, but he has written
enough to throw a real interest over some Kentish locali-
ties. He describes the places with wonderful skill, yet the
incidents connected with them are for the most part com-
paratively shadowy. No man can ever think of Alloway
Kirk or the Brig o' Doon without connecting them with
Tam o' Shanter's ride ; nor of Loch Katrine apart from
the fair Ellen and Roderick Dhu. But there are very few
passages from the works of Dickens that I can so
definitely locate in Kent ; I shall mention a very few, all
in fact that I am sure of.

He was born at Portsmouth, February 7th, 18 12, and
the family moved to Chatham when he was between four
and five years old. Their residence was at 2, Ordnance
Terrace, near the railway station (it is now No. 11), a com-
fortable and pleasant two-storied house it appears. Here
they lived from 1817 to 1821, and the days seem to have
passed pleasantly enough to the child. His mother taught
him to read, and he says she did it " thoroughly well."
His father used to get up theatrical entertainments, in
which he and his brothers and sisters took parts, as well
as a few of their neighbours, amongst them a cousin,
named Lamert, who was to be the original of Dr.
Slammer in Pickwick. There was a playfellow, named

23S

Dickens and Kent 239

Stroughill, pronounced Strohill, wlio is said to have been
the original of Steerforth. Struggles was the name of
one of the bowlers in the Dingley Dell cricket match.

There is some very pretty writing in his Uncom-
mercial Traveller, describing those youthful days. I think
the chapter entitled " Dullborough Town," written when he
was over fifty years old, one of the most charming things
he ever did. He describes his run down in the train to
the place from which he had been carried in the stage-
coach, and then proceeds to revel in the memories of his
youthful sports, not forgetting certain love-passages when
one figure was sufficient to tell his age.

They had to remove in 1821 from Ordnance Terrace on
account of his father's poverty, and went to 18, St. Mary's
Place, a much poorer, two-storied dwelling — " whitewashed
plaster front, and a small garden before and behind."
Next door was a Baptist chapel, and to the minister
thereof, named Giles, the boy was sent for instruction,
and always spoke affectionately of him. We may say with
confidence that his education was in a large sense begun
and finished in Chatham. He tells in Copperfield how his
father had a library of old novels, and how he used to
read them over and over again. He told Forster the same
thing, and the fact displays itself in his letters. He tells
further that he was never great at cricket, or marbles, or
peg-top ; and this one may say is also seen in his writings.
Was there ever such a stupid description of a cricket match
as that in the seventh chapter of Pickwick, when Luffey
was appointed to bowl to Dumkins and Struggles to
Podder? I never read that chapter without amazement
at the colossal ignorance of the game displayed by our
author.

But here is a passage which I will quote verbatim from
his Uncommercial Traveller, written in 1861 : —

It is midway between Gravesend and Rochester, and the widening
river was bearing the ships, white-sailed, or black-smoked, out to sea,
when I noticed by the wayside a very queer small bov. " Hullo '. "

240 Memorials of Old Kent

said I to the very queer small boy, "where do you live?" "At
Chatham," says he. "What do you do there?" says I. '"I go to
school," says he. I took him up in a moment, and we went on. Pre-
sently the very queer small boy says : " This is Gadshill we are coming
to, where Falstaff went out to rob those travellers and then ran away."
"You know something about Falstaff, eh?" said I. "All about him,"
said the very queer small boy. " I am old (I am nine), and I read all
sorts of books. But do let us stop at the top of the hill, and look at
the house there, if you please." "' You admire that house? " said I.
" Bless youj sir," said the very queer small boy, " when I was not more
than half as old as nine, it used to be a treat for me to be brought
to look at it. And ever since I can recollect, my father, seeing me so
fond of it, has often said to me, ' If you were to be very persevering,
and were to work hard, you might some day come to live in it ! ' Thous^h
that's impossible," said the very queer small boy, drawing a low breath,
and now staring at the house out of the window with all his might.
I was rather amazed to be told this by the very queer small boy ; for
that house happens to be my house, and I have reason to believe that
what he said was true.

That is certainly a skilful fragment of autobiography.
For the queer boy is himself, and he is telling in 1861 what
he was thinking about all those years before, and how his
father first put into his head the desire to live at Gadshill.
There can be no doubt that those days were among the
very happiest of his life. His later writings are redolent
of his childhood. In the second chapter of the Sketches
by Boz the old lady was taken from a memory of the
dwellers in Ordnance Terrace ; so was the Half-pay
Captain. When he got out at the railway station
he realised that it had been of yore his play-
ground, where, " in the haymaking time," he " had
been delivered from the dungeons of Seringapatam,
an immense pile (of haycock), by [his] countrymen,
the victorious British (boy next door and his two
cousins), and had been recognised with ecstasy by [his]
affianced one (Miss Green) who had come all the way
from England (second house in the terrace) to ransom and
marry [him]. On the same renewed visit he went to the
theatre, and remembered how it now fell short of his early
ideas." " It was mysteriously gone, like my own youth —

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in

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Dickens and Kent 241

unlike my own youth, it might be coming back some day ;
but there was Httle promise of it." And, further, as he
walked along he saw the doctor going into his house, and
suddenly recognised in him his old playfellow, Joe Specks,
and rapturously followed him and renewed the acquaint-
ance to their mutual delight, and found that he had married
Dickens's old flame of the Seringapatam days, Lucy Green.
I should like to know whether Joe Specks was the original
of Mr. Chillip. There is another paper in the Uncom-
mercial Traveller describing Chatham dockyard and the
Medway.

These happy days came to an end in 1821, when the
family migrated to London.

A.s I left DuUborough in the days when there were no railways in the
and, I left it in a stage-coach ; through all the years that have since
passed have I ever lost the smell of the damp straw in which I was packed
like game, and forwarded, carriage paid, to the " Cross Keys," Wood
Street, Cheapside, London ? There was no other inside passenger, and it
rained hard all the way, and I thought life sloppier than 1 had expected
to find it.

The next few years were miserable enough ; the
abject poverty of the family, the father in a debtors'
prison, the child drudging in the blacking factory ; but
happily we have no concern with those days here. He
worked his way onwards into a lawyer's office, then to
the position of a newspaper reporter, then tried his hand
successfully at authorship, and dropped his first success
into the letter box of the Monthly Magazine. Then came
the publishers' proposal to him to write Pickwick, and
from that time onward his prosperity was ensured. One
of the first results of the book was the renewal of his
friendly relations with Kent. On the 2nd of April, 1836,
he married Miss Catherine Hogarth, and went down to
the village of Chalk, between Gravesend and Gadshill, for
his honeymoon. And in successive seasons he went there
frequently. He had now his mind well fixed on Kent.
He had probably been to Maidstone and Canterbury in
R

242 Memorials of Old Kent

his newspaper-reporting days, but I need not say that
Rochester at once takes high place in the opening chapters
of Pickwick. The Bull Inn, its great ball-room and coffee
room, are to-day much as they were. The staircase in
Seymour's picture, on which the infuriated Dr. Slammer
is denouncing Jingle, is exactly as then; so are the bed-
rooms of Tupman and Winkle, one inside the other ; so
is the coffee room in which Mr. Winkle received Dr.
Slammer's challenge through Lieutenant Tappleton. Fort
Pitt, where the intending duellists met, is on the high
ground close to Chatham Railway Station, and the
Chatham Lines, where Mr. Pickwick witnessed the review
and first met with Wardle, are close by.

The identification of Muggleton with any town on
the map I hold to be an impossibility. It certainly is
not Maidstone, for the incidents of the journey will not
fit. It is evident to me that Dickens did not mean it to
be identified, though it is possible, as his son suggested,
that he may have had Town Mailing in his mind for a
few of the details. So with Dingley Dell ; it might be
a dozen places, a typical English yeoman's hospitable
home. Local tradition is strong for Cobtree Hall, near
Aylesford. There are features within and without the
house which correspond with the description. And it is
even averred that a Mr. William Spong, who died in
1839 'irid was buried in Aylesford Churchyard, was Wardle.
In Rainham Churchyard is a wooden rail over the grave
of Job Baldwin. The local doctor once told me that this
was the original of Sam Weller. I asked Charles Dickens
the younger about it, and he replied that he had heard
it, but could not say whether it was true. Sam Weller
said that " Job was the only name he knew that hadn't
got a nickname to it." I have sometimes thought that
at any rate Dickens had heard that dictum from Job
Baldwin.

One inn we have in Pickwick about which there is
no doubt — the " Leather Bottle," at Cobham, to which

"The Leamikr Bottle," Cobham.

Dickens and Kent 243

Mr. Tupman retired to recover from the effects of Miss
Rachael's faithlessness. It is described to the Hfe, and
there it is as Mr. Pickwick saw it, only that they have
hung upon the walls of Mr. Tupman's room a lot of pic-
tures illustrating Dickens. The site of Bill Stumps's stone
is unrevealed.

For several years after the Pickwick success was
assured he took a holiday at Broadstairs. The eighteenth
number of Pickwick was written there, so were portions
of Nickleby and The Old Curiosity Shop. In 1847 he
was writing Dombey here, and I may note that though in
the other works that I have named Kent does not come
in, in Dombey, Carker's terrible death unmistakably occurs
at Paddock Wood Station. The villain came there intend-
ing to get on to the branch to Maidstone. The place is
much built upon now, but as I first remember it there was
the inn in which he tarried exactly as described, as are
some particular features of the station.

His first lodging at Broadstairs was at 10, High Street,
and naturally the house is still a show place, modest and
simple, as became his finances in early days. Later he
went to the house — still conspicuous — known sometimes
as " Fort House," sometimes " Bleak House." He wrote
part of the novel bearing this latter name here. He
places his Bleak House at St. Albans, but some details
of it are taken from the Broadstairs residence. In a
letter addressed to his American friend Felton in 1843,
he first gives an amusing description of the village and
its inhabitants, and then proceeds: —

In a bay window in a one-pair sits, from nine o'clock to one, a
gentleman with rather long hair and no neckcloth, who writes and grins
as if he thought he were very funny indeed. His name is Boz. At one
he disappears, and presently emerges from a bathing machine, and may
be seen — a kind of salmon-coloured porpoise- -splashing about in the
ocean. After that he may be seen in another bay window on the ground
floor, eating a strong lunch ; after that walking a dozen miles or so,
or lying on his back in the sand reading a book. Nobody bothers him
unless they know he is disposed to be talked to ; and I am told he is
very comfortable indeed.

244 Memorials of Old Kent

He was very popular among the boatmen, and in one
of his late Uncommercial Traveller papers has a good
word for them.

Though he puts Miss Betsy Trotwood's residence in
Dover, the lady from whom she was drawn lived at
Broadstairs, and the green on which she would not allow
the donkeys is on the Fort here. There is a very amusing
paper in an early Household Words called " Our English
Watering-place," meaning Broadstairs.

In 1849 he began David Copperfield, and with it re-
newed his Kentish reminiscences. We have seen how he
had been backwards and forwards to Dover and Broad-
stairs, and we have the boy running away from London
to his Aunt Trotwood at Dover, selling his jacket at
Chatham to the horrible old marine-store man, DoUoby,
whom many old inhabitants of Chatham professed to
remember, as they pointed out his dwelling-place off the
High Street.

At the corner of a dirty lane, ending in an enclosure full of stinging
nettles, against the palings of which some second-hand sailors' clothes,
that seemed to have overflowed the shop, were fluttering among some
cots, and rusty guns, and oilskin hats, and certain trays, full of so many
old rusty keys of so many sizes that they seemed various enough to open
all the doors in the world.

But of course Canterbury is the chief Kentish town of
this story. I avow that I have no doubt as to Mr.
Wickfield's house. There it is halfway up the High
Street.

A very old house bulging out over the road ; a house with long, low
lattice windows bulging out still further, and beams with carved heads
on the ends bulging out too, so that I fancied the whole house was
leaning forward, trying to see who was passing on the narrow pave-
ment below.

The description would do for to-day. I am not so sure
about Dr. Strong's. There is no school which would
answer to his, and Dickens evidently meant to make it
all vague. Some accounts say it was a house in Burgate

Bi.EAK HorsK, Broadstairs.

Dickens and Kent 245

Street. In my own imagination I have always identified
it with the Deanery, and many and many a time have
imagined the old doctor walking in the Deanery garden
reading the dictionary to the enraptured Mr. Dick. The
hotel at which the latter put up when he came over
on his periodical visits to David was the " Fountain."

David's school days at Canterbur}^ I need not say, have
no correspondence with Dickens's, though the book is in
a great degree autobiographical. There is one sentence
in which he evidently intended to express a sadness which
was already settling down upon his spirit, and which
afterwards brought great trouble — " There can be no dis-
parity in marriage like unsuitability of mind and purpose,"
said Mrs. Strong. And he tells us with unmistakable
significance that he kept on ruminating on this, and re-
peating it sadly to himself. I reluctantly quote this, and
shall refer to it no more. I knew and respected much the
originals of Agnes Wickfield and Esther Summerson, of
Bleak House. The latter died a year or two ago, a very
charming person. The " httle inn " at which Mr. Micaw-
ber gave his choice dinner to David is the " Sun," just off
Mercery Lane. The mean house of Uriah Heep and his
mother, " a low, old-fashioned room, entered straight
from the street," is in a lane on the south side of Castle
Street.

In the books which followed, Kent does not appear for
some years. He frequently paid visits to it, especially to
Rochester, sometimes for a day, sometimes for two or
three. In 1855 he wrote to his friend Mr. W. H. Wills,
who was his assistant editor of Household Words, and
did a good deal of business for him, that he had seen " a
small freehold " to be sold, opposite to the house of which
his father in his child days had told him he might some
day perhaps be possessor. The negotiation which Wills
opened for this " small freehold " came to nothing, but
almost immediately afterwards, to his delighted amaze-
ment, Wills told him that the other house was in the

246 Memorials of Old Kent

market — Gad's Hill Place. It had been popularly known
as " The Hermitage." He called it from that time by the
name which it will henceforth always bear. Wills nego-
tiated again, and as the result bought it for him for
;^i,790. This was in March, 1856. The cheque was
written on a Friday, and he remarks in one of his letters
that all the important events of his life had happened to
him on a Friday.

It was not until February, 1857, that he gave up his
residence at Tavistock House, and went to Gravesend,
whence he superintended the fitting up of Gadshill for
his residence, on which he entered in June. And this
residence guided his imagination once more to seek out
things in Kent. I have already mentioned his papers in
the Uncommercial Traveller ; they were written now in
his new periodical All the Year Round, started in 1859.
Some of his Kent papers were reminiscences of the
Rochester and Chatham of his childhood, some of notes
which he made during his walks. In December, i860,
he began " Great Expectations " in All the Y ear Roimd,
and nearly all the interest gathers round Kentish scenes.
He opens his story in a village in the marshes (locally
" meshes "), and it would be harder to find in all literature
a more romantic- case of a wonderful glamour thrown over
scenery than his descriptions of this wild and picturesque
neighbourhood. I was once driven by a prosperous
grazier for a whole day over these marshes, and the
memory abides with me. I can still see the browned grass,
the dykes, the cattle feeding, and seem at this hour to
feel the stillness and loneliness, and how, climbing on a
gate I saw the white estuary of the Thames. Dickens
makes you feel it all. I was prepared for what I saw by
the opening chapter describing Pip's village. There is no
doubt that this was Cooling. Dickens often walked in its
lonely churchyard ; I think he could see it from his chalet
at Gadshill. Pip, it will be remembered used to be shewn
the little gravestones of his many brothers and sisters.

Dickens and Kent 247

I found that this bleak place, overgrown with nettles, was the
churchyard; and that Philip Pirrip, late of this parish, and also
Georgina, wife of the above, were dead and buried, and that Alexander,
IJartholomew, Abraham, Tobias, and Roger, infant children of the afore-
said, were also dead and buried ; and that the dark flat wilderness
bevond the churchyard, intersected with dykes and mounds and gates,
with scattered cattle feeding on it, was the marshes ; and that the low
leaden line beyond was the river ; and that the distant savage lair, from
which the wind was rushing, was the sea.

The name belonging to the stones which he thus appro-
priated to his own imaginary family seems to have been
Comport. The village inn is the " Three Horseshoes,"
which Pip transmutes into the " Three Jolly Bargemen."
Mr. Forster says that Joe Gargery's forge is now converted
into a dwelling-house. When I visited the place I set
it down that the forge which Dickens drew from was at
the neighbouring village of Cli£fe-at-Hoo. At any rate
I not only heard the musical clink of the hammer on the
anvil, but the blacksmith was singing at his work as Joe
used to do. By the way, the song which he used to sing,
" Old Clem," is said to be one of the " properties " of
Chatham Dockyard. The solitary mill in which Orlick
nearly murdered Pip can be identified, so can the inn on
the river near which Magwitch was captured.

So much for the village, but we remember that a great
deal of the story belongs to the town, which it is needless
to say is Rochester. Pumblechook's house, which in
Edwin Drood also does duty for Mr. Sapsea's house, is in
the High Street. Miss Havisham lived at " Satis House "
in the story, but here we have to take heed that there is
a real Satis House in Rochester which has a different
interest to us. Dickens took the name and applied it to
Miss Havisham's residence, but her house is really
" Restoration House," in the Maidstone Road, formerly
Crow Lane. It is so called because Charles II. lodged in
it when returning from exile. It is a very beautiful build-
ing, over which the fiction has thrown a strange and weird
romance.

248 Memorials of Old Kent

By means of Miss Havisham's gift to him Pip was
apprenticed to Joe. The ceremony took place in the
Guild Hall. There it is to-dav, with its " moonfaced
clock " projecting into the street, and its internal fittings
and interesting portraits, all of which so impressed Pip.
And then the party went off to the " Blue Boar " to dinner
— no other than our old acquaintance the " Bull." There
Mr. Wopsle gave his terrific recitation over the " Com-
mercial Room," which produced a message from the
"Commercials" that "this wasn't the Tumblers' Arms."
On the other side of the doorway is the Coffee Room,
where Mr. Pumblechook administered his rebuke to Pip
in his adversity, and Drummle and Pip had hostile words
by the fire.

The original Satis House was the residence of Richard
Watts, whose will, dated 22nd August, 1579, contained the
following direction, amongst others: —

First the Alms-house already erected and standing beside the Markette
Crosse, within the Citty of Rochester aforesaid, which Almshouses my
Will Purpose & Desire is that there be reedified added and provided
with such Roomes as be there already provided Si.x Severall Roomes with
Chimneys for the Comfort placeing and abideing of the Poore within
the said Citty, & alsoe to be made apt & convenient places therein for
Six good Matrices or Flock Bedds & other good & sufficient Furniture
to harbour or lodge in poore Travellers or Wayfareing Men being noe
Common Rogues nor Proctors, & they the said Wayfareing Men to
harbour & lodge therein noe longer than one night unlesse Sickeness be
the farther Cause thereof & those poore Folkes there dwelling shall
keepe the House swete make the Bedds see to the Furniture keepe the
same sweete & courteously intreate the said poore Travellers & to every
of the said poore Travellers att their first comeing in to have fourpence
& they shall warme them at the Fire of the Residents within the said
House if Need be.

The house of the poor travellers is in the High Street,
nearly opposite Sapsea's house, and an inscription over
the door tells that it is built for the fulfilment of Watts's
will. In May, 1854, Dickens visited it in company with
Mark Lemon, and at the end of the year he made vigorous
use of his observations in his Christmas number of The

<
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Dickens and Kent 249

Seven Poor Travellers. In the course of it he took
occasion to hint in plainest terms that the funds were mis-
managed, and that in the monument of Richard Watts in
the south transept of the Cathedral, that old worthy
appears to be springing eagerly out of his grave because
of the ill-usage of his bequest. Whether or not his article
produced the change, a change there is now, and the
bequest is a right valuable one to the poor and needy.

