Attorney General to Henry the eighth and he died possest of it in the thirty third year of that Prince and left it to his Son Sir James Hales who not long after alienated it to Sir Thomas Moile Chancellour of the Court of Augmentations who erected almost all that stupendious Fabrick which now so obliges the Eye to Admiration and left it to Sir Thomas Finch who had married Katharine his Daughter and Co-heir a Gentleman who merited a calmer Fate and a Nobler Tomb for after many gallant Archievements performed at Newhaven in France he suffered Shipwrack in his return to England and left it to his Son Sir Moile Finch who very much inlarged Eastwell-court with both sumptuous elegant and convenient Additaments and left it in Dower to his Widow Elizabeth Finch Daughter and Heir of Sir Thomas Heneage first created Viscountess Maidstone by King James and after Countess of Winchelsey in the year 1638. by King Charles from whom both the Honour and East-well descended to her Son Thomas Earl Wenchelsey and from him to his Son the Right Honorable Heneage Finch now Earl of Winchelsey and Viscount Maidston Since I am so happily engaged to a Discourse of this eminent Family of Finch I shall discover in Landskip the deep Antiquity of their first Extraction They were originally descended from Henry Fitz-Herbert Chamberlain to King Henry the first who married the Daughter and Heir of Sir Robert le Corbet and had Issue by her a Son named Herbert and he was Father to Herbert Fitz-Herbert who by his first Wife Lucy Daughter and Co-heir of Milo Earl of Hereford and Lord High Constable of England had Issue a Son named Peter Fitz-Herbert from whom the Herberts Earls of Pembroke originally issued out and by his second Wife Matilda after his Deeease remarried to the Lord Columbers he had Issue Matthew Fitz-Herbert who was one of the Magnates or Barons at the compiling of Magna Charta and was one of the powerful Partisans of King John at the making the accord between that Prince and his Barons at Running-Mead between Windsor and Stanes his Son likewise called Matthew Fitz-Herbert was the fourth Baron mentioned in the Roll of that Parliament which was convened at Tewksbury The alteration of this Name into Finch was about the tenth of Edward the first at which Time Herbert Fitz-Herbert purchased the Mannor of Finches in Lidde of which being entire Lord as he was not of Netherfeild he assumed his Sirname from that as many other Families fell in that Age under the same Mutation and borrowed Sirnames from those places which were wholly under their possession and Signory In the eighth year of Edward the second there was a Supersedeas issued out mentioning that Herbert Fitz-Herbert called Finch was a Ward in the twenty eighth year of Edward the first and so could not personally serve with the King in his Wars in Scotland and therefore was released of his Escuage for all his Estate in Kent and Sussex which together with some of the ancient Patrimony and several Knights Fees at Netherfeild in Sussex and elsewhere are not yet departed from this Noble Family Westwell in the Hundred of Calchill was confirmed to the Monks of Christ-church in Canterbury for a supply in their Diet in the year 1241. But it seems they were questioned Quo Warranto they possest this Mannor and after a Solemn Decision per patriam it is affirmed and attested in the Confirmation of the abovesaid Prince that it was enstated upon them by his Predecessors and continued afterwards unquestionably parcel of the Demeasne of the Cloister abovesaid until it was resigned by the Monks of Christ-church into the Hands of Henry the eighth and so it rested in the Crown until not many years since it was granted to Sir Nic. Tuston of Hothfield The Parsonage anciently belonged to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury until Thomas Arundell the Arch-bishop gave it in the year 1397. to the Monks of Christ-church to counterpoise those vast expences which they were to be at in re-erecting the Nave or Body of the Cathedral called Aulam Ecclesiae by Eadmerus which Simon de Sudbury plucked down and had intended that it should like a Phoenix have rose more glorious out of its Ashes but was intercepted in his Design by a suddain Death being beheaded by Wat Tiler and the confluence of his impious and barbarous Complices This Church thus appropriated was confirmed to the Monks abovesaid in the year 1400. by King Henry the fourth and upon the suppression was re-enstated upon the Dean and Chapiter of Christ-church by Henry the eighth Ripley-court is a Seat of good Antiquity in this Parish and more eminent because it afforded a Sirname to Gentlemen of good Ranke in this Track of which Number was Richard de Ripley who died seised of this Mannor in the thirtieth year of Edward the first Rot. Esc Num. 91. and in an old Deed is called Miles Archiepiscopi that is he held this Mannor of the Arch-bishop by Knights Service but before the latter end of Edward the third this Family was vanished and then the Brockhuls and Idens succeeded in the possession the last of which was a Family of great Antiquity and no lesse Revenue about Iden in Sussex and Rolvenden in this County For in the year 1280. as appears by a Fine levied that year John the Son of Thomas de Iden passes away Lands to John de More And of this Family was Alexander Iden Esquire Sheriff of Kent in the thirty fourth year of Henry the sixth who in the twenty eighth year of that Prince slew Jack Cade who had borrowed the disguised Person of Mortimer excited thereunto as was the Opinion of those Times by the Suggestions of Richard Duke of Yorke to fathom the Peoples Affections to that man in the strength of whose Title he intended in the future to claim the English Diadem But the Attempts of Cade being disappointed by the formerly infatuated but now disenchanted Multitude's deserting of him who began to risent his Fraud and Imposture upon their total Dissipation shrowded himself in some of those Grounds which belonged to Ripley-court and lay not far distant from Hothfeild and were then in the Tenure of VVilliam Iden Justice of the Peace and Father of the abovesaid Alexander where being discovered he was by that Worthy Person offered up a Sacrifice to the Justice of Henry the sixth But I have digressed I now return After this Seat had for so many Descents been the Residence of this Family and the Cradle and Seminary of many Worthy Persons who had been subservient and ministerial to the Honour and Interess of this County by their Magnanimity and Prudence it went away from Iden by Sale to Darell and George Darell in the last year of Edward the sixth conveyed it to Baker Ancestor to Mr. ...... Baker of VVindsor now proprietary of it Diggs-court is another eminent Seat in this Parish which was the Mansion of the Noble Family of Diggs or
original In Ages of a lower step these Comites were frequently call'd Reguli In Cantia saith Malmsbury Omnis justitia laborabat sub cujusdam Gorongiregimine qui tamen sicut omnes Reguli insulae Vortigerno substernebantur Afterwards when Hengist had establish'd his Kentish Kingdome the Title of Earl began to commence in Otho and Ebusa Brothers to the abovesaid Hengist as the same Malmesbury observes in his Tract de Gestis Regum Cap. 3. And the Title of Earl was anciently expressed by the word Comes amongst the Saxons for to King Ethelberts Charter for the foundation of the Abby of St. Augustins cited by Reynerus there are these subscriptions Ego Hamigilus Dux laudavi and then Ego Ocea Comes consensi Ego Graphio Comes benedixi and there is an old Epitaph quoted by Mr. Selden in his Titles of Honour the substance of which is this that Alwain which was Founder of Ramsey-Abby was Comes Aldermannus totius Angliae but in decursion of Time this word Eolderman being used by others besides those to whom it was proper and analogical it began to languish into disuse and the Title of Thane and Earl was assumed which last hath remained in force untill this day Now the relief of a Thane who was certainly an Earl by office rather then Title if he were of the first rank that is had the custody of some County under the King which he paid to the Crown was four Horses two sadled and two unsadled two Swords and four Spears and as many Shields And if he were of the second rank he paid two Horses one sadled and one unsadled one Sword two Lances as many Shields and fifty Marks in Silver sometimes if he were a Thane of an inferior rank he paid eight-pound and frequently three-pound The relief which an Earl paid constantly to the Crown after the Norman Conquest was as Mr. Selden in his Titles of Honour does demonstrate out of severall Records was an Hundred pound Now the benefit which did accrue to the Count or Earl besides a Barren and naked Title to support the dignity of his Person in its due Magnificence and Splendor was the third penny arising out of the Profits of the County Algar Earl of Mercland as Dooms-day Book informs us had the third penny of the County of Oxford and the Borough of Stafford under Edward the Confessor And Mawde the Empresse when she created Milo Earl of Hereford assigned to him for the support of his Honor the third penny of that County Many examples of the like condition are discoverable in Mr. Selden's Titles of Honour whither I refer the Reader And as they had the third penny so they had frequently the Castle of the County annexed to their Title but when by experience the Kings of England were instructed how fatally pernicious it was to have so many local powers concurrent with theirs that by the strength of their retreat and the number of confederates and Partisans seem'd even to out-poise the Royal Authority it was by a Statute made in the 13 th year of Richard the 2 d. for the future interdicted and prohibited Now if you will enquire when Earls or Counts from being absolute became Feudal Sr. Henry Spelman in his Glossarie will tell you that it was Tempore Othonum sub excessu Merovinae stirpis in Galliâ that is about the year onet housand Now as concerning the Ensigns of Investiture with which the Earl was created it was anciently only with the Cincture of a Sword but about the latter end of Edward the first the Coronet began to be in use for Aymer de Vallence Earl of Pembrook who died in the 16 th year of Edward the 2 d. had one as appears by an instrument of William de Lavenham cited by Mr. Selden in his Titles of Honour by which he acknowledges the receit of it from Sr. Henry Stacheden in the 12 th year of Edward the 2 d. Richard Earl of Arundel died in the 49 th year of Edward the 3 d. and by his last Will dated the fifth of December gives his Noblest and Richest Coronet to his Son the Lord Richard Fitz-allan his second to the Lady Joan his eldest and the 3 d. he bequeaths to the Lady Alice his youngest Daughter What the Counts Palatine were I shall now demonstrate they were taken immediately à Palatio from whence they assum'd their name and were customarily such as had the nearest relation to the Prince either by friendship or Affinity and to whose care and administration he did entrust such or such a Province and the more to improve and enable them in the discharge of their Duty did unite some privileges and Franchises to their office as erecting Courts of Judicature appointing Judges to sit in them and determine by signal decision upon causes both Criminal and Civil and others of the like nature that were of that luxutiant latitude that they had the Stamp and Character of something which resembled Regality fixt upon them He that will discover by example more of this honorary Title may read Mr. Seldens Titles of Honor whither to decline all superfluity of discourse I refer to the Reader I have now done with the Title I shall now proceed to unwind the Register of those who were Earls of Kent subsequent to Earl Godwin 1067 1 Odo Bishop of Baieux halfe Brother to William the Conquerer Lord chief Justice and Lord Treasurer of England 1141 2 William de Ipre 1227 3 Hubert de Burg Lord Chief Justice of England 1321 4 Edmund de woodstock Son to King Edward the first 1330 5 Edmund Plantaginet 1333 6 John Plantaget  7 Thomas Holland Earl of Kent in right of Joan his wife who was Daughter of Edmund of Woodstock 1360 8 Thomas Holland 1397 9 Thomas Holland Duke of Surry 1400 10 Thomas Holland Lord High Admiral of England 1461 11 Will. Nevill Lord Fauconbridge 1464 12 Edmund Grey Lord Ruthin Lord Treasurer of England created Earl of Kent by King Edward the 4 th  13 George Grey  14 Richard Grey  15 Reginald Grey  16 Henry Grey  17 Charles Grey  18 Henry Grey  19 Anthony Grey Clerk Parson of Burbage in the County of Leicester Grandchild of Anthony 3 d. Son of George Earl of Kent above mentioned  20 Henry Grey  21 Anthony Grey Earl of Kent now living 1658. but in his Minority Having represented in Prospect the Comites and Consules the Earls and Consuls which were originally to manage those Provinces subordinate to the Romane Government I shall now take cognisance of those which were anciently styl'd Vice Comites Proconsules and had care of the Provincial revenue in relation to which they were term'd Questores Provinciarum and the jurisdiction of some Causes only as our Sheriffs have of divers Actions Viscontiel and inquiry of Causes Criminal but not determination of them In the Saxon times they were sometimes call'd Ealdormen and in Latine Vice Comites which was applyed