Before coming to his last words on Rochester it will
be well to say something more about Gadshill. When
he bought it, he seems to have had no idea beyond that
of making it a summer residence ; he regarded it as an
investment, in fact. But continued ownership brought
increased liking, and the personal troubles and restlessness
which came to a climax just about the time of the
purchase caused him to cling to the place more and more.
He wanted rest of mind and body, and determined to seek
it here ; and so he abandoned the idea of letting it. It
was this which led him to be always improving. His
first move was to put up an inscription on the first floor
landing, which I suppose is there still — it was when I
visited the house — an inscription illuminated by Owen
Jones, and bidding the visitor welcome: —

^fanbe on f0e eummif of ^^afteepcare^e (^abe^i^f*

(5t)er memoraBfe for itz aseociafiong voii^

^ix 3o6n S^fefaff in 016 noBfe fancg.

But my lads, my lads, to-morrow morning at four o'clock early at
Gadshill ! There are pilgrims going to Canterbury with rich offerings,
and traders riding to London with fat purses : I have vizards for you all ;
you have horses for yourselves.

Soon he sank a deep well — much needed. It was a
heavy expense, and he declares that the digging and
fitting the pump is " like putting Oxford Street endwise."
He made a new drawing room, a conservatory, a billiard
room, new stables and coach house, a new servants' hall.

250 Memorials of Old Kent

with a room over it for his boys. On the other side of
the high road was a shrubbery belonging to the property,
much neglected, but containing two magnificent cedars.
He obtained the sanction of the authorities, and had a
tunnel made under the road, so that he could pass to it
privately. He then laid it out very prettily, and when in
1865 Fechter gave him a handsome Swiss chalet, he had
it put up in this shrubbery, fitted it luxuriously, and had
mirrors placed all over the uprights so as to reflect the
trees and flowers and landscape in all manner of forms.
Old Rochester Bridge was pulled down, and he gracefully
accepted from the contractors one of the balustrades, and
made it a stand for a sundial.

And here, as his letters and life tell so pleasantly, he
rejoiced continually to welcome his friends. He was always
methodical and regular in his work. After breakfast he
walked round the house and garden, visited the dogs
which he loved so much, and which take a conspicuous
place in his life ; then settled down to work, in summer at
the chalet, at other times in his study, the front room to
the right of the door. This study, it will be remembered,
had a door which was all made up into sham books with
funny titles. His letters also tell of fetes which he gave
to his poor neighbours, of their enjoyment of them, and
their orderly behaviour.

His personal worries had as much to do as his desire
to increase his wealth, with his undertaking his public
readings. Their prodigious success urged him on, and
his health suffered. It was a physical breakdown which
caused him to go to France early in 1865, and on the 9th
of June in that year he was in a terrible railway accident
just beyond Staplehurst. I never pass the spot without
looking out upon it. Dickens's was the only carriage
which was not thrown over the bank. He was unhurt, and
won the gratitude of those concerned by his long and
earnest ministry to the wounded and dying. In the few
days afterwards he wrote as one quite recovered from the

Rochester Cathedral : West Front.

Dickens and Kent 251

shock, but in reality he never recovered. 1 Ic used to have
tremblings and jarrings in his head. That day five years
he died at Gadshill. For the present he resumed his
readings, and in November, 1867, went to America in
response to a most lucrative offer to read, coming back in
May, 1868, ;^20,ooo richer. Then he resumed his readings
in England, but at a terrible cost to health. It was a
relief to himself when he resolved that Gadshill, and that
only, should be his residence.

On the day of his death, June gth, 1870, he worked all
the morning at his new book, The Mystery of Edivin
Drood, and after luncheon went back to it (which was
very unusual with him), and returned to dinner at 6 o'clock,
intending to walk in Cobham Park with Miss Hogarth
afterwards. They had hardly sat down, however, when
he was seized with a fit and fell on the ground. They
picked him up and laid him on a sofa, " under this window,"
said the woman who shov^^ed me the fatal dining room.
And here he died, twenty-four hours after his seizure,
on a Friday. The neighbouring churchyards of Chalk
and Shorne, Rochester Cathedral, and the cemetery of
St. Nicholas', were all proposed as burial-places, but Dean
Stanley offered a grave in Poet's Corner, which was
accepted. I saw the funeral going into the Abbey without
knowing whose it was, and later in the day saw the coffin
in the open grave.

It still remains necessary to say a very few words
about his unfinished novel, Edivin Drood. Rochester
becomes Cloisterham therein ; it had been " Winglebury,"
" Our Town," " Dullborough," in previous writings. There
is no need to quote at length his latest descriptions of the
ancient city. Eastgate House. High Street, becomes the
" Nuns' House " in the story, and a very picturesque spot
It is as seen from the street. I have been told that he
had this house in his mind in telling Mr. Pickwick's
adventure at the Ladies' School, though he places it in
Bury St. Edmunds. He calls it " West^ate House " there.

252 Memorials of Old Kent

" Minor Canon Corner " is Minor Canon Row. Jasper's
residence in the Gateway is identified at once as College
Yard Gate, sometimes called Chertsey Gate, and the
" Lumps of Delight " shop, where Rosa Bud bought this
sweetmeat, is very near the Nuns' House. I believe I
knew Mr. Crisparkle, the minor canon, a very pleasant
man; but he still lives, so I must not unveil him. People
in the neighbourhood professed to identify Sapsea and
Durdles. An old verger who took me round twenty years
ago, claimed to be Mr. Tope. He said he did not believe
that Dickens ever ascended the tower. If that is so, the
weird expedition of Jasper and Durdles is evolved from
the great novelist's imagination. I have no doubt, after
long reflection, that the solution of the mystery has been
found by Mr. Crouch, namely, that Jasper murdered
Edwin, and that Datchery is Helena Landless.

One may just note that abundant names in Dickens's
books are found in the Rochester Churchyards. It is
interesting to identify his localities of course, but it is
more interesting and more delightful to come over and
over in one's reading upon the grateful respect in which
the man was held by his Kentish neighbours. He had
his faults, but he was a generous, tender-hearted, lovable
man.

CHILLINGTON MANOR HOUSE (now the
Corporation Museum), MAIDSTONE

By J. H. Allchin

Chief Curator and Librarian of Maidstone Museum.

)NE of the most interesting of the many old
buildings in Maidstone is a fine example of the
domestic architecture of the middle or later
Tudor period, known formerly as Chillington
Manor House, but which is now the Corporation Museum.

Like many of the ancient manors in the land, that of
Chillington (or Chillingdon, or Chillingden, according to
some of the deeds) has passed through the hands of many
owners and various vicissitudes.

The earliest mention we can find of Chillington is,
that in the fourteenth century the manor of that name
was in the possession of the Cobham family, who were
barons in the time of Edward I., and in 1343 King
Edward III. granted to Sir John, Lord Cobham, Justice
Itinerant, free warren of all his lands in Kent, including
the Manor of Chillington.

Sir John, who lived to a great age, and died in 1408,
married Margaret, daughter of Hugh Courtenay, Earl of
Devonshire, and thereby became brother-in-law to
William Courtenay, Archbishop of Canterbury — 1381-
1396 — who was so closely associated with the early history
of the Parish Church of St. Mary, Maidstone, and who
obtained a licence from King Richard II. in 1395, to
convert it into a Collegiate Church, which he re-dedicated
to All Saints.

253

254 Memorials of Old Kent

From the Cobhani family the Manor of ChiUington
passed into the possession of the College of All Saints,
and was subsequently held by the Maplesden (or Mapelys-
den) family, of Digons, in Maidstone, now known as the
Priory, and at the present time the residence of the vicars
of Maidstone.

That family continued the owners of ChiUington
until the second year of Queen Mary, when George
Maplesden forfeited it to the Crown as one of the penalties
for his rash participation in the ill-considered and
ill-fated rebellion led by Sir Thomas Wyatt of AUington
Castle (1554). It has been conjectured that some of the
details of that rising may have been planned by the lead-
ing conspirators in one of the rooms of the older portion
of ChiUington House, and it is not a difficult matter to
imagine the secret meetings and discussions that may
have occurred in some of those old rooms.

The Kentish historian Philipott tells us that when
the estate passed from the Maplesdens it was granted to
Sir Walter Henley ; if so, it evidently did not long remain
in his possession, but must have been restored to
the Maplesdens, because in the Corporation muniments
there is a deed by which, in 1561, ChiUington was con-
veyed to Nicholas Barham from George, John, and Robert,
sons and co-heirs of Peter Maplesden, who, according to
Berry (Pedigrees of the Families in the County of Kent),
belonged to " Lyd, co Kent," and whose will was proved
in 1526, twenty-eight years before the estate was alien-
ated by the George Maplesden referred to ante, who
was presumably one of the three who conveyed the
property to Nicholas Barham in 1561, the 4th of Elizabeth.
Barham was Sergeant-at-law to Queen Elizabeth, and
Recorder and Member of Parliament for Maidstone,
and it is to him that the building, or re-building in
1562, of the central portion of ChiUington House, with
its two bays and gabled fronts, is attributed. He
apparently joined his newer structure on to the remains of
an older one, for the long half-timbered portion shown in

CuiLLiNf.TuN Manou Housic, Soutii Front, 1S57.

[now the MAIDSTONK MUSEUM.]

Built by Nicholas Barham, 1562— Restored, 1874.

Opened as a Museum, 1858.

licproduccd by pcrviission 0/ the Museum Authorities.

Chillington Manor House, Maidstone 255

the accompanying plate, which projects from the north-
east corner of the present central building, is supposed
to be of about the time of Henry VH. or Henry VHI.,
and IS a very picturesque example of the half-timbered
architecture of that period.

Nicholas Barham, who was a member of a family of
that name (originally de Barham), long settled at Wad-
hurst, Sussex, being a branch of the Barhams of Barham
Court, near Maidstone, died from gaol fever at the assize
at Oxford in 1577, and was succeeded in the ownership
of the estate by his son Arthur, whom in his will he
charged —

As be will answer for it before the seate of God, to use himselfe like
an obedient child towards his mother, who hath bene unto him a very
good and loving mother, as myselfe very well knowe.

Arthur Barham held the estate until early in the
seventeenth century, when {circa 1609) he sold it to Henry
Haule, a member of an ancient family of that name (or
de Aula), settled at Wye, in this county, and from him it
descended to his grandson, George Haule, who, dying
in 1650 without issue, left the estate to his sister and
heiress, Elizabeth, wife of Sir Thomas Taylor, whose
son Thomas, the second baronet, married Alicia, heiress
of Sir Thomas Colepeper, the last of the Colepepers of
Preston Hall, Aylesford. Sir Thomas and Lady Taylor
disposed of the estate, or a portion of it, as we shall see
a little later on, to Sir John Beale, Bart, of Framlingham,
Suffolk ; he died in 1684, and one of his two daughters
and co-heiresses conveyed Chillington to her husband,
William Emmerton, Esq., of Chipstead, Surrey. From
the Emmertons the estate passed into the possession of
John Leche, Esq., of Boxley, near Maidstone, and he, in
t69<S, sold it to Robert Southgate, whose son Robert
apparently succeeded to the ownership ; but here we come
to a piece of evidence concerning the owners of the
Chillington estate at this particular period of its history
which appears to indicate that at some time previously

256 Memorials of Old Kent

Chillington House had been disconnected from Chilling-
ton Manor, and converted into a separate property.

In previously published histories of Chillington House
it is recorded that in 1743 the assignees of Robert South-
gate, the son, sold the property to David Fuller, an
attorney, of Maidstone ; but in the Reference Library in
the Museum there are MS. copies of two deeds which
tend to prove that it was only the house that was sold to
Southgate the elder in 1698, and not the manor, for the
name of Southgate does not appear in either of the deeds
which refer to various transactions between the years 1718
and 1736.

One deed relates the proceedings under a mortgage
between Dame Alicia Taylor, alias Milner (her second
married name) of Preston Hall, Aylesford, and Samuel
Miller, of Canterbury, in the first place, but afterwards
transferred to Thomas Best, of Chatham, by which it
appears that the said Dame Alicia Taylor, alias Milner,
held possession of the " Manor of Chillington, alias
Chillingden," until the year 173 1, when, being unable to
release the mortgage, she parted with the property to
the aforesaid Thomas Best, and he, in 1736, disposed of
the estate to Sir George Cooke, Kt., of the Inner Temple,
London, which transaction is defined in the second deed.
We may therefore conclude that, although Sir Thomas
and Lady Taylor sold Chillington House to Sir John
Beale, not long after they inherited it — i.e., towards the
end of the seventeenth century — Chillington Manor was
retained by Lady Taylor, under a deed of mortgage, until
after her second marriage, and that she finally disposed of
the whole estate in 1731.

It is interesting to note in passing, that in the deeds
just referred to, amongst the various properties comprised
within the " Mannor of Chillington," mention is made of —

All that ancient Building, Stow House, or Chappell comonly called
Saint Faith's Church or the Dutch Church, and now sett apart for God's
Worshipp, the West End thereof being formerly used for a Barn but
now converted into Tenements together with the Church vard.

Chillington Manor House, Maidstone 257

This entry in the deeds makes it necessary for us to
go back to the time of Nicholas Barham, in whose will
we read : —

And my mynd and will further is that my wiffe shall have liberty for
herselfe and family to resort to the Chappell, and for the residue of her
family in the said Chappell.

It is a moot point, and probably one that will never
be settled, whether the " Chappell " named by Barham
in his will was a private chapel attached to the house, or
the old St. Faith's, or Dutch Church, mentioned in the
deed of sale. With a public place of worship situated
only a few yards from Chillington House, and being a
portion of the same property, with a right of way to the
same, there was apparently little need for a private chapel
to be built as part of the house, especially as Barham
would doubtless have reserved a special right to a certain
portion of the old Dutch Church for the use of himself
and family, and wished that right continued for his wife's
convenience. It has, however, been thought by some
who have been associated with the place, and investigated
its past history, that a private chapel did exist as part
and parcel of the house itself, and as will be seen later on,
a modern building now occupies the supposed site of the
old chapel.

Mr. Fuller, into whose possession the property passed
in 1743, died without issue, and, after the death of his
widow, Chillington House had several owners until in
1 80 1 it was purchased by Mr. William Charles, who,
although a medical man, established, in conjunction with
a Mr. Harris, a felting and blanketing business here ; and
so the old manor house, which in the past had been a
residence of knights and dames, became the scene of a
commercial industry for nearly forty years, when, on the
death of Mr. Charles's son William in 1840, the property
came into the sole possession of his brother, Thomas
Charles, who, like his father, was a general medical
practitioner (but retired from practice), and a bachelor.
S

258 Memorials of Old Kent

He continued to reside in the house until his death in

1855.

During his Hfetime he amused himself with the study
of archaeology, and in the course of numerous excursions
in the county he made several interesting pencil draw-
ings of old buildings and other objects of antiquarian
interest ; he also formed a collection of objects of
antiquity, mostly Romano-British pottery, found in the
town and neighbourhood, and at his death he bequeathed
the whole of his collection, including several oil-colour
paintings, to the town, and thereby gave the nucleus of
what is now one of the largest provincial museums in
England.

In the year of Mr. Charles's death the Corporation
adopted the "Public Libraries Act, 1855," then known as
the " Ewart Act " ; and in 1857 they secured by purchase
Chillington Manor House, with the adjoining garden,
now almost entirely covered with the Municipal Technical
Schools. In the following year (1858) the old building
was opened as a Public Museum, with Mr. Edward Pretty,
F.S.A., as the first curator. Mr. Pretty, who was a native
of Hollingbourne, a small village between Maidstone and
Ashford, was an old and intimate friend of Mr. Charles,
and had held the position of drawing master at Rugby
School for many years ; he was also of an antiquarian
turn, an accomplished draughtsman, and an excellent
miniature painter.

In the Reference Library there is a collection of very
skilful pencil drawings by him of a large number of the
old buildings of Maidstone and district, and of several
of the Kentish churches ; several of the former have
altogether disappeared, and many of the latter have been
"restored" beyond recognition, so that the drawings
themselves possess a great value from an archaeological
point of view, quite apart from the artistic merit which
they undoubtedly possess ; for they show that Mr. Pretty
was endowed with a keen artistic talent, and that he

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Chillington Manor House, Maidstone 259

possessed a rare capacity for the faithful delineation of
detail.

He died in 1865, aged 73, and left his library of books,
chiefly on art and archaeology, and his large collection of
prints, and pencil and water-colour drawings by himself
and other artists, to the Museum.

Mr. Pretty was succeeded by Mr. W. J. Lightfoot,
from the British Museum, who held the appointment until
his death in 1 874, and during his curatorship many impor-
tant alterations to the old building, and extensions in the
shape of new wings, were effected.

It was also during his time of office that the modern
chapel was built on to the east side of the long gallery and
cloister, on what was supposed to be the site of the chapel
referred to in Barham's will ; and in the same year, 1874,
the south wing of the Court Lodge, East Farleigh —
an interesting half-timbered building of the time of
Henry VI H., with a fine example of kingpost — was
carefully taken down, carted into Maidstone, and re-erected
as an annexe to the cloister, the cost being defrayed by a
member of the Tyssen-Amherst family, to whom it
belonged.

Between the last-named year and 1890 many other
improvements were effected, the expenses of the same
being defrayed partly by public subscription and partly
by the generosity of private individuals. It is not amiss
to record here the names of some of the liberal -hearted
benefactors to the museum during the early years of its
existence, for the establishment and expansion of the
institution would have been an almost impossible matter
without the generous help of Mr. Julius L. Brenchley,
Messrs. Balston, Messrs. T. and J. Hollingworth, Mr.
William Laurence, Mr. Alexander Randall, and Messrs.
Samuel and Richard Mercer, all of v.'hom exercised a par-
ticularly active interest in the welfare of the old building,
and its gradual improvement.

In recording the history of the Museum within more
recent years, two important additions must be noticed.

26o Memorials of Old Kent

In 1890 the annexe, known as the Bentlif Art Gallery,
was erected to the memory of the late Mr. G. A. Bentlif,
by his brother, Mr. Samuel BentHf, who, at his death in
1897, bequeathed a large and valuable collection of oil
and water-colour paintings to the gallery, and also left a
liberal endowment for the maintenance of the same.

A few years later — i.e., 1897-99 — the latest addition
to the institution was effected by the erection of the
Victoria Library and County Room, for which the
necessary funds were provided by public subscription, in
commemoration of the Diamond Jubilee of her late
majesty, Queen Victoria.

The County Room, as its name denotes, is reserved
exclusively for collections of the Kentish fauna and flora.

For some of the information concerning the early
history of Chillington House the writer is indebted to an
article, entitled " Chillington and its Vicissitudes," written
several years ago by Mr. Edward Hughes, an old resident
in Maidstone, and. one who is deeply interested in the
town and its past history.

CHILLINGTON HOUSE AS A MUSEUM

The contents of Maidstone Museum may be said to
represent an epitome of the archaeology and natural
history of Kent, and the following summary of its principal
collections will be useful for visitors and students.

I. — Brenchley Room (West Wing): — English,
Chinese, and Japanese pottery, Japanese bronzes and
enamels, Chinese and Japanese carvings of ivory, crystal,
and jade, and many other examples of the art of the Far
East. Oil colour paintings by Canaletto, Pannini,
Nicholas Poussin, Northcote, Opie, George Morland, T. S.
Cooper, Albert Goodwin, and other artists of the English
and Foreign schools.

2. — Ethnographical Room : — The Brenchley collec-
tion of objects illustrating the ethnography of New

Chillington Manor House, Maidstone 261

Caledonia, New Hebrides, Solomon Islands, Friendly
Islands, the Fiji and Sandwich Islands, Australia, and
New Zealand.

3-4. — Entrance Hall and Great Hall (Portion of
Nicholas Barham's structure): — Armour, weapons, and
old furniture of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

5. — Cloister (Henry VIII. period): — Geological
collection. Holocene and Pleistocene, Kent. Pliocene,
Suffolk and Essex. Miocene, France. Oligocene, Isle
of Wight. Eocene, S.-E. England and N.-W. France.
Cretaceous and Neocomian, Kent and Sussex. Jurassic,
Triassic, Carboniferous, and Silurian.

6. — Long Gallery (Henry VIII. period): — A large
general collection of minerals.

7. — Drawing Room (Portion of Nicholas Barham's
structure) : — Antiquities of the Bronze, Romano-British,
and Anglo-Saxon ages, the majority of them having been
found in Kent, and including the Maidstone Neolithic
bowl. Egyptian pottery from the Beni Hassan excava-
tions, and from the Egypt Exploration Fund ; also other
antiquities from Egypt, Greece, and Italy. On the wall
at the head of the staircase is arranged a series of por-
traits of the Hausted, or Hasted, family, predecessors of
Edward Hasted, the historian of Kent (1782-18 12).

8. — Bird Room (Upper Floor of West Wing): —
Brenchley collection of birds from Australia, New
Zealand, South Pacific, and North and South America.
Kentish collection of birds, nests, and eggs.

9. — County Room: — This room is reserved exclusively
for collections representing the Fauna and Flora of Kent.
At the present time it is only partially furnished, but will
ultimately contain the large collection of Kentish birds
now in the adjoining room. It is also proposed to arrange
in this room a type collection of fossils from the various
Kent formations.

The collections now here are: — Some cases of birds
arranged in groups with natural surroundings, presented

262 Memorials of Old Kent

by Mr. R. J. Balston, F.Z.S., etc. ; birds' nests and eggs,
mammals, fish, land, marine and fresh water shells ; Crus-
tacea, insects, embracing an extensive collection of bees
found in the county, the majority of them from the
immediate neighbourhood of Maidstone, including many
rare specimens, such as Ceratina cyanea, Stelis pheoptera,
Stelis octo-maculata, Cilissa vielanura, Andrena laponica^
Andrena polita, Andrena cetiiy Halictus maculatus,
Sphecodes rubicundus, and Prosopis cormita ; a Kentish
herbarium — some of the specimens are exhibited in the
wall-case of the gallery ; and the Harrison collection of
Eolithic, Paleolithic, and Neolithic stone implements from
the Chalk Plateau of Kent, the Oldbury Rock Shelters,
and the Medway gravels.

lo. — Shell Room (Upper Floor of East Wing): —
A very extensive general collection of shells from widely-
distributed countries, and corals ; also several thousand
species of British and Foreign lepidoptera, including the
Brenchley, Balston, and Tasker collections : the last
named collection includes a very comprehensive series of
the lepidoptera papiliones, and lepidoptera phalaenas of
Switzerland.

II. — News Room (Lower Floor of East Wing).

12. — Victoria Lending Library.

BENTLIF ART GALLERY

13. — Upper Floor: — The Benthf collection of oil and
water colour paintings, including examples by David
Cox, Turner, Copley Fielding, Clarkson Stanfield, Wm.
Alexander, J. Varley, Aaron Penley, Samuel Prout, Henry
Bright, John Brett, E. M. Ward, E. R. Hughes, Joseph
Clark, T. S. Cooper, Arthur Hughes, Walter Shaw, and
other artists.

14. — Ground Floor: — Oil colour paintings by the
following deceased artists : Salvatore Rosa, Snyders,
Steenwijck, Wijnants, Van der Neer, and others. A large

Chillington Manor House, Maidstone 263

and varied collection of about nine hundred examples
of Japanese domestic pottery, on loan from the Hon.
Henry Marsham. A valuable collection of English
needlework of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth
centuries. Illuminated MSS., Books of Hours, and early
printed English books, including a copy (imperfect) of the
Golden Legend, dated 1527, printed by Wynkyn de
Worde, William Caxton's assistant and successor. Loan
collection of art objects from the Victoria and Albert
Museum, South Kensington.

15. — Vestibule: — Plaster casts from the antique.

16. — Reference Library: — An extensive collection of
books on archaeology, numismatics, topography, genea-
ology, history, biography, art, and natural history ; and a
special collection of works relating to the county of Kent
generally, including the topographical drawings by
Edward Pretty, F.S.A., Dr. Charles, and Mr. Edward
Hughes.

17. — On the walls of the staircase leading from the
vestibule to the upper floor is a collection of engravings
and original drawings by William Woollett, one of
England's greatest engravers, a native of Maidstone
(1735-1785). One of the drawings is a chalk portrait of
himself when a youth, discovered a few years since in a
country mansion in the neighbourhood of Maidstone, and
which had hitherto been unknown, except by the family
who possessed it.

ROMNEY MARSH IN THE DAYS
OF SMUGGLING

By George Clinch, F.G.S.

HERE are two points about Romney Marsh which
are perhaps specially noticed by one who visits
the place for the first time. One is the number
and importance of the churches m relation to
population ; and the other, not quite so obvious at first,
possibly, is the magnificent pasturage and abundant flocks
of sheep. These two features, singular as it might appear,
are really closely related. The chief wealth of Romney
Marsh has always been derived from its wool, and it is
to the wealth and piety of former generations, rather than
the needs of a large population, that the fine churches of
the district may be attributed.

Romney Marsh occupies a not unimportant part of
Kent, comprising, in fact, about one-twentieth part of
the area of the whole county ; but its mere acreage is
as nothing when compared with its value as rich
pasturage. There is, no doubt, a touch of sarcasm in the
Kentish people's division of the world into five parts, viz. :
Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and — Romney Marsh ; but,
at any rate, it tends to emphasize the fact that this
district was regarded as a very important part of Kent.

Lambard, in his Per ambit I at ion of Kent (1576), has a
not very complimentary account to give of Romney
Marsh. He describes it, borrowing from a classical writer,
as " evil in winter, grievous in summer, and never good."

264

RoMNEY Marsh in the Days of Smuggling 265
He writes : —

If a man minding to pass through Kent towards London, should
arrive and make his first step on land in Rumney Marshe, he shall
rather finde good grasse under foote than holesome Aire above the head.

Still he does justice to the marsh in other respects.
Thus : —

Rumney Marshe is famous throughout the Realme as wel for the
fertilitie and quantitie of the soile and levell, as also for the auncient
and holesome ordinances there used, for the preservation and main-
tenance of the bankes, and walles, against the rage of the Sea.

Of course, Lambard's description was written before
the proper draining and embanking of Romney Marsh
were carried out.

An interesting account of the various stages in the
enclosure or reclamation of Romney Marsh is given in The
History of Romney Marsh from its Earliest Formation
to 1837, by William Holloway (1849); but in the present
article it is neither possible nor necessary to go into the
details of this important subject.

The story of smuggling in the marsh and other
adjacent parts of Kent, with which this brief chapter
deals, affords a less ambitious, but perhaps not less
attractive, theme. It may be convenient to the reader,
however, to give in a few words some general indication
of the extent and features of the marsh, and of the
methods and stages by which the shoals and shingle
banks on this, the most south-eastern point of the coast of
Kent, were converted into dry land whereon is found at
the present day perhaps the finest — certainly some of the
finest — sheep pasturage in the world.

What is now generally known as Romney Marsh
consists, in fact, of several distinct marshes, viz. : Romney
Marsh, Denge Marsh, Walland Marsh, Kent and Sussex
Rother Levels, Guldeford Level, Brede Level, Tillingham
Level, and various other spots.

Romney Marsh proper contains fifteen parishes, the

266

Memorials of Old Kent

names and populations of each in 1831 being according
to the following table : —

New Romney

■ 983

Old Romney

113

Hope

24

Orgerswick

8

St. Mary's

III

Blackmanstone

4

Dymchurch

521

Burmarsh

105

West Hythe

168

Eastbridge

16

Newchurch

241

Snave

93

Snargate
Brenzett

76

262

Ivychurch

198

The total population of Romney Marsh proper, somewhat
less than a hundred years ago, therefore, was 2,923 persons.

New Romney Marsh, formed by the stopping up of
the old mouth of the river, lies to the east of New Romney.
In 183 1 it contained only 398 acres of land.

The old bed of the river Rother lies between the
Marsh Wall, which constitutes the south-western boundary
of Romney Marsh, and the Rhee Wall, which is the north-
eastern boundary of Walland Marsh. The river once
flowed past Appledore to Romney, and thence out to
the sea. In 1831 New Romney Marsh contained about
loi acres of land.

Of course, it will be understood that in a sea coast
like that of Romney Marsh there have been many gains
and losses from siltings and storms during the year.

Denge Marsh lies to the south and south-west of
Romney Marsh, and consists largely of broad tracts of
shingle beds, now dry. In order to walk over them with

RoMNEY Marsh in the Days of Smuggling 267

any degree of comfort, broad pieces of wood called " back-
stays," or " back-stayers," are used, attached to the sole
of the boot, the purpose of which is to prevent the feet
of the pedestrian sinking into the pebbly beds. Denge
Marsh contains Lydd, a rather important town, possessing
a church which is sometimes called " the cathedral of the
marsh."

The other more important division of the level lands
in this district is that known as Walland Marsh, in which
are Fairfield, with a population in 1831 of 48 ; Brookland,
434; and Midley, 52.

It has been supposed that in Romano-British times
Rornney was the only spot of land existing in what is
now called Romney Marsh ; but the discovery of traces
of a Roman pottery factory at or near Dymchurch points
to the existence of dry land in that district at least as
early as the Romano-British period. The great and
important engineering work known as Dymchurch Wall
is actually the safeguard of the whole marsh. Its destruc-
tion would mean the submergence of much of the low-
lying lands and the destruction of much extremely valuable
property. Whatever the various gains and losses on
other parts of the marsh coast may have been, it is prac-
tically certain that this bulwark against the sea is as old
as the Roman occupation of Britain.

From time to time various strips of land have been
reclaimed from the sea. This is particularly true of the
southern or south-western side of Bungeness. In
Archczologia, vol. 40, pp. 361-380, there is an extremely
interesting account of this district, with map or chart
showing " Romney Marsh as it was certainly in the time
of the Saxons, probably in the time of the Romans, and
perhaps in the time of the Britons."

To a large extent the shingle on the southern part of
the marsh has apparently been deposited as a result of
natural forces.

There are a good many curious particulars as to the

268 Memorials of Old Kent

enclosure of different parts of the marsh to be found in
Holloway's History of Roniney Marshy to which reference
has already been made.

Much of the past history of Romney Marsh and the
adjacent districts is intimately connected with various
forms of smuggling. First and chief was the exportation
of wool to France without paying export duty. At
certain times English guineas have been sent over
privately and sold at a handsome profit beyond their face
value. Lace, silks, and spirits have been amongst the
principal imports. Fullers' earth, too, was at one time
rather extensively exported.

" Wool-running " was the term often used to indicate
the trade done in sending the wool out of England in
such a manner as to evade the payment of export duty.
Of course, this was not confined to Romney Marsh. The
trade went on at Dover, at Canterbury, and at
Kingsdown.

The shoals and tortuous channels which embarrassed the mouth
of the Stour, and covered the approaches to the sandhills and Sandwich,
were peculiarly favourable to contraband trade, and all these facilities
were enhanced by the fogs and storms of the whole coast, which,
whilst they served to cover the operations of the smugglers, interrupted
the vigilance of the cruisers by creating dangers which could be lightly
regarded only by the experienced, bold, and skilful smuggling seamen,
prompted by the incentive of large and rapid gains. These gains were
double. The French and Dutch bid high for wool ; the enormous duties
levied upon French and Dutch liquors in England left a large margin
for illicit importation, and those commodities found a ready sale in
this country. Regardless, therefore, both of the dangers of the coast
and of the penalties imposed upon them, the smugglers went on
smuggling. The French bought the wool and wondered. The smugglers
smiled, drank, and sold brandy freely. Public moraHty and the revenue
sufTered. The clothiers continued to growl ; Parliament and the Council
issued more decrees ; and the world wagged on. — Historical Sketch of
Wool and Wool Manufactures in Great Britain.

Legislation against the exporting of wool and woollen
goods commenced at a very early date. One of the
statutes of Edward III (i Ed. III., c. 2, 1363-4), in

ROMNEY Marsh in the Days of Smuggling 269

providing for the free exportation out of this realm of
all " manner of merchandises," makes among others the
following interesting exception: — "Except that the
Enghsh merchants shall not pass out of the Realme with
wools or woolsels."

Royal proclamations prohibiting the exportation of
wool were issued from time to time by James I. In the
time of Charles II., however, absolute prohibition was
determined upon, more, it is believed, as a means of
increasing the King's revenue than with any intention
of benefitting the manufacturers. The natural result was
that smuggling in the Romney Marsh district increased at
an alarming rate. The greatest part of the wool sold
to France was sent from this district, being secretly put
on board French shallops by night, with well-armed crews
to guard them. Within two years forty thousand packs
of wool were landed in Calais alone from the coasts of
Kent and Sussex. The Romney Marsh men were not
content with exporting their own wool, but went boldly
into the Weald, and, purchasing what they could, conveyed
it to the coast.

An Act of Parliament of William III.i sets forth :

Whereas it is a common practice in Romney March and other places
adjacent for evil disposed persons to sheer their sheep and lodge wooll
near the sea-side and sometimes to bring wooll out of the country more
remote and lodge it as aforesaid where by fraud and force in the
night time the said persons do cause the same to be transported to
France to the increase of the trade of that kingdom and the destruction
of the trade of England. To prevent these practices for the future be
it further enacted by the authority aforesaid that all and every owner
and owners of wooll shorn or housed laid upp or lodged within ten
miles of the sea side within the counties of Kent and Sussex shall
be obliged to give an exact account in writing within three days after
the sheering thereof of his her or their number of fleeces and where
lodged or housed to the next adjacent port or officer of His Majesties
Customs or the like notice before he she or they shall presume to
remove any part or parcel thereof of the said number of fleeces and

1 9 William III., c. 40.

270 Memorials of Old Kent

weight and the name of the person or persons to whom it is disposed
and the place to which it is intended to be carryed and take a certificate
from the officer who first entred the same upon penalty of forfeiting all
such wooll as shall not be so entred or otherwise disposed of and the
owner or owners also to be liable to the further penalties of three
shillings for every pound weight of all such wooll as if the same had
been actually transported which said account the officers respectively
are hereby required to take gratis and give such certificate or certifi-
cates without delay to the party or parties demanding the same, and
shall therein specify the name or names of the owners and buyers
thereof and limitt it to such times and places to be removed. For which
duty and service the said officer or officers shall take and demand the
sum of six pence and no more for each certificate upon any account or
pretence whatever.

And whereas it is a common practice in the said Marsh for divers
persons not resident upon the place to buy upp great quantities of
wooll and transport or cause the same to be transported out of the
kingdom. For preventing such practices for the future be it further
enacted by the authority aforesaid — That no person or persons residing
within fifteen miles of the sea in the counties of Kent and Sussex
shall presume to buy any wooll before they do enter into bond to the
Kings Majesty His Heirs or Successors with sureties that all the wooll
they buy shall not be sold by them to any person or persons within
fifteen miles of the sea. And in case wooll be found carryed towards
the sea side in the counties aforesaid unless such wooll be first entred
and security given the said shall be forfeited and the person or persons
offending therein shall also forfeit three shillings for every pound
weight of all such wooll.

The following rather good story of smuggling on the
coast of East Kent was published in The Kentish Garland
(vol. ii., pp. 648-649) in 1882 : —

During the French war an eminent banking firm of Hebraic origin
carried on a flourishing connexion between the rival interests of France
and England : needless to state that each belligerent was totally un-
aware of the services rendered to the opposing nation. A large swift
vessel, propelled by sails and the oars of hardy Deal boatmen, carried
to the former country despatches from the English Government for their
French spies, and to the French Government a cargo of English guineas,
which at that time fetched thirty shillings ; and having safely disposed
of this freight, the ship was laden in return with silk, brandy, lace, and
tobacco, also letters from the spies : the latter were duly delivered to our
authorities, and the former disposed of in and out of our county at a con-
siderable profit. The captain was much trusted by his employers, and on

ROMNEY Marsh in the Days of Smuggling 271

one voyage he was informed his cargo was the largest he had carried —
from ten to thirty thousand guineas. The head of the honourable firm
anxiously awaited the return of his faithful servant, who appeared with
a very rueful countenance, and informed him that, being chased by a
government vessel, and fearful of being overhauled, they had cut the
throats of the bags, and the yellow-boys were at the bottom of the sea !
The banker raved, and demanded the spot where the catastrophe had
occurred ; the information, rather reluctantly given, specified a spot
close to the French coast, and the honest Hebrew, instinctively feeling
that he had been " done," communicated with his French agents. Divers
descended and brought back the bags, not, however, with their throats
cut, but intact, save that, in place of their original contents, a stone was
in each of them ! All parties being engaged in an illegal transaction,
the only revenge the banker could take was by dismissing the captain
from his employment, who laughed in his face, when he literally danced
and swore with rage. The crew, who shared in their chief's disgrace,
seemed rather " flush " of money for some time, while the captain first
bought a piece of ground and built himself a house ; in a short time he
got a few more houses, land followed, and ... in the second
generation his descendants were squires, and parsons, and justices of
the peace.

Many of the romantic as well as ordinary everyday
incidents in the story of Romney Marsh were more or
less intimately associated with the smugglers and the
smuggling trade. A great amount of freedom prevailed.
Money easily earned was quickly and freely expended.
Laxity in reference to the marriage tie was proverbial. A
species of handselling was in vogue, and the marriage of
maidens was notoriously rare. This is illustrated by the
humorous explanation of the curious detached spire and
belfry of Brookland Church. This is said to be due, not
to design, but to surprise and consternation occasioned by
a maid coming to church to be married. The spire is said
to have leapt down from the church in amazement at such
an unusual spectacle.

In some cases the churches were used as receptacles
for smuggled goods. Popular tradition points to Fair-
field Church as having been used for this purpose.
Fairfield is situated about two miles to the north-west of
Brookland in a secluded part of the marsh. The area of

272 Memorials of Old Kent

the parish is over twelve hundred acres, whilst the
population is about fifty souls.

It is a curious fact that Benenden Church, near Cran-
brook, in the Weald of Kent, which is said to have been
used as a place for concealing smuggled goods, once had
also, like Brookland, a detached belfry or campanile.

One of the chief needs of a smuggler was a convenient
and safe hiding-place for the articles in which he traded.
At various points round the chalky coast of Kent and
Sussex there are caverns excavated by the waves which
were probably employed for this purpose. At Birchington^
large underground chambers containing about twenty
thousand cubic feet of space were excavated in the chalk
by the smugglers, and could only be approached from the
shaft of a well thirty-two feet under the surface. The
Grotto at Margate may very well have been excavated
originally as a hiding-place for smuggled goods.
St. Clement's Caves, at Hastings, although natural
fissures in the rock, have evidently been improved and
expanded so as to make them useful as hiding-places.