Confederate of Simon de Montforts the popular Earl of Leicester in his Quarrel commenced against Henry the third about removing of Strangers both from his Counsells and Throne for which after the Battle of Evesham where that Simon was defeated and slain he was by the Pacification made at Kenelworth in the fiftieth year of Henry the third absolved and pardoned soon after which he dyed and left this Mannor with much other Revenue to his Son Henry Leybourn and he was seised of it at his Death which was in the twenty eighth year of Edward the first from whom it went down to his Son Sir Roger Leybourn who dying without Issue-male Juliana Leybourn his Sole Daughter and Inheritrix entred upon the Inheritance and she was first wedded to John de Hastings and after to William de Clinton Earl of Huntington but by neither had she any Surviving Issue nor yet any collateral Alliance that could put in any pretended Claim to rescue it from an Escheat so that in the forty third year of Edward the third in which year she dyed it devolved to the Crown and Richard the second granted it to Sir Simon de Burley Knight of the Garter and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports a Man of great Virtues and no lesse Vices whose Pride and Ambition first galled others and lastly wounded himself and like some Physick wanting a peccant Matter to work upon preys upon the Vitalls themselves For bandying against some of the Nobility who pretended the Preservation and Sheltring of the peoples Interest against the impetuous Eruptions of an arbitrary Prerogative he was empeached of high Treason in the tenth year of Richard the second and was convicted and executed upon whose Calamitous Tragedie this by Escheat reverts to the Crown and the abovesaid Prince in the twelfth year of his Reign by Grant annexes it to the Revenue of the Canons of St. Stephens in Westminster where it was fixed untill the publick Suppression removed it and united it once more to the Patrimony of the Crown Richard de Albaney principall Butler to King William Rufus gave the Tithes of Elham to St. Andrews in Rochester See Textus Roffensis and then King Edward the sixth granted it in Lease for fourscore years to Sir Edward Wotton one of his Privie Councell whose Son Thomas Wotton Esquire passed it away by Sale to Alexander Hamon Esquire who determining in two Daughters and Coheirs Mary married to Sir Edward Bois of Fredvill and Katharine wedded to Sir Robert Lewknor this in his Wifes Right came over to the last but the Reversion in Fee was in the Beginning of the late King Charles by Sir Charles Herbert Master of the Revells purchased of the Crown and he some few years since alienated all his Concernment in this Mannor to Mr. Alst a Dutch Merchant of London Elham had the Grant of a Market procured to it on the Monday by the power of Prince Edward in the fifty fifth year of Henry the third which was after allowed and approved of before the Judges Itinerant when he was King in the seventh year of his Reign Shotleâ—field in Elham was as high as the Reign of Edward the second the Inheritance of a Family called le Grubbe who had Possessions of a considerable Value about Yalding by Maidston and Nonington in East-Kent In the third year of Edward the second Henry Peres and in another old Deed styled Pers or de Petris from his Habitation nere some place of a Rocky constitution demises some parcels of Land lying in Elham and Lyming to Thomas le Grubbe who is written in the Deed de Shotlesfield and from this Thomas did the Title descend by paternal Devolution to John Grubbe who in the second year of Richard the third conveyed it by Sale to Thomas Brockman of Liming and his Grandchild Henry Brockman in the first year of Queen Mary alienated it to George Fogge of Brabourn Esquire and he about the beginning of Queen Elizabeth sold his Interest in it to Bing who in that Age which was circumscribed within our Fathers Remembrance transplanted the Title by Sale into Mr. John Masters of Sandwich from whom it descended to Sir Ed. Masters of Canterbury and he upon his late Decease gave it to Dr ..... Masters his second Son Dr. of the Civil-Law Mount and South Blabden with Jaques Court were Mannors which were involved in the Patrimony of Anketellus de Rosse and he in the twentieth year of Wâ—lliam the Conquerour held them as appears by the Record of Dooms-day Book from which Name they passed away to Cosenton with Acris but with this Clause reserved that South-Blabden and Acris should hold the Mannor of Horton by knights Service which was a principall Seat of this Family of Rosse before it was sold to Kirkby In the seventh year of King Edward the third Stephen de Cosington obtained a Charter of Free-warren to these above recited Mannors This Man was Son and Heir of William de Cosenton who was Sheriff of Kent in the thirty fifth year of Edward the first and is sometimes written of Cosenton and sometimes of Mount in Elham and from these two did Sir John Cosenton extract his Genealogie and with it his Title to these two Mannors and he deceasing about the latter end of Henry the eighth without Issue-male his three Daughters ....... married to Duke Joan matched to Wood and Elizabeth wedded to Alexander Hamon Esquire became his three Coheirs and parted a large Patrimony Upon the Division Wood obtained South-Blabden and Jaques Court and Hamon carried away Mount Wood's Heir alienated the two first to Sir John Wilde of Canterbury whose Son Colonell Dudley Wilde upon his late Decease hath bequeathed them to his Widow during Life Hamon's Heir determined in two Daughters and Coheirs Mary was espoused to Sir Edward Bois of Fredvill and Catharine was matched to Sir Robert Lewknor descended from the noble and Illustrious Family of Lewknor in Sussex who in his Wifes right was invested in the Possession of Mount who upon his Death transmitted it to his Son Mr. Hamon Lewknor whose Widow Mrs. ..... Lewknor eldest Daughter to Dr. Hen. Kingsley Arch-deacon of Canterbury is now in the enjoyment of it Canterwood is another Mannor in this Parish whose Possessors I confesse I could never trace out by any Print of publick Record therefore I endeavoured to give my self Satisfaction by the private Evidences but the Heir being under Age the Deeds were deposited in the Hands of those who represented my Design in Surveying them through the Mists of Cautious Jealousies and Distrusts and so my Attempt became fruitlesse All the Intelligence I could gain as in Relation to that place was collected from an old Manuscript whose Hand seems contemporary to the Time of Henry the eighth and what I have drained from thence I shall now represent to the Reader Canterwood says this Escript was formerly the Estate of Thomas de Garwinton de Welle in Littlebourne who flourished in the Reign
of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 59. in right of his Wife Juliana Sole Heir of Roger de Leybourn Lord of Leybourne Castle and she after him likewise was in possession of it at her decease which was in the forty third year of Edw. the third Rot. Esc Num. 47. But this after her departure for want of Heirs either direct or collateral escheating with a wide and opulent patrimony to the Crown it made its aboad there untill Rich. the second in the Beginning of his reign granted it to Sir Simon de Burley Lord Warden of the Cinque-ports and Knight of the Garter who being infortunately attainted in the tenth year of Rich. the second this Mannor by escheat reverts to the Crown and that Monarch in the eleventh year of his reign grants the Custody of Langley Park to William Arch-B of Cant. which his Grand-father K. Edw. the third had in the ninth year of his reign by a special Grant indulged to Will Lord Clinton and Julian his Lady licensed to be inlarged with 200 Acres of Land but the Mannor it self was granted to the Dean and Canons of St. Stephens in Westminster in the twelsth year of his reign as appears by an Inquisition taken at that time Rot. Esc Num. 159. and amply confirmed in the twenty first year of the abovefaid Prince as appears Pat. 1. Memb. 35. Parte tertia and remained folded up in their revenue until the general Suppression in the reign of H. the eighth dislodged the Title and planted it in the Crown and then that Prince by a new Concession made it the demeasn of Leven Buffkin descended from an ancient Family of that Name in Sussex and his Successor in our Fathers memory passed it away to Nat. Powel Esq and he not many years since demised his Interest in it by Sale to Sir Edw. Hales Knight and Batonet from whom it is now descended to his Grandchild Sir Edw. Hales of Tunstall Baronet Brising is another Mannor in Langley worthy the remembrance even in this that it gave Seat and Sirname to a Family of that denomination Sarin de Rising held in the twentieth year of Edw. the third and paid respective Aid for it at making the Black Prince Knight In times of a more modern Character the Astrys were invested in the possession And Jo. Astry held it at his decease as appears by an old Will in the fourth year of Edw. the fourth of this Family was Ralph Astry who was Sheriff of London in the first year of Richard the third and likewise William Astry who dyed seised of it in the thirty fifth year of Henry the eighth but after his Exit the Title was of no longer date in the Tenure of this Family for the Vicissitude of purchase about the Beginning of Edw. the sixth brought it from this Name to own the Signory of Leven Buffkin Esq one of the Justices of the Peace of this County and in his posterity did it reside until those Times which were of our Fathers Cognisance and then it was conveyed by Sale to Powel from whom not many years since the same revolution hath devolved it back into the possession of the instant proprietary Mr. Leven Buffkin Lee in the Hundred of Blackheath in Barbarous old Latine written Laga was the residence of an ancient generous Family called Bankwell and there is a place in this parish called Bankers by Corruption of the Name which in Orthography of more Antiquity and Truth was written Bankwells from whence certainly at first issued this Sirname In the thirty first year of Edward the first John de Bankwell had a Grant by the King's Charter to have Free-Warren to all his Lands in Lee Levesham and Bromley And in the return of John de Shelving High Sheriff of Kent in the sixteenth and part of the seventeenth year of Edward the second of all the Knights and men at Arms in this Connty William de Bankwell is mentioned in the second degree he dyed the twentieth year of Edward the third and left Thomas Bankwell his Heir who in the thirty fifty year of that Prince's Government deceased possest of Lee and a very large proportion of other Land in Modingham Sherfholt now I think corruptly called Shrawfield Littlecroft Bankers both in Lee Bromley Levesham Eltham Chiselhurst Detling Langshot and Wickham by Bromley and left three Sons according to the Custome of Gavelkind Heirs to his Inheritance which were John William and Robert Bankwell but upon the distinguishing the Estate into parcels Lee Bankers and Sherfholt now corruptly called Shrawfield fell to be the patrimony of John Bankwell and in this Mans Lineage did the Inheritance of these places divers years reside till the Name was circumscribed in a Female Heir who being wedded to John Arrapon brought this place to be an adjunct to his Inheritance And here I confess for want of information either from publick or private Record I am at a losse and cannot discover whether by Arrapon it was sold to the Crown and from the Crown transmitted to Woodvill or else immediately passed away by sale to Richard Woodvill Earl River who enjoyed it but upon his Son 's untimely death on a Scaffold at Pomfret being by the malice and subtlety of Richard the third blasted with an Aspersion of Treason that fatal Stroke which separated his Head from his Body divided his Estate here from this Name and Family and united it by Escheat to the Crown In whose Revenue it was resident until King Henry the eighth as is manifest by the original Patent granted it to Sir Thomas Wroteley In times of a more modern Aspect that is about the Beginning of Queen Elizabeth I find it in the Tenure of Thomas Sackvill Lord Buckhurst but how it devolved to him I confesse I know not and from him it descended to his Grandchild Richard Sackvill Earl of Dorset who exchanged it with King James whose Successor King Charls sold the Royaltie and Fee-simple of it to Ralph Freeman Lord Maior of London who gave it in Marriage with his Daughter and Heir to Sir George Sonds of Leeze-Court in Shelvich Knight of the Bath who by a Right derived from that Match is the present Lord of Lee and its two Appendages Bankers and Shrawfield Leeds Town and Castle lies in the Hundred of Eyhorne and were by William the Conquerour in the twentieth year of his Reign as appears by the Text of Dooms-day Book assigned to Hamon de Crevequer whom he had constituted one of the Trustees to assist his Cousin John de Fiennes in the Conservation and Guard of Dover Castle who chose this for the Capital Seat of his Barony of Crevequer or decrepito Corde for so it is rendered in Latin and of Chetham near Rochester for of that place likewise he and his posterity sometimes writ themselves Barons and here erected a stupendous Castle which because it was environed with Water was called the Moat Hamon de Crevequer married Matilda Sole Daughter and Heir of William
Fremingham died seised of it in the thirtieth year of Edward the third and when this Family went out the Pimps of Pimps-Court and Nettlested by Purchase became Lords of the Fee from whom the same Fare brought it to acknowledge the Signory of the Isleys of Sundrich and here it continued till Sir Henry Isley in the Raign of Q. Mary being attainted of High Treason it became Confiscated to the Crown and She in the second year of her Government granted it to Sir Walter Henley Knight of Coursehorne in Cranbroke in whose Name and posierity the Possession has remained Successively planted till this Day Seventhly Chillington is not to be omitted because I find it in the Register of those Lands which acknowledged the Lords Cobham for Lords of the Fee And when John de Cobham had obtained a Charter of Free-warren in the seventeenth year of Edw. the third to all his Lands in Kent The Mannor of Chillington is Recorded in the Catalogue amongst them After them it came as the Court-rolls and private Evidences of this place inform me to acknowledge the Signory and Jurisdiction of the Mapelysdens of Digons and remained circumscribed in their Revenue till Queen Mary began to weild the English Scepter and then George Mapelysden being entangled beyond all retreat in the unsuccessfull Expedition of Sir Thomas Wyat miscarried in that Attempt and lost his Estate by Forfeiture to the Crown and Q. Mary granted it to Sir Walter and Gervas Henley Esquire who not long after sold his Interest in it to Nicholas Barham Esquire Serjeant at Law to Queen Elizabeth and his Successor alienated this place to Hawle of Wye whose Grandchild Mr. George Hawle lately deceased held the Fee-simple of it Lastly within the Ambute or Limits of Maidstone stands an ancient Castellated House called the Moate It did in times of great Antiquity relate to that Patrimony which confessed the Signory of the noted Family of Leybourne for Roger de Leybourne obtained the Grant of a Market weekly on the Tuesday and a Fair yearly to continue three Dayes at the Feast of St. Cross in the fifty first year of Henry the third as appears Pat. 51. Hen. tertii Memb. 10. But before the beginning of Edw. the third this Name was withered and shrunk into Decay at this place and then Bartholomew Lord Burghurst or Burwash Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and one of the first Founders of the Order of the Garter came to possesse it and Inhabited here in the twenty ninth year of Edward the third and possessed the Signory called Shofford on which the Castle stands and which one John de Shofford held by Knights-Service in the twentieth year as appears by the Book of Aid of Edward the third After the Lords Burghurst the Woodvills were possest of it and removed from Grafton in the County of North-Hampton where they had long continued and lived here A fair Monument of Woodvill on the North-side the Chancell of Maidstone-Church affirms it and when King Henry the sixth created Richard Woodvill Constable of