Romney Marsh afforded no such means of concealment.
Moreover, wool is a rather bulky material and difficult
to hide. Smuggling here, therefore, had to be carried on
according to bolder and more daring methods. The wool
was carried boldly down to the ports or sea-shore to be
shipped. The following account is given of an attack
made in 1688 by the smugglers on W. Chater, a revenue
officer : —

Having procured the necessary warrants, he repaired to Romney
Marsh, where he captured eight or ten men who were carrying the wool
on horses' backs to be shipped, and desired the Mayor of Romney to
commit them. The Mayor, wishing, no doubt, to lead a peaceful life
among his neighbours, admitted them to bail. Chater and his assistants
retired to Lydd, but that town was made too hot to hold them — they
were attacked at night. Adapting the advice of the mayor's son they
next day came towards Rye. They were pursued by some fifty armed
horsemen till they got to Camber Point. So fast were they followed that

1 See The Antiquary, vol. xiv., p. 132.

New Romney Church.

RoMNEY Marsh in the Days of Smuggling 273

they could not get their horses over Guildford Ferry, but, luckily, some
ships' boats gave them assistance, so that the riders got safe into the
town.

The following is a curious ballad relating to the subject
of smuggling in Kent, which, in spite of manifest faults
of composition and rhythm, has considerable charm and
delicacy of sentiment. It is, of course, valuable on account
of the light it throws on the life of the smugglers of the
seventeenth or eighteenth centuries rather than for its
literary character. It is reprinted from a collection of
ballads in the British Museum. Its date is uncertain, but
one would be inclined to ascribe it to the end of the
seventeenth century, say, perhaps, about the year 1690.

THE SMUGGLER'S BRIDE

Attention give, and a tale I'll tell,

Of a damsel fair that in Kent did dwell,

On the Kentish coast when the tempest rolled,

She fell deep in love with a smuggler so bold.

Upon her pillow she could not sleep.
When her valiant smuggler was on the deep,
WTiile the winds did whistle, she would complain.
For her valiant smuggler that ploughed the main.

When Will arrived on his native coast,

He would fly to her that he valued most —

He would fly to Nancy, his lover true,

And forget all hardships he'd lately been through.

One bright May morning the sun did shine,

And lads and lasses, all gay and fine,

Along the coast they did trip along,

To behold their wedding and sing a cheerful song.

Young Nancy then bid her friends adieu.

And to sea she went with her lover true ;

In storms and tempests all hardships braves.

With her valiant smuggler upon the foaming waves.

One stormy night, when the winds did rise.

And dark and dismal appeared the skies.

The tempest rolled, and the waves did roar.

And the valiant smuggler was driven from the shore.

274 Memorials of Old Kent

" Cheer up," cries William, " my valiant wife."
Says Nancy, " I never valued life,
I'll brave the storms and tempests through.
And fight for William with a sword and pistol too."

At length a cutter did on them drive ;

The cutter on them soon did arrive :

" Don't be daunted ! though we're but two

We'll not surrender, but fight like Britons true."

" Cheer up," says Nancy, with courage true,
" I will fight, dear William, and stand by you."
They like Britons fought, Nancy stood by the gun,
They beat their enemies and quickly made them run.

Another cutter now hove in sight

And join'd to chase them with all their might ;

They were overpowered, and soon disarmed.

It was then young Nancy and William were alarmed.

A shot that moment made Nancy start,

Another struck William to the heart ;

This shock distressed lovely Nancy's charms.

When down she fell and expired in William's arms.

Now Will and Nancy love bid adieu.

They lived and died like two lovers true.

Young men and maidens now faithful prove.

Like Will and Nancy who lived and died in love.

A significant point about the smuggling of the
Romney Marsh districts, and, indeed, of the other parts
of the Kentish coast, was that not all who were associated
with this illicit trade were men of humble origin or mean
station. A writer in 1675 says :

It is well known that smugglers are not of the meanest persons in
the places where they dwell, but have oftentimes great interest with the
magistrates ; and, being purse-proud, do not value what they spend to
ingratiate themselves with persons of authority, to distrust all such as
discover their fraudulent dealings, or else by bribes to stop their
mouths. . . . The smugglers are not only well acquainted with some
attorneys and clerks, but they make good interest with the under-sheriffs
in the counties where they drive their trade ; and these have strange
tricks and delays in their returns, in which some of them will take part
with the offenders instead of executing the law against them.

RoMNEY Marsh in the Days of Smuggling 275

But if some of the more prominent people were asso-
ciated with this iUicit trade, there were others of the
lowest and most depraved character amongst them. The
gang of smugglers who about the middle of the eighteenth
century murdered Daniel Carter, a Custom House officer,
were miscreants of the lowest type. The group, seven in
all, were hanged at Chichester, January i8th, 1749. Their
dead bodies were hung in chains for the delectation of
the fowls of the air at Rake, at Selsey Bill, and at Rook's
Hill, near Chichester.

The scenery of Romney Marsh is not at once so
striking as one might expect, but it is really of singular
beauty, and possesses a charm which certainly increases
on renewed acquaintance. Seen from a passing ship, the
marsh-land looks flat and uninteresting, and no one whose
acquaintance was limited to this method of seeing it would
be very enthusiastic in its praise. The solitary lighthouse
at Dungeness, standing on what looks like a narrow bank
of shingle, presents a curiously desolate picture. The
waves are crushed into white, boiling foam on the pebbly
shore, the wind whistles in weird melancholy cadence
across the expanse of marsh and water. The whole
scene produces upon the mind a rather uncomfortable
impression of barrenness and desolation.

To see the beauties of the marsh one must walk or
drive about its quaint old-fashioned villages, or ascend
the lofty towers of New Romney Church or Lydd Church ;
or, still better, view the land from the commanding heights
near Lympne, where a glorious, comprehensive, and
striking panorama of the whole of Romney Marsh and
the adjacent country is spread out at the beholder's feet.

The late Dr. Parry, Bishop of Dover, caught the true
inspiration of the Marsh. In an address to the Kent
Archaeological Society in 1879^ he writes:

But take our Roman-ey, this Roman Marsh of ours, in one of its calmer,
brighter, happier moods. The sun, let me say, is hasting to his setting over

"^ Archaologia Cantiana, vol. xiii., 171-177.

276 Memorials of Old Kent

Fairlight, and the shadows are lengthening out Hythe-wards. A gentle
evening breeze rustles peacefully among the flags along the dyke-side. The
blue sky overhead was never more blue. Where are we? Is this Kent ? Are
we in England at all? Or have we dropped down somewhere on the Cam-
pagna, outside the walls of Rome ? For lack of a ruined aqueduct your eye
rests on the grey wall of Hope, or Eastbridge, or on the solitary arch of Midley.
On the one side rises a tall landmark across the plain, the Campanile of Lydd ;
on the other stretches far away the long ridge of the Alban and Sabine hills,
which folk hereabout call Lympne and Aldington. But I know better, for
while my friend the Marsh Rector and I are still arguing the point, there
comes creaking along the road to Ostia (New Romney, he calls it), a heavy
waggon drawn by the wide-horned, mild-eyed, melancholy oxen, which every
Roman artist knows so well.

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY CHURCH
ARCHITECTURE IN KENT

By J. Tavenor-Perry

I HE style of ecclesiastical architecture which was
in vogue during the seventeenth century does not
appeal either to the artistic or the archaeo-
logical sentiment with the same force as does
the work of the earlier centuries ; and belonging to no
definite style, despised by the Gothic architect as
" debased," and by the classic architect as rude and de-
formed, and with nothing but some accidental picturesque-
ness to recommend it to the artist, it has been to a great
extent ignored by architectural writers, as well as by the
contributors to our archaeological journals. This is the
more to be lamented since examples of the period are
gradually becoming rarer, as neglect suffers them to fall
into ruin, or destruction at the hands of the '' restorer "
converts them into the semblance of what they never were.
Sometimes, as at Halsted, they are removed to make way
for a correct modern-Gothic church ; or deformed, as at
Plaxtole, with incongruous excrescences, which seek to
persuade one that they themselves are the restorations of
an older building to which the original structure was but a
later addition. Sometimes, as at St. Nicholas', Rochester,
the window tracery has been converted into the correctness
of an earlier date, and the puzzled archaeologist is left to
wonder how it is that the fabric of the building is mani-
festly of a later date than its details. But whatever the
artistic merit of such buildings may be, they form an
inseparable part of the history of the architecture of the
country, and, as such, require to be considered equally with

277

2/8 Memorials of Old Kent

the more perfect buildings of the earher or the later
centuries.

The period of the English Reformation and the years
which immediately succeeded it were not favourable to
church-building ; whilst the eviction of the monks and the
destruction of their convents left, in such of their churches
as were permitted to remain, ample accommodation for
any increasing congregations. But even before the
opening scenes of that great revolution were enacted,
building operations in connection with church-building
had languished, or been confined to such memorial works
as the great chapels at Cambridge, Windsor and West-
minster ; and the remains of the architectural magnificence
of the sixteenth century are only to be looked for in such as
these and in the colleges which were erected and endowed
out of the revenues of the suppressed monasteries, or in
the great houses such as the new-made men were building
for themselves all over the country. Kent was, perhaps,
less affected by these events than most other parts of the
kingdom of equal importance. It had comparatively few
great monastic establishments, and it abounded in parish
churches sufficient for all the wants of the community.
Perhaps the only Kentish edifice of any importance of
this period to which reference can be made is the lofty
tower of Aldington, the church to which Erasmus was
appointed as rector when he first came to England, and
from which, for many years, he drew a pension. This
tower was erected by Archbishop Warham, who had a
palace near by, in the early part of the sixteenth century,
and it shews, in the rich ornamentation of the lower stage,
signs of the approaching debasement of Gothic
architecture.

With the opening of the seventeenth century, in conse-
quence of the more settled conditions of the country
resulting from the peaceful accession of the Stuart dynasty,
and the wealth acquired during the prosperous years which
succeeded the turbulent opening of Elizabeth's reign,

Upper Deal Church : West Tower.

Seventeenth Century Church Architecture 279

some return to the building activity of mediaeval times
becomes noticeable. The willing or enforced submission
of the people to the church as by law established, turned
their attention to the edifices which had survived the
neglect or destruction of the previous century, and some
attempts were made to repair and embellish them ; whilst
the revival of the ecclesiastical spirit, which culminated in
the administration of Archbishop Laud, fostered the
tendency to church-building which had already been
evoked. Thus in Kent we find, early in the century, that
many important restorations or rebuildings were taken in
hand. At Charing, where the church of St. Peter and
St. Paul had been nearly destroyed by fire in 1 590, a large
part of the church was soon afterwards rebuilt. In 1609
the tower and considerable portions of the church of
Halsted were erected, and in 1624 the large church of
St. Nicholas, Rochester, which was only first consecrated
in 1423, had become ruinated, and was entirely recon-
structed. In 1 62 1 the chapel of Groombridge was rebuilt,
any earlier edifice, which may have before served the
chapelry, having been entirely destroyed ; and by 1640
the nave and tower of Charlton Church, as they now
stand, were completed. At Plaxtole, in the parish of
Wrotham, a large and important church was erected,
probably through the influence of Laud, although the
date assigned to it is four years subsequent to his
execution. During the second half of the century,
however, the Rebellion and the Revolution, and all the
troubles incidental to the disturbed state of public affairs,
interrupted the progress of church-building ; but in the
east of the county, at Deal, which the fresh activity in the
naval affairs of the country had rendered very prosperous,
the tower and nave of St. Leonard's were rebuilt in 1684.
Besides these larger works there were numerous addi-
tions made to existing buildings, such as the porches of
Ashurst, Chiddingstone and Hucking, many of which are
undated, and their period only to be surmised from their

28o

Memorials of Old Kent

details. There was also a great deal of wood-work
inserted in the existing buildings during the seventeenth

^^'^'^^''^'^iUiiju; I'! ,11 ■ , , ."'.^B

Charing Church : Benches.

century, among which may be particularly mentioned the
rood screen of Chalk Church, and the west gallery of
St. Peter's, Ightham, erected by Sir William Selby in

Chiddingstone Church : South Porch.

Seventeenth Century Church Architecture 281

1619, pulled down a few years ago. Besides these there
are numerous pulpits and font covers, more or less en-
riched, which, not only in Kent, but throughout the
country, were added to the churches during the early part
of the century.

When building activity was resumed, the traditions of
the old styles were almost forgotten, and the workmen
were but ill-educated in the arts of the classic renaissance,
which were then spreading over the country. Thus when
the design to be executed was of an ambitious character,
drawings for the work, or instructions of more or less com-
pleteness were obtained from some master ; or, if of a
more modest character, the mason was left to his own de-
vices, and attempted to imitate the forms by which he had
always been surrounded. This is well exemplified by three
porches built within a few years and a few miles of each
other in the south-west corner of the county, viz., those of
Ashurst, Chiddingstone and Groombridge. The first of
these, according to the date upon it, was built in 1621, and
is of a simple, if not rude, character. It is of rough stone-
work with a plain, unmoulded arch of the depressed form
common of all late Tudor work, having in the gable a small,
worn sundial, beneath which, under a label, and within a
square recess, are the arms of Sir John Rivers of Chafford,
two bars dancetiee with three bezants in chief, who was
created a baronet the igth July, 1621. This porch has
been restored, and the apex of the gable is new, and the
only architectural features of the original seventeenth
century construction are the sundial and the shield of
arms. The porch of Chiddingstone Church is of a
much more interesting character, and has been described
in Bloxam's Gothic Ecclesiastical Architecture. It is a
particularly good example of the combination of classic
detail with the forms of the departing Gothic style.
The arch is semi-circular, with a keystone and capitals to
the jambs, all moulded in the renaissance style, but the
whole is placed within a square-headed dripstone in the

282 Memorials of Old Kent

perpendicular manner. The corbels under the springing
of the gables are formed into classic trusses ; and in the
centre of the gable is a well-finished sundial, over which is
carved the date, 1626. As is shewn by the illustration, the
upper part of the porch is now covered with ivy, so that
the gable-cross is hidden, but Bloxam describes it as " a
cross of the form heraldically-termed bottonee, or trefoiled
at the extremities, and this cross is of a date coeval with
the porch."

The porch of Groombridge Church, which in point of
date occupies a place midway between those of Ashurst and
Chiddingstone, is altogether of a more ambitious design,
and exhibits no traces of Gothic tradition. It is a question
whether, as we now see it and as shewn in our illustration,
it is complete, as the apex of the gable is finished meanly
in wood and in a manner not consonant with the solidity
of the lower part, and it is known to have been tampered
with in 1750, when, perhaps, some alterations were made.
The arch is semi-circular and the mouldings classic in
profile, the angles of the piers being boldly rusticated.
The gable bears, besides the dedicatory inscription and
date of 1625, tne coronet and plumes of the Prince of
Wales, with his motto, " Ich dien." This badge is
executed in a different stone from the rest of the work,
and may belong to the alterations of 1 750.

There are now no traces left of the earlier chapel which
stood at Groombridge in the reign of Henry III., for the
new chapel, erected in 1621, was apparently built on
an entirely new plan. It is merely a large hall of red
bricks, unbroken by any transept or indication of a chancel,
and with the projection of the south porch and the but-
tresses alone to mitigate the bareness of its outline. It
has suffered by restoration, but, as we now see it, exter-
nally at least, it remains pretty much as it was when first
built. The main alteration has been in the roof, which,
although doubtless of the original pitch, has been entirely
reconstructed. In 1820 the old roof was thought to be

Groombridge Church : South Porch.

Seventeenth Century Church Architecture 283

unsafe and was removed, and the roof which was then sub-
stituted with tie beams and a segmental-shaped ceihng was
superseded in 1896 by the present one, which can only
be an imaginary restoration of the original. In style the

'/f ..'Avj V S

'■;'iilw,'i:??-','S,?-p
'•/ ,1 ""■(U:;M

'"r;%7-*-':r|

J '• •■. -.1; ,,-■"/, ■ X •-

Northfleet : West Tower.

chapel is distinctly Gothic ; and it is only when the details
are examined that the debased character of the work is
discovered. The interior is divided into three bays, each
with a pair of three-light windows ; and there is one of
four lights at the east end and one of five lights at the

284 Memorials of Old Kent

west. These windows are contained under four-centred
arches, all boldly moulded, with cusped heads, but with the
eyes at the intersection of the heads with the mullions
unpierced, cind they might well pass for work dating a
hundred years earlier ; but the buttresses, bold and wide
spreading, are most curiously ornamented at the angles
and on the faces with boldly projecting stone rustics,
betraying their classic origin ; whilst the porch, as we
have seen, is wholly renaissance.

It is of common occurrence to find in an old church
a font of a date anterior to the oldest part of the existing
structure, as it was the laudable custom of our ancesters,
before it became fashionable to present new fonts and
windows to a church for the glorification of their donors,
to preserve the ancient font through all the changes the
fabric of the church might undergo ; but this was not
the case at Groombridge, and a font of a classic and not
ungraceful form was placed in the chapel at the time of
its rebuilding.

On the borders of the parish of Speldhurst, to which
Groombridge is a chapelry, another effort at church-build-
ing, not so successful architecturally, was made at the end
of the century. After the Restoration the fame of the
Tunbridge waters attracted the fashionable world in its
search for health and diversion combined, and the village
of the Wells sprang into being ; but it was not until
1685, when a subscription was made to build a chapel,
that it arrived at a perfected existence. Then was
raised that curious edifice, dedicated to King Charles the
Martyr, which still stands at the end of the Pantiles, the
centre of the fashionable life of the eighteenth century,
and the scene of the unhappy meeting of the Hebrews
with Maria Esmond and Parson Sampson. It is a
strange, mis-shapen building of red brick, with stuccoed
ceilings not without merit, and curious two-light windows
with pointed heads (its architect's tribute to ecclesiology),
and, rising over all, a lofty wooden cupola.

Seventeenth Century Church Architecture 285

In the last years of the reign of James I. the church of
St. Nicholas, Rochester, falling into a ruinous condition,
was taken down for rebuilding in 1620, and on the 24th
of September, 1624, according to an inscription placed
over the west door, the present building, erected in its
place was consecrated. The original structure was built
as a parish church early in the fifteenth century, the
parishioners having previously had their altar within the
cathedral, and was first consecrated on the i8th December,
1423, the second year of Henry VI. In its style, there-
fore, the edifice was perfected Perpendicular, and any
remains of the original work should evince the character-
istics of that style ; and we may, perhaps, consider that two
or three of the windows we now see are restorations, more
or less bad, of those belonging to the first church ; but the
remainder are merely the fanciful creations of a modern
architect who ignored the history of the building on which
he was engaged, and thrust in incongruous representations
of work anterior in date to the original foundation of the
building. A writer in the Gentlemen's Magazine for 1803,
who was a hundred years nearer than we are to the period
of the second consecration, and saw the church before it had
been restored, throws doubt on the correctness of the in-
scription. He avers that the invitation for subscriptions for
the seventeenth-century restoration contemplated repair
only ; and he remarks that a cursory view will satisfy any-
one that the old walls and windows belong to the church of
141 8, and that all that was done was "a new tower, roof,
pews, together with a trifling alteration of the pillars, and
an entire new glazing." There seems to be but little doubt
that this view is in the main a correct one, and that though
the reconstruction of the interior was so radical an alteration
as to necessitate reconsecration, the description on the
tablet exaggerates in describing as a rebuilding what was,
in fact, only a reparation. The reconstruction of the
interior was not a happy architectural effort ; the nave
arcades were rebuilt with rough, pointed arches standing on

286 Memorials of Old Kent

rude columns, modelled on the Tuscan order, and the old
tower was crowned by a wooden cupola. If the original
church had any bells they shared in the general ruin, for
two new bells, perhaps the old ones restored, were hung in
the seventeenth century, the earher of which is dated 1654.

The fate which befel St. Nicholas', Rochester, at about
the same time overtook St. Nicholas', Plumstead; and,
although we have not such detailed accounts of what
happened in its case, we may take the history to be pretty
much as it is related by Lysons. Early in the seventeenth
century the roof of the church fell in, and the place seems
to have been left in ruins for twenty years, when, by the
efforts of a Mr. John Gossage, a new building was erected
within the ancient walls, which has itself made way, in
recent years, for a partial restoration of the original.
Whether the grand tower now standing at the west end
of the north aisle was due to the labours of Mr. Gossage,
and who was the architect by whom it was designed, per-
haps can never now be discovered, which is the more to
be regretted since the tower is one of the most satisfactory
architectural efforts of the period. In its outline and pro-
portion it is essentially Gothic ; and the graceful manner
in which the stages rise one out of the other has resulted
in a composition comparable to works of the best period.
The moulded brickwork of the cornices and window dress-
ings is, of course, renaissance in detail, but shews the hand
of a skilled designer. Standing as it does now, among
streets of mean houses, its mellowed red-brick walls do
not shew to advantage ; but as Felix Summerly saw and
described it years ago, embowered among fine old trees,
it was, as he said, " a subject for the pencil."

The church of Charlton, near Woolwich, was,
with the exception of portions of the chancel, entirely
reconstructed in the seventeenth century. The works
were begun soon after the death of Sir Adam Newton, of
Charlton House, and completed in 1640 during the tenure
of the See of Rochester by Bishop Warner. This bishop

Plumstead Church : West Tower.

Seventeenth Century Church Architecture 287

shared in many of Laud's ambitious views, and, like him,
was a church builder ; and he became the founder, after
he had returned to his see at the Restoration, of the
college at Bromley. There he built a chapel, which was
destroyed in 1864 to make room for a modem

HOLLINGBOURNE CHURCH : THE CULIEI'ER ChaI'EL.

incongruous successor, which, as an excuse for its
destruction, was described as " built in the spurious
Italian style introduced into England in the reign of
Charles 11., having round-headed windows intersected
by a single stone mullion."

288 Memorials of Old Kent

Sir Adam Newton, the builder of Charlton House, had
been tutor to Henry, Prince of Wales, and had no doubt
frequently met with Inigo Jones, who held the position of
surveyor to that Prince ; and the tradition that Jones was
the architect of Sir Adam's house, although it has never
been satisfactorily confirmed, is extremely probable, par-
ticularly as in its style it recalls the work of the Fredriks-
borg and Rosenborg palaces in Copenhagen, and other
work in Denmark, with which he would be familiar.
Although the work at the church was not commenced
during Sir Adam's lifetime, he being, perhaps, too much
occupied in completing his own house, he had set aside
a sum of money for the rebuilding, and, very probably,
had had the drawings prepared for the work by his own
architect, possibly Inigo Jones himself, so that at his death,
in 1629, his executors proceeded at once with the build-
ing, completing it, as we have seen, in 1640. Moreover,
they gracefully concluded their labours by employing the
celebrated Nicholas Stone to erect a monument to the
benefactor in the church at a cost of ;^i8o; and to that
sculptor's chisel are due the effigies of Sir Adam Newton
and his wife, who was a daughter of Sir William
Langhorne.

The work of Charlton Church is executed almost
entirely in red brick, and is characterised, in the tower
especially, by a massiveness which atones, in a measure,
for the lack of ornamentation. There is scarcely a trace of
the Gothic tradition to be found in it except in the pointed
arches of the belfry stage and the battlements of the
parapets ; but the main cornice of the tower, and all the
mouldings and rustics of the porch, shew distinctly their
classic origin. Taken as a whole it is not an ungraceful
composition, or unworthy of so unique a position on the
hill-top overlooking the river.

In the year 1590 the church at Charing was burnt out
through the unfortunate mishap of one Mr. Dios, who on
a Tuesday in August, the weather being " extreem hot,"

Charlton Chukch: Wesi Tower and South Porch.

Seventeemth Century Church Architecture 289

aiming with a fowling-piece at a pigeon, hit the shingle of
the roof instead and set it on fire. Nothing was left of
the church but the bare walls, except the parvise over
the vaulted porch, and all the bells were melted as they
hung. Charing was then, as it appears to be to this
day, a well-to-do place. It had been an important
stopping-place for the Canterbury pilgrims ; the Arch-
bishops had there one of their principal palaces ; and
the sovereigns, in their progresses to the Continent,
made it one of their halting-places. It did not,
therefore, sit down tamely to bewail its misfortune, but
applied itself with energy and expenditure to repair the
damage. Whether the epithet " smoky," which, accord-
ing to Dr. Pegge's collection of proverbs relating to Kent,
seems to have been attached to its name, bore any allusion
to this event is uncertain, but the thoroughness with which
they obliterated all traces of the fire rendered it undeserved.
Within two years, from the great oaks of the Weald, was
raised over the lofty nave a fine new roof ; and, later — for
perhaps funds were for the time exhausted by this great
effort — early in the seventeenth century, the more ornate
roof was built over the chancel, as the inscription, " DONI
1620 ANN REGNI JACOBI xvm.," painted upon it, testifies.
These roofs are framed with collars, and in the nave with
ponderous tie-beams as well, and at the angles of the
collars with the principal rafters are moulded strengthen-
ing brackets framed in. The soffits of the timbers are
richly carved in low relief, and there is a good deal of the
original painted decoration still remaining on them. The
old benches, with the rest of the woodwork, were destroyed
by the fire, and had to be renewed ; and some of the seats
which were inserted in 1622, now relegated to lowly places,
remain as elegant examples of Jacobean woodwork. The
four bells of the tower and the sanctus bell, which were
all melted, were replaced in i60(S by a single bell, which
gave rise to the uncomplimentary distich which runs : —

Dirty Charing lies in a hole,
It has but one bell and that was stole.
V

290

Memorials of Old Kent

In 1628 the old tower of St. Botolph, Northfleet,
collapsed. The church is one of the largest and most
beautiful in the county, and the old tower was on a scale
proportioned to it. Its size was so large that the

Plaxtoli; Church : Lnterior, looking west.

present tower is erected within the old walls, of which the
north one, cut down to a rake, carries the flight of steps
giving access to the upper stages. The new tower,
which was erected mainly of the old materials, with flints

Plaxtole Church : West Tower.

Seventeenth Century Church Architecture 291

and brickwork interspersed, possesses no architectural
merit, although the inevitable battlements appear, and was
built solely for use as a belfry; and in the absence of
buttresses, and in its proportions and bareness of outline,
looks at a distance like a piece of Saxon work.

In the church of All Saints, Hollingbourne, to the
north of the chancel is a chapel of considerable interest,
which was the burying-place of a branch of the Culpeper
family. The building may have been originally contem-
porary with the rest of the church, but seems to have been
wholly, or in greater part, reconstructed in the seventeenth
century, when it was prepared to receive the monument of
Lady Elizabeth Culpeper, of the Cheney family of
Guestling in Sussex, the wife of Thomas Culpeper, of
Hollingbourne, who died in 1638. This monument,
which is of singular beauty, and must have been the
work of a talented sculptor, perhaps Nicholas Stone or
Hubert le Sueur, consists of an altar tomb with a plinth
of black and white marble, bearing a black marble
moulded slab, on which is laid the effigy of the lady,
attired in the costume of the period, with her left
hand on her breast and her right, wearing one ring,
lying by her side. Her attitude, symmetrically arranged,
is perfectly natural, and the whole forms a most
finished piece of sculpture in the best style of a period
still under Italian influence. Her feet rest against a
heraldic dog, which may have been her cognizance, but
curiously enough, it is not repeated in any of the
armorial bearings by which she is surrounded ; and her
head lies on a tasselled and embroidered pillow. On the
head of the plinth is placed a shield of arms with twelve
quarterings for the Culpeper and Cheney families, and at
the foot another bearing the personal arms of Thomas
Culpeper impaling those of his wife, while at the sides
are the inscriptions on raised tablets, between six small
shields, bearing the several arms quartered on the large
one at the head of the tomb. The walls of the chapel are

292 Memorials of Old Kent

diapered round with squared stones of finely-worked
Kentish rag from the Boughton quarries, near Maidstone,
bearing, alternately, raised shields 7^ inches wide, which
are now plain, but some of which retain traces of
arms slightly engraved, all of which were no doubt
intended to be, and perhaps were, blazoned in colour.
The diapered wall lining is crowned with a small
cornice along which, on the north and south sides,
slightly cut into the stone, and retaining on the south
traces of a black pigment, is the inscription " DEO
SANCTO ET MISERICORDI SINT GRATIS ET GLORIA
IN STERNUM AMEN." On the east side of the chapel
is a three-light window, contemporary with the rest
of the work, containing in a cartouche all that remains of
the stained glass, which, perhaps, at one time filled the
rest of the window. This displays a repetition of the
shield of arms at the head of the tomb, somewhat defective
and partly transposed, but giving the tinctures, and over
the two halves of the shield, on helmets, in profile — on the
tomb the helmet is placed affrontee — are crests, that to the
dexter being a falcon, and that to the sinister a bull's
scalp and horns. It may be mentioned that the arms in
the first quarter of the shield, which are those of Culpeper
— Arg., a bend engrailed, gu. — has, placed on the bend,
a crescent, the cadency mark indicating that Thomas
Culpeper was a second son.

The importance that Deal assumed during the latter
part of the seventeenth century on account of its position
as the port of the Downs in that period of active naval
enterprise, added considerably to the wealth which its
inhabitants, engaged in seafaring pursuits, legitimate and
illegitimate, were able to accumulate ; and the end of the
century witnessed, not only its incorporation as a borough,
but to a great extent the rebuilding of its Parish Church.
If, in erecting the tower of their church in 1684, the men
of Deal aimed at producing an architectural monument,
they failed ; but in solidity and massive proportions they
produced a pile with a certain air of nobleness. It was

Seventeenth Century Church Architecture 293

constructed of red brick with plain cornices to each of the
diminishing stages, free from all attempt at ornamentation
— for the rustics at the angles and surrounding the windows
are a nineteenth century addition — and retaining no trace
of Gothic influence, save in the battlements, the traditional
finish of every church tower. Indeed the erection seems to
have been for use rather than for decoration, as within a
year of its building they hung in it five new bells, cast by
Christopher Hodson, of London. The great cupola, which
surmounts the tower, may have been meant for a gazebo,
but it has been covered over with weather-boarding, on
which they painted, in black, imitation windows, now,
fortunately, gradually fading into indistinguishable gray-
ness.

The one complete seventeenth century church of Kent
(complete until its recent unfortunate, and, to all appear-
ance, useless alteration) is that of Plaxtole. The history
of the fabric is confined, so far as definite record goes, to
the sculptured inscription placed on the eastern gable of
the old church, but broken to pieces when it was enlarged,
which runs thus: "THIS CHURCH WAS BYLTE FOR THE
worship of god an. do. 1649," and no tradition lingers
to explain why it was erected, or to whom its erection was
due. Thus, in writing its history, there is little or nothing
to start from beyond what can be gleaned from the building
itself ; and the origin of the name and the foundation of
the village in which it stands are lost in equal obscurity.
The first sure ground we have is the evidence of a wall
tombstone, recently lost or destroyed, to a member of the
Ducke family, dated 1605, which suggests that at that date
there was already a churchyard ; and the account remaining
of the gift by Thomas Stanley, of Hamptons, in the parish,
in 1638, for the augmentation of the salary of the curate.
Hasted says it was made parochial in 1647, and the inscrip-
tion quoted above distinctly calls it a church two years
later ; but at the Restoration it was evidently once more
absorbed into the mother parish of Wrotham.

294 Memorials of Old Kent

As the building stood until recently, it consisted of a
great hall, without any structural chancel, a fine western
tower, and north and south porches. The interior is
covered with a fine open timber roof of oak, designed on the
hammer-beam principal, like that of the Middle Temple,
London, but without ornamentation of any kind, the wall-
pieces springing from half piers, built against the walls.
The two-light side windows are restorations, perhaps not
quite correct, executed in 185 1, but the two west windows
and the windows of the tower belong to the original build-
ing. There was a western gallery, which would appear by
the arrangement of the windows to have been part of the
original construction, but it was ruthlessly torn out quite
recently for no obvious reason, unless to display a new
font, of the usual memorial character, which made its
appearance about the same time. The font which was
removed to make room for this was itself not the original,
as that had disappeared in the previous century ; so that
Plaxtole Church, unlike so many which can boast of fonts
older than themselves, has had, in its comparatively short
existence, a new font for each century. In much the same
way the old bell, dated 1709, which was perfectly sound,
has gone no one knows whither, to be replaced by another
which is certainly no better.

In every particular, in spite of the lateness of the date
which must be assigned to it, the building is essentially
Gothic, without a trace in any detail of the renaissance work
which was being carried out at the same time in other parts
of the country and county ; and although we have no
records to guide us, the one or two known facts, together
with the character of the building, enable us to sketch its
history. The district of Plaxtole formed part of the parish
of Wrotham, which was a peculiar of the Archbishops
of Canterbury, and in which was one of the archiepiscopal
palaces ; hence the archbishops were brought into personal
association with the place. Laud became archbishop in
1633, cind we find the augmentation of the Plaxtole living

Seventeenth Century Church Architecture 295

was made very shortly afterwards ; the zeal of the arch-
bishop for church-building-, and his interest in his parish
of Wrotham, are enough to account for the rest ; and it

Groombridge: Font.

would seem probable that he prepared the scheme for a
church at Plaxtole, and commenced the work which,
perhaps, dragging on slowly during the last troublous

296

Memorials of Old Kent

years of his life, was only completed after his execution,
when there was no bishop to consecrate it, in the
recorded year of 1649.

Kemsing Church : Font Cover.

The seventeenth century woodwork to be found in the
county is not in any way remarkable considering the
enormous quantity of oak in the forests of the Weald ;
but for this destruction, in the guise of restoration, is in

Seventeenth Century Church Architecture 2i^

part accountable. The only important roofs are those of
Charing and Plaxtole, which we have described, and
Groombridge, which has been lost ; but there is a good
deal of woodwork in furniture, such as pulpits and font-
covers, to be found in the churches, though of no particular
merit. There was at Chalk Church a rood screen,
dated 1660, which seems to have been recently removed
when the church was restored. At Aldington there
is some fine Jacobean wood panelling, dated 162 1,
round the walls of the south chancel, but this was placed
there by a late rector, who obtained it from another
building. In the same church is a good font-cover ; but
perhaps the one we give from Kemsing is as good a
typical specimen as can be found.

These examples of seventeenth century architecture in
Kent which we have given probably embrace the
principal works now remaining, although there may be
a large number of smaller features, such as windows and
doors, which have not been included ; but possibly enough
have been collected and described to shew the character
of a phase of architectural art which has been so unfortu-
nately despised, and of which so many examples have
been but recently defaced or destroyed, so that if they
in their turn fall before the onslaught of the restorer,
some sort of record of them will remain.

REFUGEE INDUSTRIES IN KENT

By S. W. Kershaw, M.A., F.S.A.

-^

CANTERBURY

[|ANY circumstances made Canterbury the centre
and home of refugee life in the sixteenth and
following centuries. One important attraction
was the religious freedom which was denied
them abroad, where persecution had driven them from
France and other countries.

Long before this time the trade begun by the Flemings
had developed along the winding Stour, where mills for
dyeing and other crafts existed.

" Colchester for bayes, Canterbury for sayes " was a
well-known old saying. The manufacture of these
materials was much encouraged by local and protective
measures, as well as by guilds, the merchant adventurers,
and other bodies for mutual co-operation.

Two distinct settlements were formed here : one in
1572, after the St. Bartholomew massacre; another in
1685, at the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.

From early times Canterbury was a centre for trading
purposes. We find indications of this in local names.
Mercery Lane, Wincheap, Jewry, and other spots point
to industrial occupation.

A wool staple was set up here in the reign of
Edward III. ; merchants in wool, leather, and cloth carried
their wares to this place. The cloth market was held for

298

Refugee Industries in Kent 299

many years in the district of the " White Friars," and an old
lane then known as " Iron Bar Lane " is described by
Somner. the Kentish historian, as " Vanella quae ducit, a
* cloth market,' versus Burgate."

The proximity of Sandwich, Dover, and the ancient
port of Fordwich was favourable for Canterbury's com-
mercial enterprise. The last named town had in times
past the privileges of the Cinque ports, and it was a
member of Sandwich.

We read that " lighters and boats " came in Elizabeth's
days " up to Canterbury from Sandwich laden with coals."
With the welfare of her people always in mind, the Queen
in 1565 issued a commission to enquire into the state
of the Kentish ports ; better transit would thus ensue,
and a check be kept on unlawful passage of goods.

The encouragement given to trade in London and
elsewhere would re-act on the provinces, and in 1582
mention is made of a " plan for employment of French
refugees in manufacture of cloth and a staple for wool." ^

Guilds had already existed, several trades which
dealt in similar wares formed a union. Private help
was also forthcoming; Archbishop Grindal left ";^ioo
to be kept in stock for ever for the use of the poor
traders and dealers of wool in Canterbury."

Sir Thomas White, Lord Mayor and Master of the
Merchant Taylors' Company, gave in 1599 £100 to be
laid out in encouragement of spinning and weaving. The
industries at Canterbury now became very flourishing,
and the city might truly be called the " home of the loom
and shuttle."

The earliest Elizabethan settlers in Canterbury appear
to have migrated from Sandwich, having come thither
from Northern France, especially from Lille, Abbeville,
Tournai, Dunkirk, and other towns.

" Blackfriars' Hall," in the parish of St. Alphage, which

1 Domestic State Papers.

300 Memorials of Old Kent

dates from an earlier time, became a centre or station for
the examination, searching, and stamping of all goods.

Similar halls for this purpose existed at Norwich and
Colchester.

The Burghmote Records of Canterbury are replete
with details as to this period, and in 1577 we find an
entry, " Paid to the Walloons, for their allowance given
them towards their hall for one year ending May, 1577."
Some of the rules as to the sale or export of goods
are curious and interesting. " Strangers were compelled
to bring the baize they wove to the officers of the city
to be stamped, for which a fee was charged." They also
paid " loom money," probably for the hire of or tax on
their looms. This item is described as " Collecting the
money of the strangers for their looms."

The Burghmote City records frequently refer to the
refugee industries, and contain rules for the exercise of
their trades. The following examples may suffice : —

Liberty to make bays and cloths after the Flanders fashion, with a
sufficient house or hall to keep, view, oversee, and seal them in, likewise
liberty to dye them all sorts of colour.

They may sell all sorts of merchandize made by them, and every one
by great or in gross, and not by retail, and to transport them out of
the kingdom in paying the duties as others.

The Burghmote also allowed the strangers to have
two seals to mark the different kind of " sayes." Stamps
and seals were also attached to the woven goods at
Norwich. Cloth made in that city had a castle and a lion
impressed, or, if made outside the city, a castle without
the lion. The counterfeit of seals and stamps led to
stricter supervision, as the Royal arms got woven at
times into inferior articles.

An " alnager " or officer was appointed to measure
cloth, and during the sixteenth century some acts of
Parliament were passed in protection. One of these pro-
vided that " every piece of broad cloth made in the shires
of Kent should contain so much length and breadth, and
that after being fully dried should weigh 84 lbs. at the

Refugee Industries in Kent 301

least." Other commodities were subjected to a like
scrutiny, and the dyers had to put the mark on their goods.