the Isle of Wight a Baron of this Nation and elected him into the Order of the Garter his Style was Lord Rivers Grafton and De la Moat which Act of Grace and Favour mollified a Sentence and Fine of 1000. lb. imposed upon him for matching with Jaquet Daughter of Peter of Luxenbourg Earl of St. Paul Widow of John Plantagente Duke of Bedford without the Kings Licence But when King Edward the fourth had married Elizabeth his eldest Daughter being widow to Thomas Marquesse Dorcett he created him Earl Rivers and Lord of the Isle of VVight which Titles he had observed were concomitant in some of the Styles of the Lords Rivers or de Ripariis who were the Ancient Earls of Devon and assumed to bear in an Escocheon of pretence upon his own Atchievement the old Coat ascribed commonly to Baldwin de Ripariis Earl of Devon viz. Gules a Griphen Segreant Or which I note for Criticks in Armorie to descant on and return to the Historie of the Place When this good man for so he was noted to be was miserably massacred by Robert Ridisdale Captain of the Lewd People of North-Hampton-shire who took him at Edgcot-Field and struck off his head at North-Hampton Their Will being their Law and Mischief Minister to their wild Designs all his seven Sons who survived him died without Issue and then Sir Henry VVyat becomes owner of this place Grandfather to Sir Thomas VViat afterwards his Successor in the Possession of it whose dysastrous Tragedy is presented at Boxley upon whose untimely Exit Hugh VVarham in the second year of Queen Mary by Grant from the Crown enters upon it from whom Alderman Rither afterwards Lord Maior of London and known by the Name of Sir VVilliam Rither Purchased and Repaired it and left it to his Daughter and Coheir the Lady Susan Caesar whose eldest Son Tho. Caesar Esq and his Mother concurring together disposed of their Right in it by Sale to Sir Humphrey Tufton Knight second Son to Sir John Tufton Knight and Baronet and Brother to Nicholas Tufton Earl of Thanett who was Father to John the present Earl There was a Family Sirnamed de Maidstone whose Blazon upon a Monument in Vlcombe Church is Sables a Cheveron between three Cups covered Argent Crowned Or VVilliam de Maidston the Kings Valect being sent to the Court of Rome with certain Instruments and other expresses deceas'd in his Journey as appears Pat. Anno quinto Edwardi primi prima Pars. Pinenden-Heath confines upon Maidston and is eminent for the Punishment of Malefactors and the frequent Assemblies of Free-holders who here convene to elect such Persons for Knights of the Shire as may represent the County in Parliament But it was in elder times more famous for that great Convention of English and Normans who met there in the fourth year of Wil. the Conquerour to decide the great Controversie which then broke forth between Lanfranc Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and Odo Earl of Kent touching some Lands and Priviledges which the said Arch-Bishop alleaged were by an unjust Usurpation by the above-said Odo ravished away from the Church which because it gives us a full Prospect of that exorbitant and wide power which the Clergie of those times did entitle themselves to I shall endevour to pourtray it in as Brief and narrow a Landskip as I have pencill'd it out by Textus Roffensis an old Book in Manuscript so called where it is more voluminously represented At Pinenden-Heath says Textus Roffensis in the fourth year of William the Conquerour there was an Assemblie of the gravest and discreetest of the English and Normans by a signall Decision and Debate to deternine of that Controversie which did formerly arise between Odo Bishop of Bayeux and Earl of Kent touching some Lands and Priveledges which were detained from the Church by the said Earl and Lanfranc Arch-Bishop of Canterbury The said Dispute or Debate lasted three Dayes after the
Inheritance of that Family and rested there until the first year of Henry the eighth and then it was passed away by Sale from Sir John Fogg Knight to Ralph Banister In Times of a lower Descent that is about the beginning of Queen Elizabeth I find it by Court-rols possest by Tucker who about the latter end of that Princess alienated his Concernment in it to Smith who in our Fathers Remembrance transplanted the Title by Sale into Doctour Fotherbie Dean of Cantorbury whose Son Mr. Charles Fotherbie continues now Proprietary of it Secondly Grove-place offers it self up to our Notice as being the Habitation of a Knightly Family called Grove who in old Deeds are sometimes written at Grove and sealed as appears by the Labells-affixed to their Evidences with three Escollops upon a Cheveron In the reign of Henry the sixth I find it devolved by Descent to Sir John Grove who was a great Benefactor to the Church of St. Peters in Sandwich where he lies buried with the Arms above-mentioned upon his Shield but not long after this Family determined in a Daughter and Heir who linked this Seat to the Inheritance of St. Nicholas who about the latter end of Edward the fourth conveyed it to Quilter in which Name it was resident until the latter end of Henry the eighth and then it was passed away to Linch and hath remained ever since incorporated into the Revenue of that Family so that at present it is come down to Mr. John Linch a Noble Confessor for the Interest of the Church and Protestant Religion There is a Family in this Parish called Omer which as appears by old Court-rols Tombs Deeds and other Evidences have been constantly resident almost four Hundred years Seasalter in the Hundred of Whitstaple did belong to the Priory of Christ-church but by whom it was given the Records of that Covent are silent only I find that it was part of that Revenue which supported their Diet and Table and likewise I discover that Pope Gregory the ninth in the tenth year of his Papacy by his Bull appropriated the Parsonage to the Priory above-mentioned and likewise was granted for the better improving their Lively-hood and Subsistence If you will see under what Notion it passed in the twentieth year of William the Conqueror Doomesday Book will inform you that it was valued upon the Terrier at two Carucats of Land and upon the Appraisment was rated at five pound This Mannor upon the Resignation of that Estate which related to the Convent abovesaid into the Hands of Henry the eighth was setled by that Prince on the newly erected Dean and Chapiter of Christ-church and there it remained until these calamitous Times Ellenden in this Parish belonged to the Abby of Feversham and was as the Lieger Book of that Covent informs me given to the Monks of that Cloister by John Ellenden and here it was incorporated and fixed until the publick Dissolution unhinged and unrooted it and planted it in the Crown and afterwards King Henry the eighth in the thirty fifth year of his Government granted it to Mr. Thomas Arden miserably afterwards assassinated by his Wife at Feversham and he the same year conveyed it to John Nedeham from whom it came over to his Son and Heir John Nedeham Gentleman and he in the thirty second year of Queen Elizabeth alienated it to Mr. Michael Beresford of Westerham who not long after passed it away to Sir George Newman Doctour of the Civil Law and Knighted in the sixteenth year of King James and from him by successive Right it is now descended to his Son and Heir George Newman of Rochester Esquire Seale in the Hundred of Codsheath was a Mannor which belonged to the Crown until the first year of King John and then it was passed away by Grant to Baldwin de Betun Earl of Albemard and Hawis his Daughter and Heir by matching with William Mareschall Earl of Pembroke incorporated it into his Demeasne but Gilbert Mareschall this mans Successor deceasing without Issue Roger de Bigod Earl of Norfolk in Right of Mawde his Mother who was Sister and Heir General to the abovesaid Gilbert was setled in the possession of this Mannor and he in the eleventh year of Edward the first by Gift or Donation transmits it to Otho Lord Grandison a man certainly of great power in those Times for as it appears Pat. 4. Edwardi primi he had a certain Agreement woven of sundry Articles and made between Henry the third and the King of Castile deposited in his Custody in the fourth year of Edward the first And in the fifth year of that Prince as appears Pat. 5. in seedulâ he had the Government of Jersey assigned to his Care during Life After this Family of Grandison went out which was about the Beginning of Richard the second for Thomas de Grandison dyed possest of Seale in the forty ninth year of Edward the third Parte prima Num. 62 the noble Family of Brian of Holoway in Devon was invested in the Possession and Sir William Brian or Briene for so he is styled on his Tomb dyed possest of it in the year 1395 and lyes buryed in Seale Church mailed in Armor with a Huntsmans Horn at his Head upon which the Conjecture of the Country is that he was a great Hunter when the Truth is it was placed there to signifie or denote the Tenure of some part of his Land which was in Cornage But to return the next Family which succeeded Brian in the Inheritance of Seale was the ancient Family of Fiennes and this as I find by some Court-rolls was in the reign of Henry the fourth and James Fiennes second Son of William Fiennes Esquire was the first of March in the twenty fifth of Henry the sixth summoned to the Parliament at Bury as Baron of Say and Seale but this place after this newly atchieved Honor continued not long in this Name for William Lord Say in the second year of Edward the fourth passed it away to Geffrey Boleyne Grand-father to Sir Thomas Boleyne who was made Knight of the Garter and Treasurer of the Kings House in the fifteenth created Viscount Rochford in the seventeenth and lastly raised to the Earldome of Wiltshire and Ormond in the twenty first of Henry the eighth but his infortunate Son George Viscount Rochford being beheaded and leaving no Issue it devolved to Queen Elizabeth in Right of Queen Anne her Mother one of the Sisters and Coheirs and she in the first year of her reign passes it by Grant to her Kinsman Henry Cary whose Grandchild Henry Cary Earl of Dover alienated it by Sale to Richard Sackvill Earl of Dorset who passed it away in our Fathers Memory to Richard Smith vulgarly called Dog Smith and he not many years since deceasing without Issue bequeathed the Fee-simple of it to St Thomas Hospital in Southwarke Hall-place in Seale is a second place of Account It was in the thirty sixth year of Edward the third as an
we style the Lowy of Tunbridge and is a small Territory within it self called in old Latine Records Districtus Leuca de Tunbridge and was formerly subservient to the Dominion of those noble Persons who were Lords of the Fee The first of which was Richard de Clare Earl of Brionie in Normandy to whom it was by William Rufus granted upon this emergent Occasion This Richard was an earnest Abettor and supporter likewise of the Designes of this Prince upon his Brothers Territories in Normandy and so by consequence an active partisan of his which made the Breast of Robert Duke of Normandy to boile with such Animosity and passion against Him that the Flame of his Hatred kindled the Flame of a War which could not be extinguished but by the Depredation of this Earl's Estate and the utter subversion of his Castle of Brionie which was left an Heap of Flame and Ruines which caused William Rufus to risent his Calamitous Condition with so much Regret and Commiseration that he granted him as much Land here at Tunbridge as would spread into a League both in the Extent and Longitude of it and in the Breadth and Latitude of it likewise and Gemeticensis reports that this Richard brought over the Rope with which he was to measure it in the same Ship which transported him and his Retinue From this Richard who founded the Castle the right of Tunbridge was by Descent translated into his Son Gilbert de Clare the first Earl of Hertford and here did the Signory many years find a residence till Isabel Sister and Coheir of Gilbert de Clare by matching with Hugh Audley brought this to be the Inheritance of that illustrious Family where it had not long remained but Margaret Daughter and Heir of Hugh Audley by marrying with Ralph Stafford made it a Branch of their patrimony nor did it depart from this Family till the Vanitie of Edward Stafford Duke of Buckingham embarked him in that Design which the Malice of Cardinal Wolsey aggravated with those Circumstances of Hatred by blowing of wild Conjectures into the Ears of Henry the eighth who was naturally a jealous Prince and emulous of any new blooming Glory that he was stained with the black Tincture of Treason which sunk him into an untimely Sepulcher and his Estate by forfeiture into the possession of the Crown Edward Duke of Buckingham being thus convicted in the twelfth year of Henry the eighth there was a great Controversie started forth in the thirteenth year of that Prince's reign as appears by our Law-books in the Parliament then convened whether or not there were ground enough in the Crimes objected against him to establish an Attainder upon and it was carried in the Affirmative that there was upon which this Castle with all the Mannor of Dachhurst alias Hilden-borough with all the appendant Services and Quit-rents united to them did escheat to the Crown and remained there until Queen Elizabeth dissevered the Mannor of the Castle from her Interest and made it by Grant the possession of her Kinsman Henry Lord Hunsdon whose Son George Lord Hunsdon about the beginning of King James passed it with his Daughter and Heir to Thomas Lord Berkley who conveyed it to Sir John Kenedie from whom not long after by the same Conveyance it fell under the divided Signory of Ferrers Gosson and Johnson and they by a mutual Consent sold their Interest in it to Sir Peter Vanlore by whose three Daughters and Co-heirs matched to Sir Henry Zinzin Sir Alexander Sterling and Robert Crooke Esquire it is now divided between those three Families Although the Onsets of Time and the Assaults of Enemies together hath thrown the Beauty and Strength into such a rude Confusion that it now lurks in its own Rubbish yet formerly it was eminent for being the Scene of much Feude and Contention between the Kings of England and the Barons then in Arms against them In the year 1088. Odo Bishop of Bajeux and Earl of Kent making a Defection from William Rufus to those Barons who sought to support the Title of his eldest Brother Robert placed one Gilbert in this Castle for the Defence of it which enforced that King to invest it with a Siege and compelled the Castellan to a Surrender and afterwards having taken Odo himself imprisoned him in this Fortress from whence he afterwards made a successful Escape In the year 1215. Falcatius de Brent during the Military Contests King John had with his Nobility by Force wrung this