Weaving in silk and stuffs now became a regular
business, and in 1561 appeared the Queen's letter of
licence for such as were approved to remain in the
exercise of their trades. The clearness of the air seems
to have given Canterbury an advantage over London in
the excellence of its woven goods, for Camden in his
Britannia states that the " silks wove here equal, if not
exceed, any foreign silk whatsoever, great quantities being
much esteemed by the merchants." It had been usual
for the cloth to be dyed and dressed abroad, but a statute
was passed to the contrary, providing " that the cloth
should be dyed and dressed, as well as woven, before it
left the country."

Among the Walloons was a body called " Wool-
combers," also another the " Drapery," regulating the
manufacture and sale of cloth, which had flourished some
time in the Weald of Kent.

The Mayor of Canterbury and his colleagues were also
interested in the refugee craftsmen, and gave them certifi-
cates as to the benefits conferred on the city by their
industries.

King James I. showed much sympathy with the
" strangers," and an order of the Privy Council in his
reign supported the trade bodies in Canterbury. He
further said —

I will protect you as it becomes a good prince to protect all who have
abandoned their country for religion's sake.l

To encourage the silk industries it is stated that
" instructions were issued to the deputy-lieutenants of
counties that they should require the landowners to pre-
serve and plant mulberry trees for the feeding of silk-
worms." In Kent there is a tradition that the first trees
were planted by the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem,

1 Strype's Life of Archbishop Bancroft.

302 Memorials of Old Kent

traces of whose sojourn in the county survive at Swingfield
and elsewhere. In 1610 the decay of the cloth manu-
factory caused an increase in silk-weaving, and of serge,
taffeta, and bombazines, and workers in these materials
migrated from Sandwich to Canterbury.

Charles I. showed a certain liberal feeling towards
his refugee subjects, and in 1634 the Company of
Merchant ^Adventurers prevailed on the King to forbid
the exportation of whole cloth, baizes, kerseys, or other
commodities to any towns in Germany or the Netherlands.
It was, however, the harsh measures of Archbishop Laud,
in withdrawing the freedom of worship hitherto given to
the refugees, which drove them in crowds to seek toleration
in Holland and America. This exodus caused a great
dispersal of industrial work, a short-sighted measure
which bore its disastrous results far and wide. The
Commonwealth changed the course of affairs, both in
ecclesiastical and civil matters — the return to a more
enlightened policy favoured enterprise and skill.

From the year 1660 and a century onwards we can
chronicle the brightest pages in Canterbury's " arts and
crafts." In 1665 there were in that city 126 master
weavers, the whole number of artisans being over 1,300.
Charles II. granted them a charter to become a
company with a master, warden, and court of assistants.
The first master was John Six, and John Du Bois and
James Six, wardens, with nine assistants. All met once
a month in their hall, in the Black Friars, to admit masters,
journeymen, and to transact business.

The foreign colony at this time spread all over the
city, especially on the banks of the winding Stour, where
stood the fulling and other mills. Indeed, so marked was
the refugee circle that one district thus occupied was
called " Petty France." This fact is recorded in the
parish registers of Holy Cross, St. Peter, and
St. Alphage, wherein the French and Flemish houses
are to be found. Activity reigned all around, many

z

'J

Refugee Industries tn Kent 303

fabrics were now made as brocades, black and coloured
velvets, satins, lustrings, rich and flowered silks, wrought
with gold and silver, and stuffs of wool mixed with
silk. The incorporation of the Weavers' Company,
in 1676, produced a great increase of the silk products,
and its jurisdiction extended one mile outside the city.
At times much discontent prevailed by the importation of
foreign goods, and about 1672 several petitions of the
Weavers of the United Kingdom prayed that a stop should
be put to these practices.

The year 1685 was at hand, that great exodus from
France which by the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes
made England the home of the refugee; and Canterbury,
the first city on landing, naturally attracted the eye of the
skilled craftsman and worker. Here he would meet
many of his compatriots, already settled in the Kentish
metropolis. In the crypt of that glorious minster he
would hear the old French service, recalling that of his
native land, and he would remember his perilous flight to
a welcome land of freedom.

Cathedral and city are thus linked in the historic annals
of France and her fugitive sons. Another cause which
led to a union of commercial interest was the admission
to the freedom of the city, which now became numerous.
Although it was ordered that no " stranger " should have
this privilege as a matter of right, it is surprising how
soon he acquired it — chiefly by inter-marriage with
freemen's daughters. Some of the earliest admissions of
silk-weavers, dyers, etc., were Nathaniel Ricquebourge in
1693, and Samuel Lefroy in 1695, and from this date
till about 1720 many of those artisan workers were thus
enrolled.

An act was passed about this time, supported by
William III., " to prohibit the wearing in England
of any unwrought silks or printed calicoes imported from
India and Persia." Foreign workmen were employed
by the London weavers, in obedience to the wishes of

304 Memorials of Old Kent

the before-named King, a result which embittered the
native artisan. This action roused the popular discontent,
expressed by Defoe in his True-born EnglishmaJi :

We blame the King that he relies too much
On strangers, Germans, Huguenots and Dutch ;
That foreigners have faithfully obey'd him
And none but Englishmen have e'er betray'd him.

The remedial measures adopted revived for a time
the Canterbury trade, but it had to contend against much
opposition. The protective acts were often evaded
by goods being clandestinely brought from India and
Persia. Many trading companies had become too power-
ful for local industries, and the 1,200 looms which had
been at work at Canterbury were reduced in the year 1720
to about 200, and in 1786 to twenty, and only ten master
weavers. The Silk-weavers' Company tried to aid the
dying cause ; they applied year after year to Parliament,
but without success. The greater opportunities at Spital-
fields, Coventry, and the North attracted the Canterbury
craftsmen, and the few who remained there took to other
occupations. In 1787, however, a revival occurred, due
to the efforts of Mr. John Callaway (Callave), the then
master of the Silk Weavers' Company. His name is long
associated with the introduction of the Canterbury
muslin, and the manufacture gave employment for some
time.

Hasted, the Kentish historian, thus refers to Mr. Call-
away: — "I cannot quit the subject of the Walloon and
refugee manufactory at Canterbury without paying a due
tribute to the ingenious and public-spirited manufacturer
of this place — John Callaway. After long journeys he
found the means of mixing Sir Richard Arkwright's level
cotton twist in his own looms of silk warps, by which
contrivance he introduced a new manufacture which gave
employment to the unemployed workmen in Canterbury
and elsewhere. This new article was called ' Canterbury
muslin ' ; the demand for it was very great."

Refugee Industries in Kent 305

Mr. Callaway also built a cotton mill near the city,
which gave employment to many women and children.
The machinery was afterwards applied to the making
of woollen yarn for worsted. The workshop of Mr. Call-
away in St. Alphage Lane was destroyed in 1892.
Another industry, the making of " fingering worsted,"
lately survived in the Lefevre family, whose ancestors
escaped from France in the sixteenth century.

A century has passed since Canterbury was the home
of the industries described. Hasted, the Kentish historian,
states in 1799 "there were not more than ten master
weavers in the city, and only a few looms at work."

The romance of trade was destined to live again in
this old cathedral city, for about the year 1897 a revived
industry under the name of the " Canterbury Weavers "
was started by the Misses Holmes and Phillpotts.
Additional interest attaches to the fact that the house
where this work is carried on was the former abode of
the master of the Weavers' Company here, and the
gabled windows and picturesque timber front of this house
form a choice " bit " of ancient Canterbury.

In its time-honoured annals we can realise the past
import of this city, which greatly contributed to our
industrial progress — a city where the story of refugee
life and work has long been linked with that of history,
religion, and art.

THE WEALD

The Weald of Kent also unfolds a large and important
phase of our subject ; an almost central position in
the county offered advantages for industrial trades — the
coast could be reached to the ports of Rye, Sandwich,
Hythe, and Dover. Little streams glided along its forest
tracks, leading to larger rivers, which gave facilities for
transit, while the towns of Cranbrook, Tenterden, Maid-
stone, and Tunbridge were centres of much activity. The
first-named town was the metropolis, as it were, of the
V

3o6 Memorla-Ls of Old Kent

cloth trade from the fourteenth century. In and around
this town are some remains of the old cloth halls, in
gabled and picturesque houses, much altered and alienated
from their original use. Though the early industries
were of native growth, it must be remembered that the
foreign settlements in Kent had great influence in extend-
ing and introducing new crafts into the county.

The encouragement given by Edward III. to the
Flemings resulted in the woollen and cloth trades being
further established in England. A wool staple existed
at Calais in the thirteenth century ; relations could then
be maintained by the Flemish and their English brethren.
Later, in 1552, among the Privy Council acts of Edward
the Sixth, we read of indentures between that King and
the merchants of Calais. We can thus picture a friendly
trade and intercourse between these closely neighbouring
shores.

The persecutions by the Duke of Alva in the Nether-
lands led to another flight of the refugees, some of
whom came to the Weald, finding there a source of
livelihood already established by their compatriots before
them.

The St. Bartholomew massacre in 1572 induced others
to come, mostly of French descent, so that by the end
of the sixteenth century a large foreign element existed
in this part of Kent.

Cranbrook can be named as the cradle of the cloth
trade, both by natives and " strangers." Of the latter,
Dr. Thomas Fuller, in his Church History, wrote : —

Edward the Third began to grow sensible of the gain the Netherlands
got by our English work, in memory whereof the Duke of Burgundy
instituted the Order of the Golden Fleece, wherein indeed the fleece
was ours, the golden theirs.

The Flemings were found in all parts, and the same
writer remarks that " Broad cloth was made in Kent and
called ' Kentish broadcloths.' "

Refugee Industries in Kent 307

As occcLsion required, protective laws were made for
the foreign workmen, and in 1337 a royal proclamation
was issued that the " King's subjects are warned not to
harass these cloth workers, and to see no harm is done
to them by others." The historian of the Weald, the late
Robert Furley, F.S.A., further states that the King named
" special parts of his kingdom, wherein the artisans should
be located, and the Weald was selected for broad cloths
of good mixture and colours." It is of interest to know
why the Weald was chosen, and the answer is probably
because there were found beds of fuller's-earth, besides
small streams to drive the fulling and dyeing mills, and
timber in plenty for other purposes.

A statute of Henry VIII. provided for " clearing,
deepening, ajid widening the river Stour from Great
Chart, on the Wealden border, to Sandwich," thence an
outlet to the sea. So much had trade increased that cloth
halls built after the Flemish fashion had been erected,
and acts were passed for the maintenance of the trade.
One such Act was introduced about 1592 in the House
of Lords, and is curious as attributing the temporary
failure of the cloth trade to the iron works also in the
Weald. A kind of competition in labour! When we
read of the busy traffic in goods and their conveyance,
chiefly by pack-horses, there is little cause to think that
the industries were affected, even by those of an opposite
character.

Journeys were long and roads bad through the Weald
of that day. This, however, did not deter Queen
Elizabeth from making one of her "progresses" through
this district in 1573 — a journey described by Lord Bur-
leigh as a " hard beginning " and " much worse ground
than was in the Peak." News was very scarce, and was
chiefly brought by the packmen to and from the markets
and mills, or by pedlars with their goods. The track-
less ways and river outlets were often used for carrying
cloths through, in order to avoid payment of duties, or

3o8 Memorials of Old Kent

for contraband trade. In 1586 people came from Dun-
kirk, in France, into Kent, under pretence of landing
goods, but in truth to obtain the Wealden cloth, which
was afterwards transported abroad. To restrain this
evil. Queen Elizabeth passed statutes, and Lord Cobham
(Lord-Lieutenant) was directed to see the measures
properly carried out.

At this time the Wealden foreign colony was
numerous. A glance at the parish registers and marriage
licences of Canterbury Diocese (1568-1725)1 will show,
among long lists, the following names: — Bacheler,
Benison, Geffrage, Duncken, Gruer, Morline, Perrin,
Vallance, Van Dale, Veron, and several others, which may
rightly claim a Flemish or French origin.

The policy of the Stuarts towards the foreign crafts-
men (unlike that of Elizabeth) was greatly restrictive,
and the religious aspect of the policy had much influence
in breaking up the industrial centres and their work.

It cannot be denied that Archbishop Laud's action
towards a uniformity in church matters was a misguided
step, and that many intelligent workmen left England to
the " lessening of manufactures and transporting their
mystery into foreign parts." This is further expressed in
the famous Kentish petition of 1640,2 and the results to
have been " discouragement and distraction of all good
subjects, of whom multitudes, both clothiers, merchants,
and others being deprived of their ministers and over-
whelmed with their pressures, have departed the kingdom
to Holland and other parts, and have drawn with them
a great part of the manufacture of cloth and trading out
of the land."

Even before this time, in 16 16, owing to severe
measures, two thousand Kentish cloth workers went to the
Palatinate, where already a foreign settlement existed,

1 Canterbury Marriage Licences (five series). FHited by J. M. Cowper.

2 Proceedings in Kent (Edited by L. Larking), in 1640. Camden
Society, 1862.

Refugee Industries in Kent 309

to which those at home would naturally look. The action
of Charles I., favourable and conciliatory at first to the
workers, native and foreign, afterwards became hardened,
probably from selfish motives and in the interests of
government by autocracy. So keen was the struggle that
the merchant adventurers at last prevailed on the King
" to restrict the export of cloths, baizes, and English
woollen commodities."

The Commonwealth caused a transient revival of
Kentish industries, but not of long duration, for the cloth
trade had to a great extent gone, and its place was taken
for a time by flax culture and the linen industry, both
of which flourished in the late seventeenth century. At
Smarden and Headcorn were flax fields. The linen trade
was also encouraged by William III., who specially invited
over a Huguenot gentleman to superintend the
production.

The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685) caused
a temporary influx of workers, and though many of the
" strangers " went to London and large towns, without
question the Weald maintained such a settlement at this
time. In 1689 we read of a collection at Cranbrook for
the refugees, and that Sir Thomas Roberts, an old
inhabitant of the Weald, greatly sympathized in their
cause.

Besides other trades, the iron industry had been
practised, and some of the old fire backs and slabs, carved
with Scripture and legendary lore, would have had traces
of foreign workmanship. The railings once around
St. Paul's Cathedral were cast at Lamberhurst furnace,
in the Weald, that town claiming to be partly in Kent and
Sussex. The exquisite work of the iron grifles leading to
the choir was by one Tijou, probably of refugee descent.

Glass work and glazing flourished to a small extent in
the Weald. The chief workers were at first Dutch or
Walloons, who afterwards became naturalized among the
native population.

3IO Memorials of Old Kent

The close of the eighteenth century saw a change in
the industries. The loom and the shuttle were sup-
planted by machinery. The Kentish trade went to the
great towns of the North, and at the end of that period
there was not a clothier left in the Weald.

The Union of Scotland with England led to a
development in that northern country. Cloths were woven
there, and trade also established in Leeds, Halifax, and
Bradford.

The iron manufacture was similarly affected. The
supply of timber had failed owing to the clearing away
of the woods. The increased price of charcoal also added
to this result. The furnace works were closed, and about
the year 1796 not one was existing.

These industrial districts, once alive with labour and
movement amid the deep-wooded roadways, are now
deserted, and the cloth halls no longer are loaded with
merchandise and goods.

The master clothiers, though bereft of their trade,
held land in the Weald, and their descendants are still
to be' found in some old families.

The " Grey Coats of Kent," as they were so called,
were a large and influential body, and often held the fate
of an election in their hands. Though the former
importance of this district has long passed away, there
remains an occasional manor house, some vestige of the
cloth halls, the neglected hammer ponds, or the tablet
wrought in iron-work, to tell the story of Wealden
activities. This story can also be realised by a search
in church or parish books. The refugee element can be
identified, even if the surname is wanting, that of
" Stranger " or " Frenchman " being sometimes found
among city archives or similar documents.

In any review of Wealden history one cannot ignore
the part (though not so large as elsewhere in Kent) played
by the foreign craftsman or settler. The religious
toleration granted to them in this county was another

Refugee Industries in Kent 311

cause which aided their enterprise — a fact which has been
clearly demonstrated by the late Canon Jenkins : ^

The vast numbers of foreign Protestants who were received and
tolerated in all the ports and towns of Kent, and who tended to leaven
the population, with which they intermarried and held daily intercourse,
added to the characteristic independence of the Kentish yeomanry, who
had established their industries among them — the clothiers of the Weald,
the iron-workers of the district bordering on Sussex, and the gardening
population of Sandwich and South-Eastern Kent — all contributed to the
signal and almost unparalleled success of a movement which brought at
the same time temporal prosperity and spiritual freedom.

MAIDSTONE

On the Wealden border was Maidstone, which had a
distinct refugee history, chiefly of the Walloons and Dutch,
in the early sixteenth century. Many causes helped to
make this town a resort of foreign life and industry.
Guilds had been formed here, and they would naturally
be an aid, by co-operation or other means. The Drapers,
Mercers, and Cordwainers existed. A stranger, however,
had to be admitted to membership before he could practise
his craft, and each guild had its own rules and customs.
The fraternity of Corpus Christi was here in the fifteenth
century, and the old hall (Refectory) still stands, and,
though greatly changed, is a memento of mediaeval life.
Once used as the grammar school of the town, it is now
occupied as a storehouse, retaining the lofty roof and
windows of the Decorated period, with carved stonework.

In 1544 we read of hammer-makers, cannon-founders,
and coppersmiths at Maidstone, and the Naturalization
Acts record the name of one " Peter de Lillo, a capper,"
who lived here.^

The persecutions by the Duke of Alva in the Low
Countries brought many to Maidstone, and in 1567 royal
sanction was obtained for the Dutch artificers to establish

1 Diocesan History of Canterbury. R. C. Jenkins, 1880.

2 Denizations and Naturalizations of Aliens in England. Huguenot
Society Publications, vol. viii., 1893.

312 Memorials of Old Kent

their crafts here. In 1573 Queen Elizabeth issued
hcences for the strangers to practice, and in her
reign there were five guilds at Maidstone, each guild
enjoying its own rules, and products of its industries were
exhibited at fairs and markets. The State Papers
(Domestic) of Elizabeth have references to the Dutch
settlers here, and their manufacture of " sackcloth, arras
and tapestry, Spanish leather, Flanders pots, tiles and
bricks, brasiers, white and brown paper, and all kinds
of armour and gunpowder," is mentioned. Dyeing,
weaving of linen thread known as " Dutch thread," and
a small trade in cloth were the principal industries.
Sackcloth and baize were also woven and sold. The
thread trade was especially famous, and even when the
trade declined there and was set up in the West of
England, where labour was cheaper, " Maidstone thread "
was still preferred to any other.

Houses were hired by the strangers for their looms,
and many poor inhabitants gained employment thereby.
Long before the advent of the refugees a market had been
granted to Maidstone, to which, as a commercial centre,
it was very advantageous.

Harris, in his History of Kent, asserts that the " thread
made at Maidstone was for hop bags." This statement
has been disputed, as such bags would be made of coarser
material. In 1585 there appears to have been over a
hundred resident foreign workmen ; many also would
come to and fro for a time to this central town, where
the Medway afforded easy transit of goods to London
and elsewhere. Several foreign names attest the sojourn
of strangers here — names which can be found in the local
registers and parish books. The religious freedom
granted was another phase of our history, for the
Corporation gave the refugees the use of St. Faith's
Church and burial-ground. Near this church (now
rebuilt) stands the Museum, enshrined in the old
Chillington Manor House of the sixteenth century — a

Refugee Industries in Kent 313

house with oaken galleries, large hall and panelled
rooms, replete with choice antiquarian treasures.

It does not seem that Maidstone produced the silks
and rich fabrics of Canterbury, but it is probable that
the guilds exercised much influence for the trading welfare
of this town. The fairs here seem to have been noted,
for the Kentish Post or Canterbury News-letter (171 5) has
the following advertisement: —

At the fair at Maidstone on 1st & 8th May, will be sold by Daniel
Lepine, silk weaver from Canterbury, a very curious parcel of newest
fashion brocades, broad and narrow damasks, Mantua silks, rich borders,
and half tabbies.

On the decline of the weaving, thread, and other
industries, paper-making appears to have arisen. The
various rivers in this district lent a ready aid
to production and transit. Fulling mills also existed, and
when water was scarce in the Weald cloth made there
was brought to these mills near Maidstone. At Leeds,
not far distant, fuller's-earth was found, so needful in the
manufacture of cloth. We also read of this product at
Boxley, and it was often conveyed by sea for the use of
clothiers to distant parts of the country.

At Boughton Malherb, more in the Wealden district,
but not far distant from Maidstone, a small company,
under the Marquis de Venours, settled when driven
from France in 1685. A French service was arranged in
the parish church, and Archbishop Bancroft showed much
liberality in this matter, appointing one Monsieur Rondeau
to perform service for the strangers in their own tongue.
Similar permission was given for their worship in the
churches of Leeds and Hollingbourne, also in the Maid-
stone district. Somewhat more distant was Chart Place,
built by Sir Christopher Desbouverie, a descendant of the
same family who came from the Low Countries and first
settled at Sandwich.

Thus, to an extent, we can localize the foreign element
in and about this ancient town.

314 Memorials of Old Kent

SANDWICH

The natural site of this historic port offered a ready
access to those who landed from abroad. At Sandwich
a river communicated with the inland parts of Kent, where
land, goodly and fertile, everywhere met the eye.

Strangers from the Low Countries had already settled
here, preceding those who arrived in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries. The appearance of the town is
unique in interest — traces of old walls and ramparts ; the
" Fishers' Gate " and Barbican are still there ; the streets
in their maze-like windings ; the central square and the
fine churches of St. Clement, St. Peter, and St. Mary make
a picture, appealing alike to artist, antiquary, and historian.
The veteran author, Joseph Hatton, thus writes : ^

I am impressed with the remarkable way in which Sandwich has
retired from the sea, gone inland as it were, like a migrated city, nursing
its strange traditions, its memories of Elizabeth and the Armada.

We can picture even now this town once busy with its
many trades, life and movement in the streets and bye-
ways, the harbour full of vessels and craft as they came
from distant shores or from London city. Along the
winding Stour sail-driven barges would float with wares
or goods to neighbouring town and village. The hum of
voices and the click of the weaver's shuttle was heard —
strange contrast to the almost deserted look of Sandwich
to-day.

Now, as of old :

We breathe the air of the past in these antique streets, up and down,
hither and thither, roughly paved, with many a. gabled house, strange
ruins, gates and towers. 2

A place where poets still may dream.

Where the wheel of life swings slow,

And over all there broods the peace

Of centuries ago.

Sandwich has its own peculiar history, its own laws
and usages, while records from the time of Henry VIII.

1 77/tf 0/d House at Sandwich. - The Cinque Ports, Hewitt.

St. Clement's Church, Sandwich.

Refugee Industries in Kent 315

are among the choicest of the Cinque Port documents. A
glance at these will reveal many an old-world custom —
this borough was governed by its own assembly of free-
men, and elected its own Reeve or head-bailiff. The
so-called Custumal of Sandwich supplies us with such
particulars, while the Black Book of Sandwich contains
numerous entries as to the former trades of this town.
Such a spot offered special advantages to the refugees,
whether French or Flemish, who came to its shores,
thus forming a distinct chapter in Kentish annals.
Though there had been a settlement of Flemings in
the time of Edward I., and traders in wool had been
greatly encouraged, the foreign industry was greatest in
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In 1561 the
strangers made supplication to the Mayor and Jurats for
a place to be appointed to them for the sale of their
" yarn." The Town Hall was given for this purpose ; and
we read of Queen Elizabeth's letters patent for their
admission, and warrant for safe dwelling in the said town.
Workers in " sayes and bayes " settled here ; and a letter
sent by the Corporation to Secretary Cecil in 1561 states
that " six arras cushions," the first work of the strangers,
accompanied the letter. This interesting record was
followed by many other instances of skilled handicraft.
In 1565 there were four hundred and twenty householders
in Sandwich, of which a third were refugees. In 1567 we
hear of Laurence de Bouvereye settling here as a maker
of serges. The family came from Lille, and their names
and descendants have occupied high positions in England,
and are to-day represented by the Earl of Radnor.
The Huguessens also came to Sandwich from Dunkirk, and
have long been enrolled in Kentish history — an eminent
descendant was the late Lord Brabourne, the writer and
politician. The Duke of Alva's persecution of the
Protestants in the Low Countries drove them to England,
and many came here. The history of their troubles abroad
is given in the graphic and graceful pages of Mr. Motley's

3i6 Memorials of Old Kent

Rise of the Dutch Republic. A great aid to Sandwich
were Queen Elizabeth's visits, one object of which was
to see how the children of the settlers were trained in
industrious work. At her visit in 1573 the English and
Dutch children were stationed spinning " fyne bay yarne " ;
and it is further stated that black and white baize was
hung about to show what occupations were in hand.
Archbishop Parker, who aided the refugee cause at
Canterbury, Norwich, and other towns, visited Sandwich,
and his remark that " profitable and gentle strangers
ought to be welcome and not grudged at," would have its
influence. The trade was chiefly in woven and coarse
goods, and in a book called the Dutch Foreign Book
(1582) other occupations are described, such as basket-
makers, fullers, gardeners, flannel-weavers, sack-makers,
and wool-combers. In that book mention is made of
eighty-six bag-makers, seventy-four bag-weavers, twenty-
four other weavers (probably of linen), seventeen fullers,
and thirteen gardeners. The windmills, seen even to-day
near Sandwich, recall the fact that the exiles were also
millers, while others worked as smiths, brewers, and
carpenters.

Sandwich truly became a Flemish town. This is
partly seen in the survival of its old brick and gabled
houses, with quaintly carved door-post and enriched
cornice. The flat country around, the tall poplars, and
surrounding embanked marshes called " Poulders,"^ com-
plete a landscape which transports one in fancy to the level
and dreary stretches of land in Holland and Belgium.

Although great freedom had been granted by the
Queen and government for foreign work and industry,
the " strangers " did not always keep the agreements to
which they had been formally bound. They had followed
other trades besides those stated in the Queen's letters
patent, and had opened shops for business which had

1 Poulders, a Dutch word, from land protected from the sea by
embankments.

The Fisher Gate, Sandwich.

Refugee Industries in Kent 317

been specially adopted by the Mayor and Jurats for
Englishmen. More stringent rules had to be made, one
of which, in 1592, related to "cloths which were not sold
after the market days to be taken at owner's liberty to
another market, none to be sold in London, except in the
halls there appointed for the purpose."

In 1 62 1 it is stated that the usurpation of English
work by strangers had so increased that a " Commission
for aliens " was issued. The Lord Keeper, the Attorney
and Solicitor-General instructed and advised the
" strangers to comply with existing laws."

Fifty years later, in 1670, a Privy Council order was
issued regarding foreign weavers, stricter rules to protect
English craftsmen were made and passed in the Weavers'
Hall, London.

The Sandwich colony was somewhat of a floating
nature ; after staying here the refugees went to Norwich,
Canterbury, Colchester, and elsewhere.

It appears about the year 1594 the Queen's Council
determined to reduce the number of foreign settlers, and
Lord Cobham (Lord Warden) reported on the matter.^
Enquiry was made, and the surplus settlers were to be
removed to places more remote from the seaside. Many
went to Canterbury, where the Mayor had orders to
receive them, but specially wished choice to be made of
those that were " makers of bayes and grograines," etc.

We find constant allusion to this migration from Sand-
wich to Canterbury. Sometimes the pastor accompanied
them to that city, as was the case in 1574, when one
Antoine Lescaillet, from Sandwich, became pastor of the
refugee church in the crypt of the Cathedral.

Restriction had been placed on the Dutch at Sand-
wich, urging a greater religious conformity, owing to
differences which had arisen among them in 1565. The
Mayor and Jurats ordained that on pain of punishment

1 Acts Privy Council (new series), vol. iii., pp. 306, 345-6.

3i8 Memorials of Old Kent

they conform to the rules of their own church. Another
cause which may have led them to Canterbury was the
greater advance in weaving there, and the chance
of more employment ; the silk industry was carried on
in the cathedral city to a far greater extent than at
Sandwich. It would be impossible not to notice the two
churches here set apart for refugee worship, because
it helps to estimate the strength of the foreign colony, and
to an approximate census of the industrial workers.
In 1634 the number of the Dutch residents was stated
to be hve hundred, and they had the use of St. Clement's
Church ; St. Peter's was also granted for their service
during special hours. The churchwardens' accounts of
both parishes contain entries of moment as to the
foreign community ; also the parish registers. One
meets with the names of Beak, de Brock, Dekewer,
de Lasaux, Claris, Callaway, Giraud, Famaris, Mayhew,
Lemain, Makey, Ridout, Valder, and other " strangers."
It seems that constant aid was given by the London
Dutch church in Austin Friars towards the maintenance
of the Sandwich congregation. Just outside Sandwich is
the ancient hospital of St. Bartholomew, founded in the
twelfth century for poor brethren and sisters, and a
portion of this chapel was once used for the refugee
service. The Custumal of Sandwich gives a full account
of this interesting relic, as well as the statutes of the
charity.

In the seventeenth century, when Archbishop Laud
issued his peremptory orders that the strangers of Sand-
wich were to resort to the parish churches in order to a
uniformity of service, the same discord happened here
as at Canterbury and Maidstone, with the result that
many left the country, and the industries they had
pursued went to improve other and distant lands. A
short-sighted policy! The Revocation of the Edict of
Nantes influenced this, as other refugee resorts, by
increased numbers, chiefly from France or French

Refugee Industries in Kent 319

Flanders. Collections were made for their relief in the
Sandwich churches. In St. Clement's the carving of the
Royal Arms has the motto of William III., "Je
mientiendrai."

The encouragement by that King of the strangers*
cause is a known historical fact ; in 1689 a proclamation
was issued that " all French Protestants seeking an
asylum in England will not only receive Royal protection
for themselves, their families, and goods, but will be
assisted in their different callings." ^

Previous to this time, in 1681, orders were granted
for free letters of denization by the King (Charles XL).
This measure originated with Viscount Halifax, whose
brother, Henry Savile, had travelled in France a few
years before, and had personally seen the persecutions
to which the Protestants were subject, and that they were
ready to go to England if the access could be given them.
This order was of wide import, and would probably have
been accepted by the Flemish as well as those of direct
French descent.^

One homely industry, that of gardening, may well be
associated with Sandwich, for the Flemish here cultivated
the growth of vegetables so well that many gardeners
went from hence to Battersea, Southwark, and
Bermondsey, and made fine garden ground, which once
supplied the London markets.

The industrial annals of the " strangers " may well
claim to be a part of our own national history, in the
development of manufactures and in the greater skilled
labour brought to bear on them.

Kent then assuredly holds a unique position among
other counties, inasmuch as it was one of the first to
welcome the foreign craftsmen on their landing and to
receive the benefits of their experience.

1 State Papers (Dom. series), William and Mary, 1689-90.

2 Savile Correspondence (Camden Society), 1858.

THE RIVER MEDWAY
AND ITS MEDIEVAL BRIDGES

By J. Tavenor-Perry

^EW rivers in Great Britain can compare with the
Medway in the possession at once of such sylvan
charms and such historic associations ; and yet
few of such importance are less known to the
average tourist. Lying, as it does, away from the main
railway lines and great roads of the county, or crossed by

Hersfikld.

them only at one or two points where the river itself is
scarcely visible, it remains almost unknown to everybody
but the dwellers in the towns and villages which dot its
banks ; and it is, perhaps, better appreciated by the
cockney hop-picker on his annual jaunt than by the casual
and generally unobservant cyclist, or even than by the
local archaeologist, as the contents of the Archceologia

320

The River Medway and its Mediaeval Bridges 321

Cantiana testify. Yet this beautiful river, with its, per-
haps, more beautiful tributaries, pass in their course
some of the most interesting mediaeval remains in the
kingdom, among which not the least important are its
bridges ; and some of the most stirring events in our
history have occurred in the passage of its main stream.
It was across one of its fords, most likely Aylesford,
that Caesar found his way into the interior of the country ;
it was over the same ford, in spite of their defeat by the
British, that the Saxons swarmed on their way through
West Kent to London ; and it was across East Farleigh
bridge that General Fairfax, with the Parliamentarian
army, marched, turning the flank of the Kentish Royalists,
and capturing Maidstone. The country through which it
runs has always been known as the Garden of England,
and the Kentish people, at home to its beauties, call the
valley of the Medway, far excellence, the Garden of
Eden.

• ' The name " Medway " is commonly supposed to be
derived from the fact that the river holds a mid position
in the county, and hence was called the " mid-way " ; but
this is incorrect. The British called it Meduana, which
was also the Celtic name for the river Mayenne, in north-
v/estern France, and the Romans shortened this to
" Madus," whilst the Saxons modified it into the descriptive
name of " Medwaege," signifying Mead-wave, or Meadow-
water, which, reduced to the modern spelling of
" Medway," still describes its charming characteristics.
There is nothing remarkable about the length or volume
of the river ; it cannot boast of precipitous shores or whirl-
ing rapids, but it meanders through smiling meadows, bear-
ing on its almost still surface reflections of out-of-the-way
villages and stately castle ruins, till, approaching the sea,
it opens out into the great estuary on whose broad waters
float so many ships of the British Navy, between the famous
dockyards of Chatham and Sheerness. The castle of
Hever, with its reminiscences of Anne Boleyn ; Penshurst

X

322

Memorials of Old Kent

Place, the home of the Sidneys ; Tonbridge, AUington,
and Rochester Castles, connected with so many events in
English history — stand, as they have stood for centuries,
by its sides ; and whilst large towns or villages have, since
these castles were erected, grown up around them, the river
still flows on in its placid wa^, except for these additjons
but little altered from the period when the first Celts
discovered its course.

The Medway has several affluents, and can scarcely be
dignified with the name of a river until they have delivered
to it their tributary waters. The main stream rises in

Yalding.

Sussex, near East Grinstead, and meandering through
Ashdown Forest, passing beneath the ruins of Brambletye
House, it is joined by its first affluent, the Eden river, on
which stands Hever, a little above Penshurst. Thence
the river follows a sinuous course eastwards to Tonbridge,
which was from the earliest known times the head of the
navigable waters, as the great mound surrounded with the
mediaeval fortifications of Tonbridge Castle testifies.'
Still flowing eastward through a marshy country, it next
receives on its left oank the river Bourne, which rises
near Ightham Moat, and threads the beautiful Plaxtole

'<»-

The River Medway and its Medieval Bridges 323

valley. The stretch of the river from Tonbridge to
Yalding has been deepened, and partly canalled by the
Medway Navigation Company, with the unfortunate result
that all the ancient bridges have been swept away, and
unpicturesque wooden substitutes have taken their place.
On entering Yalding parish the little river Teise joins the
main stream on the right bank. The Teise rises in the
hilly ground about Frant, and running eastward under the
walls of the great Praemonstratensian Abbey of Bayham,
forms for a few miles the boundary of Kent and Sussex ;
and receiving the overflow from the moat of Scotney
Castle, among the oaks of Lamberhurst, it turns northward
for a course of ten miles across the Weald until it reaches
the Medway. After passing under Twyford bridge the
river receives the last of its great affluents, which for
length and volume might almost claim to be the main
stream — this is the river Beult, which, unlike the other
affluents, is wholly within the county of Kent. The
numerous small rivulets which form its stream gather
themselves together about Headcorn and Smarden, and it
thence flows westward a lonely course, distant from any
villages, till it joins the main river at Yalding.

The Weald, through which all these small streams flow,
formed part of the great forest called by the Romans
Anderida, the original Celtic name which signified the
dark forest ; and by the Saxons this was converted into
Andreds Wald, or the Black Forest, whence the modem
name of the Weald, called appropriately in the times of
Elizabeth, after one of her progresses through it. The Wild,
is derived. This forest, until early mediaeval times, was
quite iinpenetrable, save by its water-ways, and the
Romans never attempted to cut any road through the
Kentish portion of it — though they were not often daunted
by any difficulties in their road-making — but confined
their highroads in Kent to the hilly lands to the north, or
to the low lands of the south-east coast.

All these streams, rising in the higher grounds of the

324

Memorials of Old Kent

Weald, when they reach the low-lying lands, pursue most
devious courses, returning in the directions from which they
have come, spreading out into numberless branches, which
after separation join again, forming numerous islands ;
and it was generally where these islands occur that the
mediaeval builders erected their bridges, taking advantage
of them for their main abutments, and forming intermediate
arches for the flood waters to pass through. Such was the
case with the Hersheld and Stile bridges over the Beult,
and may still be seen at Tonbridge, where no less than
five branches of the Medway have to be crossed. All run

TWYFORD.

generally in deeply-worn channels, with the steep banks
covered in summer beneath a mass of wild flowers and
waterside plants, or almost hidden under the shade of
over-hanging willows; and the whole of the country along
their courses retains many memorials of the ancient forests
in the great oak trees abounding everywhere.

It was long after the forest had been explored and
partly occupied before any attempts were made to cross
these streams except by fords ; the necessity for connecting
roads did not arise until a later period. The earliest roads
in the Weald were only drift, or drof, ways used by the
herdsmen as passages into the interior of the forest, where

The River Medway and its Mediaeval Bridges 325

the mast was plentiful for the feeding of their hogs and
cattle ; or by the woodmen engaged in tree-felling and
transporting the logs, by means of the streams, to the more
open country beyond.

There were no towns within the forest in Saxon times,
with the possible exception of Tonbridge ; but various
areas had been granted to certain villages lying along the
borders of the Weald, and, indeed, to some as distant as
Bromley and Sandwich, within which to feed their animals,
and in many cases to cut timber. These areas, which
were very ill-defined, were called Denes, or Dens ; and the
word remains as an affix to a large number of village names
in the Weald to this day — as Marden and Biddenden.
These denes were in the earlier period only temporarily
occupied, but as the forest got thinned out permanent farm
buildings began to be erected ; and presently these ex-
panded into the villages we find scattered, though still
sparsely, over the area of the country which was once the
great Andreds Wald. The drof-ways were then widened
into roads, and the connections of them across the streams
became necessary.

Before any bridges were built in the Weald, the lower
reaches of the Medway had been bridged in one or two
places by the Romans. The main road to London from
the fortress of Rutupiae the modern Richborough, crossed
the Medway at Rochester, where there was a ford, pass-
able at low tide ; and there was another ford higher up the
river, at Aylesford, to which a branch of the Roman road
led from Rochester, and which could be used when the more
convenient ford was impassable. But fords were ill-suited
to Roman requirements, and probably very soon after the
conquest of the island a bridge was erected at Rochester,
portions of which were discovered when the recent new
bridge was erected.

There were three great periods of bridge-building in
this country. The first was the period of the Roman
domination, when numerous bridges were erected across

326

Memorials of Old Kent

all the main rivers of the island ; and these were of so sub-
stantial a character that through the centuries of Saxon
and Norman rule no new bridges were required ; indeed,
some of these Roman bridges have remained in use almost
to our own day. The re-settlement of the country — which
ensued after the troubles entailed by the Conquest had
subsided and the land had enjoyed for a time internal
peace — led to the foundation of new towns, or the growing
importance of the older ones, and the necessity for
improved inter-communication ; and new roads meant new
bridges. This inaugurated the second bridge-building

"Jo .