Castle from the Earl of Gloucester and maintained it for some Time with signal Evidences of Magnanimity to the Kings Behoof and Use In the year 1231. upon the Decease of Gilbert the then Earl of Gloucester seised the Wardship of his Heir and entrusted the Custody of this Castle to Hubert de Burgh Earl of Kent This occasioned an eager and impetuous Contest between the King and Richard Arch-bishop of Canterbury the Arch-bishop pretended because the Castle held of his See therefore he de Jure ought to have the Custody of the Heir in his Wardship To which the King replyed that the whole Earldome held of him and that he might commit the Custody of the Lands to whomsoever he pleased This caused the Arch-bishop boyling with much Heat and Passion to Appeal for Redress to Rome where he managed this Controversie with that vigorous dexterity that the Pope issued out a solemn determination on his behalf but his Decease in his Journey homewards superseded the Execution of the Papal Sentence The above-mentioned King Henry in the year 1259. granted Licence to Richard de Clare Earl of Gloucester to wall and embattle his Town of Tunbridge in these Words in that Charter Claudere Muro et Kernellare which latter Word being made Latine out of the French Charneaux imports that indented Form of the Top of a Wall which hath Vent and Crest commonly called embattelling very serviceable to the Defendants within not only to annoy the Enemy but likewise to shroud and secure himself from the Fury of any outward Assault This Mode of Fortification was in elder Time with much Caution prohibited within this Nation out of a Jealousie that it might foment any inward Sedition and was therefore amongst many other Articles inquirable before the Escheator de Domibus Kerneliatis But the War breaking out not long after this between the King and Simon de Montfort to whose Interest the Earl of Gloucester was by a Solemn Combination closely united the Grant of the above-mentioned King was made ineffectual and not the least Symptoms of the intended Wall are at this instant visible In the year 1263. the War growing hot between Henry the third and Simon de Montfort the King sets down before Tunbridge-castle and forces it to snrrender to discretion and therein found amongst others the Countess of Gloucester From whence I collect that in those Times it was esteemed if not the only yet at least a principal Mansion of those great Lords of Tunbridge the
demeasn at Halden in Dower with Mary his Daughter matched to Sir Hen. Sidney Lord Deputy of Ireland and Knight of the Garter a person of that Value and Eminence that he that would discover him represented in his best Features and proportion must view him in his Worthy and Signal undertakings in Ireland where he will find him better pourtraid than he can be by any faint or drowsie Attributes that drop from my humble and unequal pen and from him did this Mannor in right of this Alliance descend to his Grandchild the right honorable Robert Earl of Leicester who not many years since passed it away to Sir Edward Hendon one of the Barons of the Exchequer who upon his Decease gave it to his Nephew Sir John Hondon of Biddenden and he not long since alienated it to Mr. John Austin of Tenterden from whom it is lately devolved by Death to be now the possession of his second Brother Mr. Rob. Austin of Hall-place in Bexley Brocket is another Mannor in Ebeney which had possessors as appears by ancient Deeds of that Name who likewise were written in Evidences Brocket but whether the Brockets of Brocket-hall in the County of Hartford were descended from these or these from them I cannot discover But the greatest honor which this obscure Mannor hath acquired is that ever since the reign of Henry the fourth untill the thirtieth year of Henry the eighth it acknowledged the noble Family of Guldford and then it changed its proprietaries for that year it was by John Guldford Esquire conveyed to Sir John Hales Baton of the Exchequer from whom it is now come down to own the proprietary of his Descendant Sir Edward Hales of Tunstall Baronet The Island of Shepey comes next to be treated of It called by Ptolomie Toliatis in Latin Insula Ovium in Saxon Sceapige all agreeing in their Verdict that it was so named from its plenty of Sheep It is environed with the mixed Waters of the Thames and Medway on the West the Swale or Genlade on the South and the Main Ocean beats on the East and North more celebrated for the fertility of the Soil then Salurbity of Air which is grosse and thick causing Aguish Infirmities that keep long Residence they get possession Quinborough or rather originally Kingsborough as Konisbergh in Prussia is now corruptly called Quensborough acknowledged King Edward the third for the Founder who having wedded Philippa Daughter of William Earl of Henault and Holland and his occasions often calling him to passe into her Fathers Dominion whose Aid and Assistance he required in the great enterprise for the Recovery of his undoubted right to the Diadem of France heerected this strong and stately Fottresse for defence of the mouth of the Thames and his own secure Accomodation And because the Situation of this place was unhealthy he to allure Inhabitants in the year 1366 enobled the Town with a Charter of Incorporation wherein he indulges by Grant ample priviledges and Immunities unto it as namely to hold two Mercates weekly one on the Munday and the other on the Thursday and two Fairs yearly one at the Feast of St. James the other on the twenty fourth of March and to make Choice of Burgesses to send to Parliament The principal Architect and Surveyout of the work was William Wickham after Bishop of Winchester who had been formerly employed in that kind at the reedifying Windsor-castle when his good patron John de Vuedal was Constable there This man used to inscribe on the edifices thus erected this Inscription This made VVickham whereby some conceived he arrogated to himself the Cost and payment of the Structure and informed the King thereof but his ingenious exposition satisfied that Prince when he shewed him that by his Inspection and Insight into those matters he had obtained both his Ecclesiastical and secular promotions being made Bishop of Winchester first Keeper of the privy Seal and then of the King's Conscience his last Gradation or Ascent being to be Lord Chancellor of England When King Edward had perfected this Castle he instituted a Chief Governour who was for the future to carry the Title of Constable like as at Dover-castle and elsewhere The Catalogue of those who succeeded in that Command I have set down The care and cost of King Henry the eighth in the year 1536 to repair this place when he erected Fortresses for Defence of the Sea Coast drew this Eulogie from the Pen of Leland Castrum Regius editum recepit Burgus Fulmina dira Insulanos Tutos servat ab omni vel omni Constables of Quinborough Castle JOhn Foxly a valiant Souldier and faithful Servant to King Edward the third was the first Constable of Quinborough Castle which Office he received the thirty sixth of Edward the third 50. Edw. 3. John of Gaunt 8. Rich. 2. Robert de Vere 16. Rich. 2. Arnold Savage of Bobbing Court. 20. Rich. 2. William Scroop 1. Hen. 4. Sir Hugh Waterton 4. Hen. 4. Sir Jo. Cornwallis Lord Fanhope Knight of the Garter 10. Hen. 4. Thomas Arundel Arch-bishop of Canterbury 1. Hen. 5. Gilbert Vmfreville 28. Hen. 6. Humfrey Stafford Duke of Buckingham 1. Edw. 4. John Northwood Esquire ... Edw. 4. George Duke of Clarence 1. Rich. 3. Thomas Wentworth 2. Rich. 3. Christopher Collins 1. Hen. 7. William Cheyney 2. Hen. 8. Sir Francis Cheyney 3. Hen. 8. Sir Tho. Cheyney of Shurland Knight of the Garter 1. Reginae Elizab. Sir Robert Constable  Sir Edward Hobbie Philip Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery Baron of Shurland and Knight of the Garter Minster is the next place of Account in this Island and is contracted from the Latin Word Monasterium from whence this Town hath its Appellation and may challenge the third place amongst our English Nunneries For Sexburga Daughter to Ercombert King of Kent to whom and the Virgin Mary the Church of this Parish is devoted and dedicated in the year 664 erected a Religious House at this place and liberally endowed it for the Sustentation of vayled Virgins The second was founded by Eanswith Daughter of Eadbald King of Kent at Folkston And the first had its Institution at Liminge likewise in this County by Eadburga and erected to the Honor of the Virgin Mary and St. Mildred But the Antiquity of this Cell and the Sanctity attributed to it by elder times could not so skreen or rescue it from the Heat of War but it was thrice sacked and dismantled by the barbarous irruptions of the Danes within lesse then an Age which by usual Account is said to be thirty year The first misfortune happened to it in the year 832 when thirty five Sail of them rived here and rifled it The second and third time was in the year 851 and then again in the year 855 by the Armies of them who wintered their Ships within this Island Besides these depredations the complices of Earl Godwin and his Sons in the Time of their proscription and exile which was in the year
of Northumberland and then again l. 30. the fourth year of Edward the sixth r. the first year of Q. Mary In Biddenden p. 77. l. 28. for Sir Anthony Mayney Knight and Baronet r. Sir Anthony Mayney Knight In Bidborough p. 78. l. 36. for conveyed it r. conveyed the whole Mannor At VVevering in Boxley p. 90. l. 2. the twenty fourth of Q. Mary r. the second of Q. Mary In my Description of Dodingdale at Canterbury p. 94. l. 13. John Bentham r. John Betenham In my Description of the Dungeon at Canterbury the same page l. 29. for par Cirocearum r. par Chirothecarum In Chalk p. 96. l. 52. for and that Prince afterwards devolved it to Sir George Brook r. and from that Prince it afterwards devolved by Grant to George Lord Brook In Chilham p. 116. l. 12. to his Son Giles de Badelesmer r. to his Brother Giles de Badelesmer In Dartford p. 128. l. 19. for Edw. Darcy Esq r. Sir Edward Darcy Knight l. 20. VVill. Gough r. Will. Gouge In Horsemans place at Dartford the same page l. 53. for 30th year r. 38th year l. 55 46. Twislton r. Twissleton At Newhall in Dimchurch p. 131. l. 52. one and twenty Lords r. four and twenty Lords In Clavertie in Elham p. 140. l. 24. for Sir Henry Hamon r. Sir Henry Heyman In Eightham p. 141. l. 11. for one of the Lords of Holland r. one of the Earls of Holland In Farleigh p. 150. l. 25 and 26. for Thomas Floyd of Gore Court in Otham Esquire r. Mr. Robert Newton of London Grocer In my Description of Blackheath p. 163. l. 57. for John Tiler r. Wat. Tiler In Egerton in Godmersham p. 171. l. 7 and 8. for Joan his Sole Daughter r. Joan his Daughter and Co-heir for indeed so she was for Jo. Comin Earl of Badzenoth died and left two Daughters and Co-heirs Joan was matched to David de Strabolgie and Elizabeth was wedded to Richard Talbot In my Description of Kingston by Barham p. 205. l. 55. for to his Son and Heir Giles r. to his Brother and Heir Giles At West-Halks in Kingsnoth p. 208. l. 41. for his second Son r. his fourth Son In my Description of Brising at Langley pag. 212. l. 11. for Leven Buffkin r. Ralph Buffkin In Apulton and Southwould at East-Langdon p. 211. l. 5. for Edward the third r. Edward the second In my Description of Leeds Castle p. 214. l. 8. for his Son r. his great Grandchild In my Description of Goulds and Shepway at Maidston p. 223. l. 8. for to Sir Walter and Gervas Henley Esquire r. to Thomas Henley Esq leaving out Sir Walter In Sheals at Maidston p. 223. l. 45. for Walter Henley Esquire r. Thomas Henley Esquire In my Description of Parrocks and Ewell at West-Malling p. 232. l. 19. for the last of which r. the first of which In Hogshaws at Milsted p. 239. l. 11. for Sir Jo. Took r. Mr. Jo. Took In Milton Septuans p. 239. l. 34. for Sir Thomas Fogge r. Sir Francis Fogge and then l. 38. for Sir Rob. Honywood r. Mr. Rob. Honywood In my Description of St. Mary Crey at Orpington p. 260. l. 39. it came is left out and then l. 41. Richard the second is omitted In Gore Court in Otham p. 263. l. 54. for by purchase made the Inheritance of Thomas Floyd Esq r. by purchase made the Demeasn of Nathaniel Powell Esquire who not many years since conveyed it to Thomas Floyd Esquire Since my writing this Book I find that Sir Walter and Thomas Henley his Brother purchased Land at Otham and Gore Court of Sir Henry Isley before his Attaint that at Otham descended to the Successors of Thomas Henley that at Gore Court devolved to Colepeper who had married one of the Co-heirs of Sir Walter Henley In Archers Court at River p. 282. l. 53. this must be added But part of Archers Court was by Bandred or Brandred in the reign of Edward the fourth conveyed it to Sir George Browne of Bechworth Castle whose Successor Sir Thomas Browne alienated it to Mr. Isaac Honywood who dying without Issue bequeathed it to his Nephew Col. Henry Honywood Esquire now proprietary of it the Mannor of Archers Court with the Demeasn annexed to it holds in grand Serjeantie with this Condition united a strange one that the present Owner or Owners should hold the Kings Head when he passes to Calais and by the working of the Sea should be obliged to vomit In Swanscampe p. 307. l. 42 43. for the fourteenth of Richard the second r. the thirteenth of Richard the second and then again the same page l. 45. this is omitted who had before a considerable Interest in Swanscampe by Descent from his Ancestor Richard Tabot who had married Elizabeth one of the two Co-heirs of Jo. Comin Earl of Badzenoth and Joan his Wife one of the Sisters and Co-heirs of Aymer de Valence Earl of Pembroke and Lord of Swanscampe At West-Well p. 355. l. 15 16. for and so it rested in the Crown until not many years since it was granted to Sir Nicholas Tufton of Hothfied r. and was exchanged with Thomas Arch-Bishop of Canterbury by the Crown in the twenty ninth year of Henry the eighth whose Predecessors had a large share in it long before but was again reassumed by Q. Elizabeth in the Vacancy of that Sea and afterwards it rested in the Crown until almost our Memory and then it was granted away to Sir Nicholas Tufton of Hothfield Father to the right honourable Io. Earl of Thanet now proprietary of it There are some other Mistakes in this Work as at Uphery in Gillingham p. 168. it is printed that Sir Henry Cheney exchanged that Mannor with Q. Elizabeth and she passed it away to Sir Edward Hobby upon a second Review I find it was not exchanged but conveyed by Sale in the sixteenth year of that Princess by Sir Henry Cheyney to Dr. Alexander Nowell Dean of Pauls At Potts Court in Babchild Bradhurst Queen Court in Ospringe More Court in Reynham Pitstock in Rodmersham and the Island of Hartie Samuel Thornhill r. Richard Thornhill which Richard was Father to Mr. Samuel Thornhill Grand Father to Sir Timothy Thornhill and Sir Io. Thornhill and great grandfather to Col. Rich. Thornhill eldest Son of Sir Timothy which Col. Richard is lately deceased and Charles Thornhill Esquire Son and Heir of Sir Iohn now surviving whose great Grandfather Mr. Richard Thornhill above mentioned purchased Mere Court in the twelfth year of Queen Elizabeth and Potts Court Bradherst Quene Court in Ospringe Pitstock and Hartie in the thirteenth year of that Princess of Sir Hen. Cheyney and made his Son Samuel joint purchaser with him At Pencehurst what I have written concerning the Mannor of Pencehurst Halymote p. 270. must be retracted and altered and read thus Pencehurst Halymote alias Otford VVild was anciently held in Lease by the Successive Lords of Pencehurst of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury as being
of Kent the second year of Henry the seventh Sir Henry Ferrers of great Peckham Knight who was Sheriff before in the fifth year of Edward the fourth was Sheriff of Kent again in the third year of Henry the seventh Walter Roberts of Glastenbury in Cranbroke Esquire was Sheriff of Kent the fourth year of Edward the fourth Sir William Boleyne Knight of Hever Castle and of Seale Son of Sir Ieffery Boleyne Lord Maior of London and Anne his Wife Daughter and Coheir of Thomas Lord Hoo and Hastings was Sheriff of Kent in the fifth year of Henry the seventh Sir William Scot Son and Heir of Sir Iohn Scot was Sheriff of Kent in the sixth year of Henry the seventh This our Sheriff new built Scots Hall which was before decayed and ruinous John Darell of Cale-Hill Esquire was Sheriff of Kent in the seventh year of Henry the seventh He was Esquire of the Body to that Prince and Captain of the Launciers in that part of the County wherein he lived and having had his Estate torn from him by Richard the third as being a Correspondent of Henry the seventh had it restored to him with several other Mannors by that Prince He was Father to Sir Iames Darell who was Knighted at Turwin by K. Henry the eighth and was Captain of Hames Castle and Governour of Guisnes Thomas Kemp of Ollantie near Wye Esquire was Sheriff of Kent the eighth year of Henry the seventh He married Emeline one of the two Daughters and Coheirs of Valentine Chich and Philippa his Wife Daughter and Heir of Sir Robert Chichley Knight sometime Lord Maior of London and Brother to Henry Chichley Arch Bishop of Canbury Sir Richard Gulford of Halden who was Knighted at Milford Haven and made Banneret at Blackheath was Sheriff of Kent the ninth year of Henry the seventh John Peche of Lullingston Esquire who afterwards received the Order of Knighthood was Sheriff of Kent in the tenth year of Henry the seventh John Digge of Digges Court in Berham was Sheriff of Kent the eleventh year of Henry the seventh Sir Iames Walsingham of Scadbery in Chiselhurst was Sheriff of Kent the twelfth of Henry the seventh Lewis Clifford of Bobbing Court Esquire was Sheriff of Kent in the thirteenth year of Henry the seventh Robert Wotton of Boughton Malherbe Esquire afterwards Knighted and made comptroler of Callis was Sheriff of Kent the fourteenth of Henry the seventh Alexander Colepeper of Bedgebury Esquire in Goudherst was Sheriff of Kent in the fifteenth year of Henry the seventh He afterwards received the Order of Knighthood Thomas Iden of Westwell Esquire was Sheriff of Kent in the sixteenth year of Henry the seventh Sir William Scot of Scots Hall who was Sheriff in the sixth year of Henry the seventh was Sheriff of Kent again in the seventeenth year of that Princes Government Ralph St. Leger of Ulcomb Esquire Son and Heir of Ralph St. Leger was Sheriff of Kent the eighteenth year of Henry the seventh William Cromer of Tunstal Esquire who afterwards received the Order of Knighthood was Sherift of Kent the ninteenth of Henry the seventh John Langley of Knowlton Esquire was Sheriff of Kent the twentieth of Henry the seventh Sir Thomas Kempe of Ollantie Knight of the Bath was Sheriff of Kent the twenty first of Henry the seventh Sir Alexander Colepeper of Bedgebury was Sheriff of Kent again the twenty second year of Henry the seventh Henry Vane of Tunbridge Esquire second Son of John Vane of Tunbridge Esquire was Sheriff of Kent the twenty third year of Henry the seventh Reginald Peckham of Yaldham in Wrotham Esquire was Sheriff of Kent the twenty fourth of Henry the seventh in which year that Sagacious Monarch shook off the Garment of his Mortality Sheriffs of Kent under the Scepter of Henry the Eighth Sir William Cromer of Tunstal Knight who was Sheriff before in the ninteenth of Henry the seventh managed that Office again and was Sheriff again of this County in the first year of K. Henry the eighth James Digge of Digges Court in Berham Esquire was Sheriff of Kent the second year of Henry the eighth Sir Thomas Boleyne of Hever Castle Knight was Sheriff of Kent in the third year of Henry the eighth in the fifteenth year of Henry the eighth he was made Knight of the Garter and Treasurer of the Kings House in the seventeenth year he was created Viscount Rochford and in the twenty first of Henry the eighth he was invested with the Title of Earl of Wiltshire and Ormond Sir Thomas Kemp of Ollantie made Knight of the Bath at the Marriage of Prince Arthur Eldest Son to Henry the seventh was again Sheriff in the fourth year of Henry the eighth Sir John Norton of Northwood in Milton Esquire was Sheriff of Kent the fifth year of Henry the eighth Sir Alexander Colepeper of Bedgebury Esquire was Sheriff of Kent the sixth year of Henry the eighth Tho. Cheyney of Shurland Esquire afterwards made Knight of the Garter was Sheriff of Kent in the seventh year of Henry the eighth Sir William Scot of Scots Hall Knight was made Sheriff of Kent the eighth year of Hen. the eighth and before that in the sixth and seventeenth years of Hen. the seventh Sir Thomas Boleyne of Hever Castle Knight was again Sheriff of Kent the ninth year of Henry the eighth John Crispe of Quekes at Birchington in the Isle of Thanet Esquire was Sheriff of Kent in the tenth year of Henry the eighth Sir John Wiltshire of Stone near Dartford Comptroller of Callis was Sheriff of Kent in the eleventh year of Henry the eighth John Roper Esquire of St. Dunstans without the Walls of Canterbury and of Well Hall in Eltham was Sheriff of Kent the twelfth of Henry the eighth Robert Sonds of Town Place in Throuley and of Sonds Place in Darking in Surrey was Sheriff of Kent in the thirteenth year of Henry the eighth Sir John Fogge of Repton in Ashford was Sheriff of Kent in the fourteenth year of Henry the eighth George Guldford of Hemsted in Beneuden Esquire who married Elizabeth Daughter and Heir of Robert Mortimer of Mortimers Hall in Essex and the Lady Elizabeth Howard his Wife Daughter to John Lord Howard Duke of Norfolk was Sheriff of Kent the sixteenth of Henry the eighth Sir William Haut of Haut bourn Knight Son and Heir of Sir Thomas Haut made Knight of the Bath at the Marriage of Prince Arthur with Katharine of Castile was Sheriff of Kent the sixteenth year of Henry the eighth Henry Vane of Tunbridge Esquire who was Sheriff of Kent in the twenty third year of Hen. the seventh discharged that Office again in the seventeenth year of Hen. the eighth This Henry Vane is he that had Command in an Expedition into Scotland in the beginning of the abovesaid Prince Vide Speed William Whetenhal of Hextal Place in East Peckham Esquire was Sheriff of Kent in the eighteenth year of Henry the eighth Sir John Scot of Scott Hall
was Sheriff of Kent in the nineteenth year of Henry the eighth William Kempe of Oslantis Esquire who afterwards was invested with the Order of Knight hood was Sheriff of Kent in the twentieth year of Henry the eighth He was second Son of Sir Thomas Kempe and after his elder Brother Christopher Kempe deceased without Issue succeeded in the Patrimony He married Eleanor Daughter and Heir of Robert Brown Esquire third Son of Sir Thomas Brown of Bechworth Castle Sir Edward Wotton of Boughton Malherbe Knight who matched with Dorothy one of the Daughters and Coheirs of Sir Robert Reade Knight Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas was Sheriff of Kent in the twenty first of Henry the eighth William Waller of Gromebridge in Spelherst Esquire was Sheriff of Kent the twenty second of Henry the eighth Sir Richard Clement of the Moat in Ightham was Sheriff of Kent in the twenty third of Henry the eighth Sir William Finch of the Moat in the Parish of St. Martins in Canterbury was Sheriff of Kent the twenty fourth year of Henry the eighth Thomas Roberts of Glastonbury in Cranbroke Esquire was Sheriff of Kent the twenty fifth of Henry the eighth Sir Thomas Poynings of Ostenhanger Knight afterwards created Lord Poynings in the thirtieth year of Henry the eighth was Sheriff of Kent in the twenty sixth year of Henry the eighth He married Katharine Daughter and Coheir of John Lord Marney but deceased without Issue in the thirty seventh year of the abovesaid Prince Sir Edward Wotton of Boughton Malherbe was again Sheriff of Kent the twenty seventh of Henry the eighth Sir Thomas Wiat of Allington Castle was Sheriff of Kent in the twenty eighth year of Henry the eighth He married Elizabeth Daughter of Sir Thomas Brooke Lord Cobham by whom he had Issue Sir Thomas Wiat afterwards beheaded Sir William Haut of Hautsbourn was again Sheriff of Kent the twenty ninth year of Henry the eighth Sir William Sidney of Pencehurst Knight Banneret Tutor to Prince Edward afterwards Edward the sixth was Sheriff of Kent in the thirtieth year of Henry the eighth He was Son and Heir of Nicholas Sidney Esquire who married Anne Daughter of Sir Will. Brandon Knight slain at Bosworâ—h Field Aunt to Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk This Nicholas was Son and Heir of William Sidney Esquire by Thomaâ—…in his Wife Daughter and Heir of John Barrington Esquire descended from the right ancient and Knightly Family of Barrington of Barrington Hall in Essex Sir Anthony St. Leger of Ulcomb Knight was Sheriff of Kent in the thirty first year of Henry the eighth Anthony Sonds of Throuley Esquire was Sheriff of Kent in the thirty second of Henry the eighth Reginald Scot of Scots Hall Esquire was Sheriff of Kent in the thirty third year of Henry the eighth Sir Henry Isley of Sondridge and of Farningham was Sheriff of Kent the thirty fourth of Henry the eighth Sir Humphry Stile of Langley Park in Bekenham Knight Son and Heir of John Stile Alderman of London and Elizabeth his Wife Daughter and Coheir of Sir Guy Wolston Knight was Sheriff of Kent in the thirty fifth of Henry the eighth Sir John Fogge of Repton was Sheriff of Kent the thirty sixth year of Henry the eighth Sir Percival Hart of Lullingston Knight was Sheriff of Kent the thirty seventh year of Henry the eighth Henry Crispe of Quekes in Birchington in the Isle of Thanet Esquire who received the Order of Knighthood before his Death was Sheriff of Kent in the thirty eighth year of Henry the eighth in which year this Prince shrunk to Ashes Sheriffs of Kent in the Time of K. Edward the Sixth William Sidley of Scadbery in Southfleet Esquire was Sheriff of Kent the first of Edward the sixth Sir George Harpur of Sutton Valence was sheriff of Kent in the second year of Edward the sixth Thomas Colepeper of Bedgebury Son and Heir of Sir Alexander Colepeper was Sheriff of Kent in the third year of K. Edward the sixth Sir Thomas Wiat of Allington Castle Son and Heir of Sir Thomas Wiat and Grandchild of Sir Henry Wiat was Sheriff of Kent in the fourth year of K. Edward the sixth Sir Henry Isley of Sundridge was Sheriff of Kent in the fifth year of K. Edward the sixth Sir John Guldford of Hemsted in Benenden was Sheriff of Kent the sixth year of K. Edward the sixth After this year this Pious young Monarch was not long Liv'd for all his early blooming Glories were shortly after blasted by a too sudden Death Sheriffs of Kent under Queen Mary Sir Robert Southwell of Merworth Knight afterwards Master of the Rolls was Sheriff of Kent in the first year of Queen Mary He held Merworth where he lies buried in Right of his Wife Margaret Daughter and sole Heir of Sir Thomas Nevill Speaker of the Parliament in the time of Henry the eighth and one of his Privy Councel and third Son to George Nevill Baron Aburgavenny William Roper of Well Hall in Eltham was Sheriff of Kent in the first and second year of Philip and Mary Sir Thomas Kempe of Ollantie near Wye was Sheriff of Kent in the second and third year of Philip and Mary part of the year was supplied for him by Thomas Moile Esquire George Vane of Badsell Esquire was Sheriff of Kent in the third and fourth year of Philip and Mary Thomas Wotton of Boughton Malherbe Esquire was Sheriff of Kent in the fourth and fifth year of Philip and Mary In which year Callis was lost which Blow sat so heavy upon her Heartstrings that the Cordage not able to undergo the Pressure was crackt with the Burden which was lodged upon it Sheriffs of Kent under Queen Elizabeth Thomas Wotton of Bonghton Malherbe continued in that Office part of the first year of Q. Elizabeth and the remainder of the year was supplied by Nicholas Crispe Esquire who kept his Shrivealty at Grimgill in Whitestaple but more properly Greenshields from a Family so called who were once Proprietaries of it Warham St. Leger of Ulcomb Esquire afterwards Knighted in the year 1565 was Sheriff of Kent in the second year of Queen Elizabeth John Tufton of Hothfield in Kent Esquire Son and Heir of Nicholas Tufton Esquire who was possest of Tufton in Nordiam in Sussex was Sheriff of Kent the third year of Queen Elizabeth Richard Baker of Sisingherst in Cranbroke Esquire Son and Heir of Sir John Baker Chancellor of the Exchequer and one of the Privy Councel to Q. Mary was Sheriff of Kent in the fourth year of Q. Elizabeth Sir Thomas Walsingham of Scadbery in Chiselhurst Knight was Sheriff of Kent in the fifth year of Q. Elizabeth Sir Thomas Kempe of Ollantie Knight that was Sheriff before in the third year of Q. Mary served in that Office again in the sixth year of Q. Elizabeth John Mayney of Biddenden Esquire was Sheriff of Kent the seventh year of Q. Elizabeth but died before his year was out and the rest of the Time