LODINGFORD.

era, when a vast number of bridges were erected by
wealthy individuals, the great abbeys, or the guilds and
corporations of the cities, and remain, like those across
the Medway, monuments of mediasval art. The third
bridge-building era was the recent one, when the narrow,
picturesque bridges were found unsuitable for the require-
ments of modern locomotion, and were pulled down to
make room for such ungraceful substitutes as those of
Tonbridge, Maidstone, and Rochester, and supplemented
by hideous iron-girder railway erections, such as those
which deface the last-named cathedral city. The remain-
ing bridges may not long resist the onslaughts of the

The River Medway and its Medi/Eval Bridges 327

traction engines and the motor cars, so that some record
of them becomes as desirable as it is interesting.

The bridges over the Eden and the upper part of the
Medway itself belong to the uninteresting modern period ;
but on the Beult and Teise some traces of ancient work
remain. At Headcorn, where the Beult first assumes the
appearance of anything like a river, there is a small arch,
known as Stephen's bridge, which may embody some
ancient remains, and a few miles lower down the stream
occurs the first bridge of any size, where Hersfield
bridge crosses three branches of the river and a weedy
marsh, which shares, with the dyke at Brighton, a
dedication to his satanic majesty, and is known as the
" Devil's Den." The main road from Cranbrook to Maid-
stone crosses the Beult by the Style bridge, which has been
entirely re-built, but one a little lower down in the parish
of Hunton or, more properly, Huntingdon, may be ancient,
but has been widened and refaced in brickwork not un-
picturesquely. The last bridge to cross the Beult before
it joins the Medway is that which lies at the foot of the
main street of Yalding, and connects it with the main road
to Maidstone on the further bank of the Medway. It is a
long, fairly level bridge with deeply-embayed cut-waters of
rough rag stone, and has been frequently repaired and in
parts rebuilt, but remains substantially the original bridge
as it may have been constructed in the fifteenth century.
The road over this bridge continues to the right over
another one of much the same date and character, known as
Twyford bridge, from the Hundred in which it is situated,
but much steeper in its approaches than that of Yalding,
and presenting an appearance more picturesque than useful.
The road to the left, leading towards Tunbridge Wells,
crosses the Teise by an elegant little bridge of two arches
with a buttressed cut-water, called Latingford, or Loding-
ford, bridge, from the manor of that name to which it
belonged.

The first ancient bridge to cross the main river after

328

Memorials of Old Kent

all its tributaries have entered it is that at Teston, where
a bridge of five arches, of which the centre one may have
been rebuilt, connects the two banks. This bridge, which
may be of the same date as Yalding, presents a more
finished appearance, the stonework of the arches and cut-
waters being carefully wrought. The name of this place
may be mentioned as an example of the perverse style of
Kentish pronunciation, for, in spite of its spelling, no one
calls it anything but Teeson. Below Teston occurs the
finest of the Medway bridges, that of East Farleigh ; and
although there is no record of its erection, which there

Teston.

would doubtless have been had it been due to the munifi-
cence of one of the archbishops, it may, with some like-
lihood, be assigned to one of the Culpeper family, who
owned so many manors in the neighbourhood, and who
would have been mainly benefitted by its building. It is
a fine example of fifteenth century work, with four ribbed
and pointed arches crossing the stream, and bold cut-waters
of wrought stone, and may be compared favourably with
the finest structures of the period, of a similar character,
remaining in the country.

The river was once tidal to this point, but a system of
locks, beginning just below the bridge, now restrain the

^'''■•-"■■niii.'

'ii'iiiiiiiiii

The River Medway and its Medieval Bridges 329

stream, which flows on through charming woodland
scenery, past Maidstone, with its picturesque church and
college, and under its ugly bridge, past Allington Castle,
whence the poet Wyatt started out on his ill-conceived
Kentish rising against Queen Mary, till it meets the tidal
waters beneath the bridge at Aylesford. This bridge has
undergone considerable alteration by the insertion of a
wide span arch in the centre for the improvement of the
river navigation. "^ The ford here was from early times
regarded as of great importance, as being more easily
crossed than that at Rochester, and more difficult to
defend ; but the Normans erected a small castle to protect
it, the keep of which forms the lower part of the present
church tower. It was across this ford that Hengist and
his Jutes crossed into West Kent after he had defeated the
Britons in the year 455.

Although comparatively so far from the beaten path,
all the best parts of the river may be easily visited by the
pedestrian, or cyclist, and no parts of the Medway, Beult,
or Eden lie more than a mile or two from some railway
station ; and nothing in the nature of a summer ramble
can be more enjoyable than a day or two spent on their
banks, from Maidstone on the north, to Headcom on the
east, and Hever on the west.

K?^^

INDEX

Aldington Church, 278, 297
Allchin, J. H., on Chillington

Manor House, 253-263
Allday, 142

Allington Castle, 141, 176-179
Appledore Church, 66, 71, 72, 75
Ash, near Ridley, Church uf, 53,

54 ' _ „

Ash (near Sandwich) Church, 89

Ashford, 146, 147

Ashford Church, 62, 78

Ashurst Church, 56, 57, 59, 60,

279-281
Astley, John, 178
Aucher, Sir Anthony, 145, 146
Aylesford, 1-4

Bridge, 328, 329

Church, 98

Ball, John, 137, 138

Banquel Family, 204, 205

Ba])child Church, 66

Barfreston Church, 48

Barhani, R. H., 125

Barton, P^lizabeth, the Holy

Maid of Kent, 149
Bayford Castle, 152, 153, 179, 180
Beckenham Church, 89
Beleme, wood-carver, 74
Belknap, Sir Robert, 136
Benham, Canon, on Dickens and

Kent, 238-252
Bethersden Church, 88, 93
Bexley Church, 87, 88
Biddenden Church, 94, 97
Binbury Castle, 1S0-182
Bishopsbourne Church, 94
Black Prince, The, 127
Blackfriars, Canterbury, 302
Blackheath, 138, 141, 145
Bleak House, Broadstairs, 243,

244
Blockhouses in Kent, 153, 154,

210-212

Bohemia, Queen of, 128
Bokeland, John, 77
Boley Hill, Rochester, 172, 173
Borden, 139

Church, 59

Boteler, John, 139
Boughton Malherbe, 140
Boughton-under-the-Blean, 65, 66,

■J I, 72, 74, 83, 96, 149
Boxley Abbey, 57, 141
Boyes, Sir John, 128
Brabourne Church, 55
Brenchley Castle, 202, 203

Church, 54, 74

Brent, John, 133, 134
Brenzett Church, 94
Broadstairs, 243, 244
Brockman, Sir William, 145
Bromley Church, 88, 89

College, 2S7

Simpson's Moat, 203-205

Brookland Church, 71, 72, 88,

89
Bullen, or Boleyn, Family, of

Hever, 228-237
Burgh, Hubert de, 164, 170
Burham Church, 62, 72, 88

Cade, Jack, 138- 141

Callaway, John, 118, 119

Canterbury, 244, 245

Christchurch Gate, 130, 131.

(See also Frontispiece.)

Castle, III, 165-172

Cathedral, 103-105

Eastbridge Hospital, 129

Grey Friars, no, 113-117

Hospital of Poor Priests, 130

Martyrs' Field, 125

Maynard's Hospital, 130

Refugee industries, 298-305

Royal Museum, 126-128

St. Alphege's Church, 68,

84, 85

331

332

INDEX

286,
279,

281,

Canterbury, St. Andrew's Church,
55, 56, 70, 71

St. Augustine's Abbey, 19-43

burials in, 19, 20

dissolution of, 35

bells, 41

seals, 41, 42

St. Dunstan's Church, 70,

87, 89, 94, 99-103, 123, 124

St. John's Hospital, 129, 130

St. Martin's Church, 6

St. Mildred's Church, 126

West Gate, 111-113

Weavers, 117-119

Capel-le-Ferne, Church of, 49, 75,
100

Castle Rough, 151

Toll, Newenden, 189-193

Castles of Kent, 7, 150-214

Caxton, William, 12

Chalk Church, 280, 297

Challock Church, 98

Changle, Thomas, 139

Charing Church, 280, 297

Charles, Wilham, 257, 258

Charlton Church, 279,

Chartham Church, 75

Chiddinjjstone Church,
282

Chilham Church, 56, 88

Chillington Manor House, Maid-
stone, 253-263

Chislehurst Church, 55, 66,

Clench, Thomas, 139

Clerke, John, 139

Cliffe-at-Hoo, 247

— —Church of, 3, 61, 98

Clinch, George, 5

■ On Kentish Insurrec-
tions, 132-149; on Romney
Marsh, 264-276

Cobb, Thomas, 149

Cobham, 242, 243

Church, 98

Family, 253, 254

Cogan, John, 128

Colebridge Castle, 182-185

Colomb, Col., on The Royalist
Rising, 143

Colepeper, Sir T., 145

Compton, Sir William, 144

Compton Church, Surrey, 51

Cooling, or Cowling, 246

Cooper, T. S., 125, 126

Corbueil, Archbishop William de,
188

Cotton, Leonard, 128

72, 89

Courtenay, Sir W. P. Honey-
wood, 149

Cowden Church, 62, 72, 89, 98

Cowling, or Cooling, Castle, 14

Church, 53, 89

Cranbrook Church, 83

Cudham Church, 62

Cuxton Church, 62, 72, 84, 88,
90, 98

Dane John, Canterbury, 119,
120, 165, 166, 168, 169

Danish earthworks in Kent, 151

Darrell, — , of Scotney, 145

Dartford, 141

Church, 83, 88, 98

Heath, i

Deal, 2, 146

Castle, 147, 159-165

(Upper) Church, 279, 292

Denton Church, 89

Deptford, 147

Castle, 206

Dickens, Charles, 238-252

Ditchfield, P. H., on Historic
Kent, 1-18; on Hever
Castle, 228-237

Doddington Church, 51, 80, 82, 97

Dorrell, James, 145

Dover, 146, 244

Castle, r47, 149, 165

Downe Church, 55

Drayner (or Dragener), 76

Dudley, Sir Gamaliel, 144

Earthworks of Kent, 7
East Farleigh Bridge, 322
East Peckham Church, 54
Eastchurch Church, 64, 66, 78, 96
Eastling Church, 83
Eastry Church, 63
Eastwell Church, 88
Ebbsfleet, 3, 5
Edenbridge Church, 54, 70
Elham Church, 62, 72, 89
Eltham Church, 71
Erith Church, 84, 98, 100
Evans, Sebastian, on St. Augus-
tine's Abbey, 19-43
Eynesford Castle, 185-189

Fairfax, Lord, 143, 147
Farningham Church, 98
Faversham, 146

Church, 94, 97

Finch, Sir John, 128

INDEX

333

Finch, William, 8i
Flaherty, W. E., quoted, 135, 136
Folkestone Castle, 207
Fordwich, 127, 128

Church, 77, 87, 88

Frindsbury Church, 48, 62
Fields, 147

Gadshill, 240, 241, 245, 246
Gillingham Church, 53, 57, 60,

66, 90, gS

Fort, 212

Godfrey, Sir Thomas, 145
Goodnestone Church, 98
Gosson, Stephen, 125
Gostling, William, 125
Goudhurst Church, 83, 94, 97
Graveney Church, 73
Gravesend, 141, 146

Church, 54

Grayling, Dr. Francis, 80, 90
Great Chart Church, 84
Great Mongeham Church, 98
Greenwich Palace, 12, 13
Groombridge Church, 281, 282,

284, 250, 297
Gyllam, wood-carver, 74, 93

Hacker, Col., 145

Hackington Church, 65, 66, 73

Hadlow, Thomas, 86, 87

Church, 62

Hales, Sir Edward, 16

Edward, 145, 146

Sir James, 145

John, 75

Hailing Church, 87, 89
Halstead Church, 53
Hammond, Francis, 145

Sir Robert, 146

Harbledown, 120-123
Hardres, Sir Richard, 145, 146
Hartlip Church, 63, 72
Harty Church, 66
Hawkhurst, 140

Church, 54, 83, 93, 97

Haydon Mount, 158, 189, 190
Hayes, I

Church, 71

Headcorn Church, 73, 97
Heme Church, 66, 74
Hernehill, 149
Hernhill Church, 64, 71, 72
Hersfield Bridge, 320, 324
Hever Castle, 228-237
Higham Church, 53, 63, 87, 89
Hoath Church, 90

Hoefnagel's Plan of Canterbury,

165, 212-214
HoUingbourne Church, 287, 291
Holy Maid of Kent, 149
Hoode, wood-carver, 74
Horton Kirby, 88
Hucking Church, 279
Hylhe Church, 54, 62, 72, 83, 84

Iden, Alexander, 140
Ightham Church, 280
Insurrections in Kent, 10-12, 132-

149
Ivychurch Church, 97
Iwade Church, 98

Jutes in Kent, 4

Kemsing Church, 296
Kennardington Castle, r58, 159
Kentish Castles, 150-214
Kentish Insurrections, i32-r49
Kershaw, S. W., on Refugee

Industries, 298-319
Keston, 136
Kingsdown, near Wrotham,

Church of, 53, 70
Kit's Coty House, i

Leather Bottle, Cobham, 242, 243
Ledes, Walter, 100
Leigh, Col., 145
L'Estrange, Col., 145
Lisle, Sir George, 144
Little Chart Church, 88
Lodinford Bridge, 326
Lovejoy, Elizabeth, 128
Lovelace, Francis, 143, 145

Richard, 114, 115, 125

Lullingstone Church, 66, 67, 74,

77. 95. 207, 208
Lydd Church, 53, 65, 89
Lyminge Church, 50
Lympne, 151
Lynsted Church, 79, 80, 81, 83, 97

Maidstone, Refugee industries,

311-313
Church, 71, 72, 78

Museum, 253-263

Storming of, 147

Mann, Sir William, 143
Many, Sir John, 145

Sir William, 145

Maplesden Family, 254
Marden, 140

Marlowe, Christopher, 124, 125
Medmenham, William, 135

334

INDEX

Medway Bridges, 320-329

Meopham Church, 75, 84

Midley Church, 88

Milsted Church, 75

Milton, near Gravesend, Church, 89

near Sittingbourne, Church

of, 53. 90, 98
Minster Church, Sheppey, 51, 53,

54, 66, 88, 97, 98
Minster, Thanet, 5, 31
Monastic Houses in Kent, 7, 13
Monkton Church, 86
Murston Church, 62

Newchurch Church, 84
Newenden, 158

(Castle Toll), 189-193

Church, 66, 98

Newington Church, 73, 75, 84, 98
Newman, George, 145
Norman Castles, 155-157
North Cray Church, 88
Northfleet, 140
Church, 51, 283, 290

Oare Church, 98

O'Connor Riots, 149

Odo, Revolt against, 132, 133

Offham Church, 53

Palmer, Sir Henry, 145

Sir Thomas, 145

Parry, Dr., on Romney Marsh,

275, 276
Peche, Sir John, 74
Penchester, Sir Stephen de, 177,

178, 215
Penshurst, 140

Place, 215-227

Penyngton, William, 139
Peyton, Sir Thomas, 145
Plaxtole Church, 279, 290, 294
Pluckley, 141
Plumstead Church, 286
Pestling Church, 55, 69
Poulteney, Sir John de, 215

Rainham Church, 53, 83, 84
Rakestraw, John, 135
Reculver, 151

Church, 50, 51

Refugee Industries, 298-319
Richborough, 151
Rochester, 146, 147

St. Margaret's Church, 54

Cathedral, 56, 71, 72, 105-

108, 172-176

Rodmersham Church, 67, 83, 84,

89
Roman Buildings, 3
Remains in the Weald of

Kent, 190, 191

walled towns in Kent, 151

Romney Marsh, 264-276

Rood of Grace, Boxley Abbey,

57-60
Rood-lofts and Screens, 44-109
Rood-screen, Origin of the, 45, 46
Roper, Margaret, 13, 14, 123, 124
Royalist Rising (1648), 142-149
Ruckinge Church, 62, 71, 72, 98
Ryarsh Church, 54, 88, 89

Sabine, Alderman, 143

St. Alphege, 7

St. Augustine, 5, 6, 19

"St. Augustine's Chair," 126,

127
St. Laurence Church, 71, 72
St. Margaret-at-Cliffe, Church of,

48
St. Nicholas' Church, Rochester,

285, 286
St. Paul's Cray Church, 88
St. Peter's, Thanet, 84
St. Thomas of Canterbury, 8
Salmeston Grange, 31
Sandown, 146

Castle, 210, 211

Sandhurst Church, 94

Sands, H., on Some Kentish

Castles, 150-214
Sandwich, 146

Refugee Industries, 314-319

St. Mary's Church, 53, 62, 77

Castle, 208, 209

Scott's Hall, 146
Seal, 88

Church, 86, 87

Sevington Church, 100
Shadoxhurst Church, 71
Shoreham Church, 64, 66, 67, 72,

95

Shorne Church, 62, 72

Shurland Castle, 210

Sidney, Philip, on Old Canter-
bury, 110-131 ; on Penshurst
Place, 215-227

Sir Philip, 15, 216, 218, 220

Family, at Penshurst, 215-

225

Simpson's Moat, Bromley, 203-
205

Sissinghurst Castle, 193, 194

INDEX

335

Sittingbourne Church, 62, 72, 80,

81, 147
Smarden Church, 64, 68, 69, 76,

89, 97, 140
Smuggling at Romney Marsh,

264-276
Snargate Church, 53
Somner, William, 125
Speldhurst Church, 100
Spencer, Henry, 139
Spenser, Edmund, 217
Stalisfield Church, 64-66, 73, 96
Staplehurst Church, 80
Stockbury Castle, 194, 195
Stone Church, near Dartford, 52
near Faversham, Church of,

63, 77
Sumner, Major, 147
Sutton, wood-carver, 74
Sutton Valence Castle, 195, 196
Swanscombe, i
Church, 62, 98

Tavenor-Perry, J., on Seventeenth
Century Church Architec-
ture in Kent, 277-297 ; on
Mediaeval Bridges, 320-329

Teston Bridge, 328

Teynham Church, 97

Thornham Castle, 197, 198

Throwley Church, 62

Tom (or Thorn), J. N., 149

Tong Castle, 199, 200

Church, 66, 72, 73, 85, 96

Tracey, Sir Robert, 145

Tudeley Church, 52

Tunbridge Church, 63

Twyford Bridge, 324, 329

Tyler, Wat, 134-138

Upnor Castle, 211, 212

Vallance, Aymer, on Rood-lofts,
44-109

Waller, Edmund, 216
Walmer, 146

Castle, 210, 211

Walton, Izaak, 126

Warenne, William de, 177, 178

Washington, Col., 145

Watling Street, 2, 8, 9

Weald, Refugee Industries, 3o5-

3"
West Mailing, 90

West Wickham, i, 66, 158

Church, 54, 62

Westerham Church, 62

Westenhanger Castle, 200-202

Westwell, 73, 88

Church, 49-51, 71, 72, 83, 97,

98

Whitfield, John, 128

Wiles, Dudley, 143

Willesborough Church, 100

Wingham, 62

Church, 71, 72, 97, 98

College, 75, 76

Wolsey, Cardinal, 13

Woodchurch Church, 98

Worthgate, Canterbury, 169

Wouldham Church, 53, 84

Wrotham Church, 66, 83, 84

Wyatt, Sir Henry, 179

Sir Thomas, 141, 178

Rebellion, 14, 141, 142

Wye, 146

Yalding Bridge, 322, 323
Church, 63

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