of a thousand Crowns on Sir Stephen de Cosington and Sir William his Son for their remarkable Service performed against the Enemies of his Crown and Scepter The last of this Family which held this Mannor was Sir J. Cosington who concluded in three Danghters and Coheirs about the the latter end of Henry the eighth matched to Duke Wood and Alexander Hamon and upon the Disunion of the Estate into Parcels the last by Female Interest was invested in Acris and his Successors remained Lords of the Fee untill the Beginning of K. James and then a Fatalitie like the former brought the Patrimony of this Family to be possest by two Daughters and Coheirs so that Sir Robert Lewknor having matched with Katharine who was one of them became in her Right entituled to this Mannor and left it to his Son Hamon Lewknor Esq who deceasing not long since hath transmitted it during the Minority of his Son to his Widow Dowager The Mannor of Brandred lies in this Parish and belonged to the Abby of St. Radigunds untill the suppression and then it was by Henry the eighth exchanged with the Arch Bishop of Canterbury in the twenty ninth of his Reign and remained parcel of that Patrimony which acknowledged the Signorie of that See untill these tempestuous Times shook it off Addington in the Hundred of Larkfield was as high as any Track of Evidence can transport me to discover the Inheritance of a noble Family called Mandeville and divers Deeds of a very venerable Antiquity being without date and now in the hands of Mr. Watton do attest Roger de Mandeville in those elder Times to have been Lord of the Fee but before the end of Edward the second this Family was vanished and had surrendred the possession of this place to Robert At Checquer in whom the possession was but of a narrow Date for hee not long after alienated his Interest in it to Nicholas Dagworth as is evident by this Record registred in the Book of Aid kept in the Exchequer De Nicholao de Dagworth pro uno Feodo Militis quod Roberius de Scaccario tenuit in Addington de Warreno de Montecanisio 40. s. That is Nicholas Dagworth in the twentieth year of Edward the third paid a respective Supply of 40. s. for his Mannor of Addington which both he and Robert At Checquer which enjoyed it before him held of the Honour of Swanscamp Castle as being the capital Seat of the Barony of Mountchensey under the Notion of a whole Knights Fee But in this Family the Title was a Volatile as in the former for before the going out of Edward the third I find it passed away from Dagworth to Sir Hugh Segrave and he in the seventh year of Richard the second alienated it to Richard Charles descended from Edward Charles Captain and Admirall of the Seas from the Thames mouth Northward in the reign of Edward the first as appears Pat. 34. Edwardi primi But he was scarce warm in his new Acquists but he expired in two Daughters and Coheirs Alice matched to William Snaith and Joan married to Richard Ormeskirk but this Mannor upon the Distinction of the Estate into Parcells was entwin'd with the Demeasne of Snaith and he dyed possest of it as the date of his Tombe in Addington Church informs me in the year 1409. but dyed without Issue-male so that his sole Daughter and Heir being wedded to Watton made it the Inheritance of that Family and here have they planted themselves ever since that Alliance and have performed many signal Services to this County by being invested with places of Trust as Justices of the Peace Commissioners of the Sewers and other Officers of the like Condition which hath much inforced and multiplied the eminent Reputation of this ancient Family Allington in the Hundred of Lark field is eminent for an ancient Castle within the Limits of it which as Mr. Darrell and Mr. Mersh do assert was erected by William de Columbariis or Columbers and this Mr. Darrell who was very curious in Disquisitions of this Nature more possitively affirms because in the eighth year of Henry the third when as appears by the Records of the Tower there was an exact Survey taken of all the Castles of England and of those who were either Proprietaries of them or else the respective Castellans or Guardians one of the above mentioned Family was found to be possessor of this Fortresse and was also Lord of the Mannor which was still annexed to the Castle but this Name was of no long continuance in the Tenure of either for about the latter end of Henry the third they came to own the Signorie of Sir Stephen de Penchester Lord Warden afterwards of the Cinque Ports to whom and to Margaret his Wife Daughter of the famous Hubert de Burgh Earl of Kent King Edward the first granted a Licence in the ninth year of his Reign as appears by the Patent-Rolls of that Time to erect a Castle and to fortifie and embattle at Allington so that it seems it was only before Fortalitium some small Fortresse and could not be marshall'd under the just Notion of a Castle untill it had received new Symetrie and Dimensions by those Appendages and Supplements which were added to it by this great Man and having thus established this Pile it came to own his Name and is in some old Records called Allington Penchester and not undeservedly for in the eighth year of Edward the first he obtained a Charter of Free-warren to his Mannor of Allington and also a Market Weekly on the Tuesday and a Fair yearly three days on the Vigil the day and day after St. Laurence but deceased without Issue Male so that after his Exit it came to acknowledge Stephen de Cobham who had married his Daughter and Coheir and he inocculated his own Name upon it and called it Allington Cobham which flourished severall Descents in this Family untill the beginning of Edward the fourth and then I find it in the possession of Brent but remained not long in this Name for in the eighth year of Henry the seventh John Brent passed away the Castle and Mannor of Allington to Sir Henry Wiat one of the Privie Councel to that Prince but his infortunate Grandchild Sir Thomas Wiat having by his Defection in the second year of Queen Mary forfeited it to the Crown it remained there untill Queen Elizabeth granted it to Jo. Astley Esq Master of her Jewels whose Son Sir Jo. Astley dying without Issue it came by Descent to Sir Jacob Astley created Lord Astley by the late King at Oxford whose Descendant does now enjoy the Possession of it Alkham in the Hundred of Folkston hath divers places in it of Account Malmains by vulgar Corruption of the word called Smalmains with Hollmeade which was ever accounted an Appendage to it are first to be considered In the twentieth year of Edward the third I find Thomas de Malmains Son of Nicholas de Malmains who
was Possessor of both these Places in Times of an elder Computation paid respective Aid at making the black Prince Knight for his Lands at Alkham But after this I find no more intelligence given me by Record of this Family for about the beginning of Henry the fourth I discover Iohn Alkham who extracted his Sirname from this Parish and it is very probable had here his Mansion though now it have found a double Sepulcher that of Oblivion and its own Rubbish to have been possest of them both which he held in Castle-Guard Tenure of Dover Castle and paid a subsidiarie Supply for them in the fourth year of that Prince at the Marriage of Blanch his Daughter from which temporary Assessement or Contribution severall Parcels of Land in this County have ever since contracted the Name of Blanch-Lands In Alkham the Signorie of both Places did reside untill the beginning of Henry the seventh and then they were demised by Peter Alkham to Iohn Warren Gentleman in which Name after they had continued untill the latter End of Henry the eighth Malmains was passed away to Brown who in our Memory conveyed it by Sale to Lushinton and Hollmeade was by the same Vicissitude annexed to the Demeasn of Wollet a Name that is grown reverend by an Efflux of many Ages both here and at Elham The Mannor of Hoptons another place considerable in Alkham If you will search who was in elder Times possest of it the private date lesse Deeds will inform you that anciently it was the Inheritance of Peter de Hall but was not long permanent in the possession of this Name for in the twentieth year of Edward the third as appears by the Book of Aid it was the Inheritance of William de Bourn and here it seems the Title was more constant for in this Family it was resident untill the beginning of Henry the sixth and then it was alienated to Baker of Caldham in whom it had not long continued but by his Daughter and Coheir it became the Inheritance of Robert Brandred from which Name about the latter end of Edward the fourth it passed away by Sale to Brown of Bechworth Castle in Surrey and here it fixed untill that Age which came within the Verge of our Grandfathers Remembrance and then it was demised to Godman in whose Descendants the Propriety now continues Evering is the last place of Account in Alkham it was the possession of a Family so called which branched from the ancient Lords of Folkston sirnamed Averenches whose Armes were as is manifest by ancient Armorials Or five Cheverons Gules and these Everings bare Or five Cheverons Azure Wolwardus de Evering held it under the Notion and by the Service of a whole Knights Fee in the Time of Henry the second of the Lords of Folkston And by a successive Chanell of many Descents hath the Title flowed so constantly in this Family that this Seat is at this instant annexed to their Inheritance In this Parish is an Eyle-Bourn which rises in the bottome at Dillingore which the Inhabitants presage to be a fatall presage either of Death or Dearth and in a short Distance of Time and Place from no appearance of Head or Spring sends forth such store of Water that a Vessell of considerable Burden may float therein then the Water being inforced into a Stream runs down to Chilton and disgorges it self into that River which meets the Sea at Dover Apuldore in the Hundred of Blackborn in the year of Grace 1032. was by an especiall Licence first obtained from Canutus and Elfgiva his Queen and given by Eadsin Bishop of Sr. Martins without Canterbury to the Prior and Monks of Christchurch est de cibo corum says the Book of that Convent that is it was granted to them for a Supportation of Diet. In the eleventh year of Edward the third there was a License granted to the then Archbishop and others by his Royall Patent obsternere quendam antiquam Trencheam quae ducit a Brachio Maris vocato Apledore versus Villam de Romney those are the Words of the Record that is to intercept and dam up a certain Trench or Chanell which proceeds from an Arm of the Sea called Apledore for then it seems the Sea flow'd up to this place though now it have wholly deserted it and leads to the Town of Romney But to proceed Apledore having by the abovesaid Donation been link'd to the Ecclesiasticall Patrimony continued wrapp'd up in that Interest untill the Resignation of the Revenue of the Priorie of Christchurch into the hands of K. Henry the eighth and then he setled it by a new grant on his new erected Dean and Chapter of Christ Church Hornes place in this Parish was the Seat for many hundreds of years of Gentlemen of that Sirname William Horne was one of the Conservators of the Peace in the first year of Richard the Second for this County and Michael Horne was Sheriff of Kent in the seventh year of Henry the fourth and held his Shrievalty at Apledore and from him did the proprietie of this place descend to Anne Horne the last of this Name who matched with Benedict Guldford Esquire who in her Right as being the sole Inheritrix of this place became Lord of this Seat but he denying the Oath of Supremacy which began about the twelfth and thirteenth of Queen Elizabeth to be tendered to Romish Recusants and sheltring himselfe by a Recesse and Flight into forrein Parts fell under the displeasure of the Queen and his Estate under the Fury of a praemunire so that this Mannor was torne away from his Interest by a Confiscation of it to the Crown and shortly after the above mentioned Princesse granted it to her faithfull Servant George Chowte Esquire from whom it is now descended to his great Grandchild Mr. Edward Chowt * Lately Deceased Esquire a Person who for his Support of Learning in these Times wherein if some whose Palates do decline it with regret and disgust might be confirmed in that licencious Liberty which they pretend to they would scarce leave us the Title page to inform Posterity that their was once Religion or Learning inhabiting amongst us cannot be mentioned by the Fautors and Abettors of Literature or at least the Pretenders to it without some grateful acknowledgment Dean Court in this Parish was the Mansion of a Family who borrowed their Sirname from this Town and were called Apledore and sealed with a Pile surmounted with a Fesse which was their paternal Coat but before the latter end of Edward the third this Family found its Sepulcher in a Female Heir for Thomas de Apledore dying witout Issue Elnith his only Sister entituled her husband William Roper to his Estate here and in the confining Marsh and by an uninterrupted Right derived from this Alliance hath the title of this place been supported in the Family of Roper for so many Descents that it is now at last devolved to the right honorable Christopher
of Hauts-Bourne was after a serious Inquisition found to be his Heir General and She having entituled her Husband to this Mannor his Son Richard Haut in Right of this Alliance was enstated in it but he concluding likewise in a Female Inheritrix called Margery She She by espousing William Isaac of Hopland knit this and much other Land to his inheritance whose successor by the same Fatality expired in a Daughter and Heir first matched to Sydley and secondly to Sir Henry Palmer on whom She setled this Mannor and his Descendant Sir Henry Palmer passed it away to Lieutenant Colonel Prude slain at Maestricht Father to Mr. Searles Prude whose two Daughters and Coheirs have lately conveyed it to Mr. George Curtis Bekenham near Bromley helps to give Name to the Hundred wherein it is placed and of old time was held by Gentlemen called in Latine Records de Rupella in French de la Rochel and in English Rokeley and were in their original Etymologie extracted from Rochel in France Richard de Rokeley died seised of this Mannor in the fifth year of Edward the first Rot. Esc Num. 6. and was succeeded in the Possession by Philip de la Rokeley and he held it likewise at his Death which hapened in the 23 year of Edw. the first Rot. Esc Num. 39. and left it to his Sole Daughter and Heir Isolda de la Rokeley matched to William Bruin by whom She had Issue Sir Maurice Bruin Chamberlaine to K. Edw. the third honoured with the Summons to Parliament as Baron amongst the Peers of this Realm who by a Right derived to him from his Mother was possest of this at his Death in the twenty ninth of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 38. and transmitted a wide and spreading Revenue to his Posterity here at Southokenden in Essex and at Roumere in Hantshire which last was given in Appendage to a younger Son from whom the Bruins of Athelhampton in the County of Dorset are lineally descended But when after a fair continuance this Family had flourished at this Place the Distaffe prevailed against the Speare and Sir Henry Bruins two Daughters and Coheirs about the Beginning of Edward the fourth divided his Inheritance each of them having a first and second Husband Alice the eldest was first married to Robert Harleston of Essex Esquire and after to Sir Thomas Heveningham and Elizabeth second Daughter was wedded first to Thomas Tirrell of Heron in Essex Esquire and after his Decease to Sir William Brandon Knight who was Standard-bearer to Henry the seventh at Bosworth Field where he was stain in asserting his Cause and Quarrel against Richard the third and he had Issue by her Sir Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk the Flower and perfection of English Chivalrie in his Time who sometimes kept his Residence at this place not as Proprietarie but onely as Lessee for the Sole Inheritance upon the Division of Bruin's Estate accrued to Tirrell and here entertained Henry the eighth with all the Cunning Pompe of Magnificence as he went to bestow a Visit at Hever on his discarded and repudiated wife Ann of Cleve But to go on this Mannor as I said before being annexed to the patrimony of Thomas Tirrell Humphrey Tirrell his Grandchild to whom it descended passed away one Moietie of it in the thirty fifth year of Henry the eighth to Ralph Warren and the other to Henry Parke Warren alienated his Proportion not long after to Bradbury from which Family about the latter End of Q. Eliz. it came over by Sale to Serjeant Gent who gave it in Dower with his Daughter to Sir George Dalston of Cumberland who in our Memory conveyed it to Sir Patrick Curwin of the same County and he some few years since sold his Interest in it to Sir Oliver St. John of Batricksey in Surrey who upon his Decease gave it to his Son then Mr. Walter but now upon the Death of his Nephew Sir Walter St. John Baronet the other Moitie by Joan sole Heir of the abovesaid Henry Parke came to be the Inheritance of Mr. Robert Leigh descended out of Cheshire whose Successor about the latter End of King James alienated it to Sir Henry Snelgrave from whom it descended to his Grandchild Mr. Henry Snelgrave who not long since passed it away to Mr. Walter now Sir Walter St. John Baronet who lately hath exchanged the whole Mannor for other Land with his Brother Mr. Henry St. John Langley in this Parish is a second Seat of eminent Account which was in elder Times the Possession of John de Malmains who obtained a Charter of Free-Warren to his Lands in Bekenham in the twelfth year of Edward the second which was renewed to Henry de Cliffe to whom they accrued by Purchase from Malmains in the third year of Edward the third but stayed not long in the Tenure of this Family for before the going out of Edward the third I find the Propriety invested by Sale in Langley to which Family the Foundation of that HOuse owes in part its Original on which they ingraffed their own Name which hath flourished under that Title ever since though the Family be withered away and gone the last of which Name at this place was Ralph Langley who with Roger Twisden Stephen Monins Edward Monins John Edingham or Engham Richard Edingham John Berton of Cotmanton in Shouldon John Berham John Betenham of Shurland in Pluckley and others Gentlemen of prime Rank in this County were summoned to appear before Robert Poynings and John Perry in the twelfth year of Henry the sixth to disclaim the Title of the House of York and this Ralph died in the year 1451 and ordered Langley and other demeasns at Bekenham to be sold for the discharging his Debts the purport and Effects of which Will were accordingly performed and his Estate at Bekenham and Langley passed away by Sale to John Violett whose Successors enjoyed it until the Beginning of Hen. the eighth and then it was conveyed to John Stiles Esq who much inlarged the House with a supply of Buildings and from him is it by Descent devolved to be the instant Possession of his Successor Sir Humphrey Stiles Knight and Baronet Kelseys lies likewise in this Parish and may justly exact our Notice by Deeds written in a Character that hath an Aspect upon the Reign of Henry the third John de Kelsey William de Kelsey and others of that Sirname are represented to have an Interest in this Seat and from hence it is probable the Kelseys of Surrey did derive their first Extraction however by the Injuries of Time they have been in succeeding Generations cast under the umbrage of an obscurer Fortune But I return After this Family had deserted the Possession of this place which was before the latter End of Richard the the second I find the Brograves stepped in and by purchase became Lords of the Fee a Family which in very old Deeds writ themselves Burgrave and sometimes Boroughgrave though now a more
first and after this Name began to languish into Decay it was by a Daughter and Heir brought over to Crow extracted from the Crows of Norfolk who from the Reign of Richard the second held it in a continued Track of Succession even untill our Time and then it was passed away from Sir Sackville Crow by Sale to Sir Robert Heath who dyed Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench made so by the late King at Oxford whose Son and Heir Mr. ........ Heath Esquire is now entituled to the Signorie of it Bredge gives name to the whole Hundred wherein it is placed and in Times of a more ancient Date was clasped up within that Revenue which did augment the paternal Inheritance of Cheyney Sir Alexander de Cheyney as appears by ancient Muniments was possest of this place in the reign of Edward the first and is in the Register of those eminent persons who accompanied that Prince into Scotland and was for his important Service against that Nation made Bannerent by that King at Carlaverock in the twenty eighth year of his Government and from him did it by the links of severall Descents after a large Efflux of Time devolve to Henry Lord Cheyney who about the Beginning of Queen Elizabeth passed it away to Mr. William Partrich Esquire whose Grandchild Sir Edward Partrich not many yeers since conveyed it to Mr. Arnold Brame of Dover descended from one of this Name who was Secretary to Charles the fifth Blackmanbury is a noted Seat in this Parish and had still the same Owners in Times of a more ancient Character with Garwinton in Bekesbourn as namely the Garwintons the last of which was Tho. Garwinton who held it at his Death which happened in the eleventh year of Henry the fourth and by the Heir Generall of this Family it devolved to Haut issued out from the Hauts of Hautsborne and when this Family determined the Female Heir brought this Seat to Isaac after Isaac was worn out of a great part of this Mannor of Blackmanbury it became the Possession of Henry Lawrence Esquire descended from the Lawrences of Dorsetshire and he held it as appears by a Court Roll in the thirty sixth year of Henry the eighth and in both these Families was the joynt Propriety of this Mannor resident untill about the middle of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and then the whole Demise was by mutuall Consent passed away from Isaac and Lawrence to William Partrich Esquire Grandfather to Sir Edward Partrich who not many yeers since conveyed it to Mr. Arnold Brame of Dover and he upon the Foundation of the ancient Fabrick hath erected that magnificent Pile which obliges the Eye of the passenger both to Admiration and Delight and which like a Phaenix seems to have arose more glorious out of its Ruines Bereacre is a third Mannor in Bredge which in the twenty first year of Edward the first acknowledged it self to be under the Signorie of Walter de Kancia as appears by an Inquisition taken at the same time after his Death Rot. Esc Num. 7. But before the twentieth year of Edward the third this Family was extinguished and then it became the Propriety of Bereacre who assumed his Name from this Mannor and John de Bereacre paid a respective Supply for it as appears by the Book of Aid at making the Black Prince Knight in the twentieth year of Edward the third After Bereacre was gone out the Family of Lichfield was concerned in the Possession who likewise were Lords of much Land about Eastry Tilmanston and Betshanger and in this Name was the Title placed untill the twenty second year of Edward the fourth and then Roger Lichfield by Sale conveyed it to William Haut and he had Issue Richard Haut who left only Margery who by matching with William Isaac resigned up this Mannor to the Possession of that Family but long it was not planted in this Name for before the latter end of Henry the eighth it was alienated to Petit and Weeks and they again not many yeers after transmitted it by Sale to Nailor of Renvill from whom by the same Devolution it was almost in our Fathers Memory carryed down to Smith and Watkins Beauville alià s Bewâ—field or Whitfield lyes in the Hundred of Bewisborough is a small Parish mounted aloft on those Hills that run from Barham down to Dover Castle The Lord Giles Badelesmer anciently held it and gave it in Frank Marriage with his Daughter Elizabeth whom Jo. Northwood of Milton took to Wife and here it continued with the Interest of this Family severall Descents untill at last it devolved to John Northwood of Northwood in Milton abovesaid from which Name and Family the Fate of Sale took it off and brought it over about the latter end of Henry the eighth to Jo. Bois Esquire Ancestor to Mr. Io. Bois of Fredvill Esquire now living and in this Family the Possession is still resident The Mannor of Linacre is seated within the Circuit of this Parish and gave both Seat and Sirname to a Family so called and from whom Linacre that composed the Latin Grammar in the Reign of Henry the ninth was lineally extracted but this Name here was expired before the end of Henry the fourth and then by some Court Rolls I find that Iohn Monins was invested in the Fee and here for some Decursion of Time the Right and Interest of this Place did abide untill at length about the Beginning of Henry the eighth the Title by Sale fell under the Signory of Chelesford or Chelford from which Name the same Fate conveyed it to Mr. Io. Bois whose Successor Mr. Io. Bois of Fredville Esquire by descendant Right does now enjoy it East and West Berming in the Hundred of Twyford was in Times of a very high Ascent the Possession of a Family who derived their Sirname from this Place William de Bermeling dyed seised of it in the twenty second year of Edward the first Rot. Esc Num. 27. and had likewise the Advowson of the Church after him Robert de Bermelin held it in the thirty first year of Edward the first Rot. Esc Num. 123. When this Family was gone out the Freminghams came into the Possession Iohn Son of Ralph de Fremingham was in the enjoyment of them at his Death which was in the twenty third year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 145. and so was his Successor John Fremingham in the twelfth year of Henry the fourth Rot. Esc Num. 15. But after this I find no more of this Name interessed in the Possession the next Family which was invested in the Inheritance were the Pimpes a Name very eminent and no lesse ancient in this Track John Pimpe held them and Ledhock at his Decease which was in the ninth year of Henry the fifth Rot. Esc Num. 35. from whom the Title streamed down to Reginald Pimpe Esquire in whose Tenure they were at his Death which was in the sixteenth year of Henry the sixth from Pimpe
Name is promiscuously written Jo. de Marney who is in some old Deeds called Marins obtained a Charter of Free Warren to his Mannor of great Betshanger the first year of Edw. the first but it seems this Franchise did but improve the Sale and make it more fit to be enjoyed by another for not long after it was conveyed to John de Soles so called from his Habitation near some Ponds and he died in the enjoyment of it in the forty ninth year of Edw. the third Rot. Esc Num. 40. Parte secunda But after this it was not long constant to the Signory of this Family for about the Beginning of Richard the second I find it possest by Bertram de Tancrey Lord of Tancrey Island in Fordwich and his Descendants enjoyed it until the latter end of Henry the fourth and then it went away by Sale to Rutter from which Name about the Beginning of Edward the fourth it came to Lichfield whose Arms are yet visibly obvious in ancient Pains of Glass at Dane Court in Tilmanston viz. Bendee of six Pieces Azure and Ermin and in this Family it continued until the Beginning of Henry the eighth and then by the Heir General of this Name it became united to the Patrimony of Thomas Cox Esquire Customer of Sandwich who about the latter end of Henry the eighth conveyed it by Sale to Mr. John Bois Ancestor to John Bois Esquire who by Paternal Devolution is now entituled to the Signory of it Little Betshanger was a Seat relating to the Family of Cliderow which in elder Times was of eminent Account in this Track yet I find that Iohn de St. Philibert held Lands here in the thirty first year of Edward the third but the Mannor it self was an Appendage to the above mentioned Family * He was Knight of the Shire in the seventh year of Henry the fourth Roger de Cliderow flourished here in the Reign of Edward the second and Edward the third and as appears by Seals affixed to old Evidences which commence from the last Kings Reign bore for his Coat Armour upon a Cheveron between three Eagles five Annulets his Successor Richard Cliderow was Sheriff of Kent the fourth and most part of the fifth year of Henry the fourth he was constituted soon after Admiral of the Seas from the Thames mouth along the Saxon Shore to the West for in those Times the Admiralty was divided sometimes into three and most commonly into two Divisions one beginning at the Thames mouth was Admiral of the Northern Seas the second was Admiral from the Thames mouth Westward and the third had the command of the Irish Seas but in this man's Time King Henry the fourth in the eighth year of his Reign reduced it under one Person and granted it with more ample and wide Authority under his Brother John Beauford Earl of Somerset But to proceed after the Title of this place had remained locked up in the Demeasn of Cliderow until the latter end of Hen. the eighth it passed away with the Female Inheritrix to Thomas Stoughton Esquire by whom he had three Daughters who were Coheirs to their Mother Elizabeth matched to Thomas Wild Esquire Helen married to Edward Nethersole and Mary wedded to Henry Paramour who by a joynt conveyance passe away their right to their Father in the twentieth year of Queen Elizabeth and he in the twenty first year by Deed re-enstates his right in them and they again by a concurrent and mutual consent alienate their Interest here in the twenty eighth year of her Rule to Mr. John Gookin and he about the first year of King James conveyed it to Sir Henry Lodelow who not many years since passed it away to Mr. Edward Bois of Great Betshanger Father to Mr. John Bois Esquire the present Lord of the Fee Bicknor in the Hundreds of Milton and Eythorn was in elder Times the Habitation of a Family of that Sirname Sir John de Bicknor and Sir Thomas de Bicknor accompanied King Edward the first in his successeful Expedition into Scotland and are found Recorded in the Register or Bedroll of those Knights who were made Bannerets at Carlaverock Castle by that Prince in the twenty eighth year of his Government but after this this Mannor stayed not long in the Tenure of this Family for in the Reign of Edward the second it came to acknowledge the Dominion of Roger de Leybourn Baron of Leybourn Castle from whom it descended to his Sole Daughter and Heir Juliana de Leybourn who dying in the forty third year of Edw rd the third without Issue and without Kindred it devolved by Escheat to the Crown and then that Prince setled it by a new Donation on the Abby of St. Mary Grace on Tower-Hill where it continued until the publick Suppression and then being surrendred up to the Crown it was in the thirty sixth year of Henry the eighth granted to Christopher Sampson and he in the second year of Edward the sixth passed it away to Sir Thomas Wiat from whom not long after it came by the same conveyance to own the Interest of Reader who about the latter end of Queen Elizabeth alienated his Right in it to Terry who almost in our Memory partly by Sale and partly in respect of Alliance setled the Propriety of it on Aldersey so that Mr. Farnham Aldersey a second Brother of Terrey Aldersey of Swanton Court Esquire is now Lord of the Fee Biddenden in the Hundreds of Barkeley Cranbroke and Blackbourn had an old Family which took both Seat and Sirname from hence and when this was consumed and vanished the Mayneys were the next who were successively Possessors of it John de Mayney died seised of this and other Lands confining upon it in the fiftieth year of Edward the third and was Son of Sir John de Mayney who flourished here as appears by Deeds under the worthy Character of Knighthood many years before and to this Name was the Possession by a continued and unbroken Series of Ages wedded until some years since the Title was by Sale divorced from this Family and conveyed by Sir Anthony Mayney Knight and Baronet to Sir Edw. Henden Chief Baron of the Exchequer and he by Testament transmitted it to his Nephew Sir John Henden who having lately paid a Debt to Nature which we all owe his Son and Heir Edw. Henden Esquire does at this instant enjoy it Allards is another ancient Seat in this Parish which for many Generations past until of late acknowledged it self to be the Mansion of that Name and Family and from hence was Gervas Alarar or Allard descended who was Captain and Admiral of the Navy set forth by the Cinque Ports in the first year of Edward the first as appears Pat. 34. Edwardi primi but now the Distaffe hath prevailed against the Lance for this Name having been lately wound up in a Daughter and Heir the Possession of it in her Right is now transplanted into Captain Terry
who stuck so close to the Cause and Quarrel of Simon de Montfort the active Earl of Leicester after whose Ruine at the Battle of Evesham and the total Discomfiture and Dissipation of of his Forces in that signal Conflict he was found in the Register of those Kentish Gentlemen who were pardoned by the pacification at Kenelworth and died possest of it in the twenty third year of Edw. the first Rot. Esc Num. 48. and in some old Deeds it is called Caput Baroniae de Say now the vulgar opinion was formerly that that thirteen Knights Fees and a half made up a Tenure per Baroniam now how much in value a Knights Fee was was the Question in elder Times some affirming it to be 50 l. others 30 l. and diverse again but 25 l. but the common received opinion is which hath been generally allowed of by all our Law Books that it is in Estimate but 20 l. consisting of eight Carucates or Hides of Land for they are coincident allowing to every Carucate or Ploughed Land an 100. Acres which was anciently thought to be as much as one team of Oxen could plough up in a year but the Tenure it self which was compounded of these Knights Fees was altogether incertain for unless it be that Manscript stiled Modus Tenendi Parliamentum which is of no higher Age then the Reign of Edward the third there is no Record does state or fix it Walter de Meduana or Mayney Ancestor to the Mayneys of Linton held twenty Knights Fees as appears by the Red Book kept in the Exchequer Folio 84 yet was not under the Repute of a Baron Walter de Wahull had the possession of 30. Knights Fees and John de Port of 50. yet neither of them out of so vast a Tenure could multiply or inforce to themselves the Stile or Title of Baron whereas on the contrary Roger de Leybourn who marryed the Coheir of Vipont and was really a Baron makes a recognisance of his Service as appears by Kirkbies Inquest kept in the Exchequer and taken in the ninth year of Edward the first but for two Knights Fees and an half from all which recited passages is evinced that this Title of Baronage flowed only from the Favour and Indulgence of the Prince who by his Writ or Summons called those who had merited well by some worthy undertakings to this Dignity and Title and not from the vastness of their Patrimony though this did very much concurre afterwards to support their Baronage in its true Value and Lustre But to proceed Jeffrey de Say this Mans Successor had view of Franck Pledge here in the eighth year of Edward the third that is as appears by the Statute of Frank Pledge made in the eighteenth year of Edward the second he was to take Cognisance of those Disorders and Excesses in his Court Baron that were committed by those which held in Free-Soccage of his Mannor of Berling as well as of those which held in Knights Service or Villen age and this Jeffrey in the thirty third year of Edward the third dyed possest of this place Rot. Esc Num. 37. and left it to his Son William de Say who likewise was in the Tenure of it at his Death which happened in the forty third year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 43. Parte secunda and transmitted it to his Son John de Say who likewise held it at his Decease which was in the sixth year of Richard the second Rot. Esc Num. 67. and from him did it devolve by descent to his Son and Heir Jeffrey Lord Say who about the latter end of Richard the second alienated his Interest here by Sale to Richard Fitzallan Earl of Arundell Lord Treasurer and Lord high Admirall of England from whom it came over to his Son Thomas Fitzallan Earl of Arundell and Lord Treasurer of England likewise who dying in the year 1416. without Issue Joan one of his Sisters matched to William Beauchampe summoned to Parliament as Baron of Aburgavenny in the sixteenth year of Richard the second became his Coheir and so he by this Alliance was acknowledged for Lord of the Fee but his Son Richard Beauchampe created Earl of Worcester in the year 1420 dying without Issue male in the ninth year of Henry the fifth Elizabeth his sole Daughter and Heir by matching with Edward Nevill who in her Right became Baron of Aburgavenny annexed Birling and Comfort Parke to his Revenue and he dyed possest of it in the sixteenth year of Edward the fourth and from him did it descend to his great Grandchild Henry Lord Aburgavenny who in the twenty ninth of Queen Elizabeth dying without Issue male gave it to his Kinsman Sir Edward Nevill afterwards Baron of Aburgavenny whose Grandchild John Nevill Lord Aburgavenny possesses now the Signory of it Bobbing in the Hundred of Milton was the ancient Seat of the illustrious Family of Savage Roger de Savage obtained a Charter of Free Warren to his Lands at Bobbing Milsted and elsewhere in the fifth year of Edward the second his Father Sir John de Savage was engaged with Edward the first at the remarkable Siege of Carlaverock in Scotland in the twenty eighth year of his Reign and there for his Signal Service was with Thomas Savage his Brother created Knight Banneret Sir Arnold Savage this mans Grandchild was Sheriff of Kent the fourth and ninth years of Richard the second and was afterwards Speaker of the Parliament in the second year of Henry the fourth as appeats by the late printed Abridgement of the Parliament Rolls preserved in the Tower and was one of the Privie Counsell to that Prince as appears by the private Evidences of this Family his Daughter Eleanor was first matched to Sir Reginald Cobham by whom she had no Issue and after was remarried to William Clifford Esquire Son of Sir Lewis Clifford Knight of the Garter descended from Clifford of Cliffords Castle in Herefordshire who upon the Decease of his Wifes only Brother this Sir Arnold Savage without Issue in her Right as Heir Generall entered upon his Estate here at Bobbing and was Sheriff of Kent in the fourth year of Henry the fifth and again in the thirteenth year of Henry the sixth his Kinsman Robert Clifford Esquire Brother to Richard Clifford first Arch-Deacon of Canterbury secondly Bishop of Worcester and thirdly Bishop of London was Knight of the Shire for Kent in the eighth year of Henry the fourth and lyes buryed in the middle Isle in the Body of Christ Church in Canterbury though now his Portraicture in Copper with the Inscription affixed with the many Coats declaring his Descent and Alliance are torn off and defaced the above mentioned William had Issue Lewis and John Lewis had Issue Alexander Clifford Esquire who was Sheriff of Kent the fifth year of King Edward the fourth and he had Issue Lewis Clifford Esq who was likewise Sheriff of Kent the thirteenth of Henry the seventh and from this Lewis was Henry
founded by William de Iper of Flanders advanced by King Stephen to be Earl of Kent in the year 1145 K. Richard the first as the Register of this Abby denotes was a great Benefactor to the Covent who were originally transported hither from Clarevall in Burgundy upon the Suppression the House with the Demeasne adjacent was in the thirty second of Henry the eighth granted to Sir Thomas Wiat Father to Sir Thomas Wiat one of his Privy Counsel a man of an unbroken though a calamitous Virtue who thinking it a lesse stain to forfeit his Estate then to debauch his Consience stuck close to that Sacramental Covenant by which he and the rest of the Councel had oblieged themselves to Henry the eighth to preserve as much as in them lay his two Daughters Mary and Elizabeth from confederating with any forreign Alliance and so engaged in that Design which over set him and sunk him and his Patrimony into that Ruine we find him and it lost at present for upon his Attainder Queen Mary in the second year of her Reign granted out his Estate as if it were by Retail to several sons but this Mannor and some other small peices were given back to the Lady Joan Wiat his Widow for the support of her self and Family and this is all which of that vast and wide Revenue of his which lay scattered in this and other Counties is held by his Posterity at this Day Wevering in this Parish is a Mannor held by Knights Service and Waretius de Shelving Son of John Shelving and Hellen de Bourn Daughter and Heir of John de Bourn held it by this Tenure to find a Horse for the Kings Army in Wales Cum uno Sacco Brochiâ pro Esquilar ipsius Domini Regis so it runs in the Latin Record taken in the third year of Edward the third after this mans Decease John de Shelving was this mans Heir and in his Right enjoyed this Mannor though it was not wholly his till he married Benedicta Daughter and Coheir of Robert de Hougham who likewise held some part of it and then he transmitted it entire to his Son William Shelving whose Sole Daughter and Heir being married to Edward Haut of Hauts Place in Petham who was Sheriff of Kent in the eighth of Henry the fourth this and an opulent Demeasne beside became interwoven with the Revenue of that Family and here the Possession seemed to be laid up till Sir William Haut of Hautsbourn this mans great Grandchild dyed and left only two Coheirs Joan matched to Sir Thomas Wiat and Elizabeth married to Sir Thomas Colepeper of Bedgebury so wavering by this Alliance accrued to Sir Thomas Wiat from whom in the twenty fourth year of Queen Mary it was by forfeiture torne away but was in the twenty fourth year of Queen Elizabeth restored with the Mannor of Boxley to the Lady Joan Wiat Widow of the abovesaid Sir Thomas and her Son George Wiat for three Lifes the Reversion was sold by King Charles to Mr. Stephen Alcock who alienated the Fee Simple to Sir Francis Wiat. Vinters is contained also in Boxley it gave Seat and Sirname to as noble a Family and of as deep Antiquity as any in this Track Roger Vinter lived here who was one of the Conservators of the Peace for the County of Kent in the eighteenth year of the Reign of Edward the third he deceased in the forty seventh of the abovesaid Princes Government and John Vinter was his Heir who sold Vinter to Fremingham in the tenth year of Henry the fourth from whom it was conveyed by a Female Inheritrix to Isley of Sundrich and here it rested till Sir Henry Isley being folded up in the same attempt with Sir Thomas Wiat upon the blasting of that Designe forfeited his Interest in it to the Crown Queen Mary granted it to Cutts who some years after devested himself of his right in it and by Sale disposed of it to Sir Cavaliero Maycott who suddenly alienated it to Covert who transferred it by the like Devolution about some five and twenty years since to Sir John Tufton Knight Baronet whose second Son Sir Charles Tufton upon the late Decease of his Brother Sir Benedict Tufton is the present Lord of the Fee I had almost forgot to mention which certainly must much improve the Honour of this Place that King Edward the second in the fifteenth year of his Reign lying at Boxley Abby granted the Charter to London to elect yearly one of the City at their own pleasure to be their Maior Boughton Malherbe in the Hundred of Eyhorne did very probably take its Denomination from a Family of that Sirname who were of eminent Account in the County of Devon for I find Sir William de Malherbe was witnesse to a Deed of Reginald de Mohun by which he gives much Land to the Abby of Axminster as appears Pat. 14. Hen. tertii Memb. 33. parte prima In the Reign of Henry the third by several old Deeds I discover it to be marshalled in the List of those Lands which confessed Robert de Gatton Son of Robert de Gatton who was one of the Recognitores magnae Assisae in the second year of King John to have been its Proprietarie and he dyed possest of it in the forty eighth year of Henry the third and left it to his Son Hamo de Gatton in whom the male Line determined so that this Mannor upon the Partition of his Inheritance devolved by Elizabeth his Daughter and Coheir to be the Patrimony of William de Dene who obtained a Charter of Free-warren to his Lands here in the renth year of Edward the second but he not long after enjoyed the Benefit of this priviledge for he conveyed it to Robert Corbie who in the thirty sixth year of Edward the third had Licence by this Princes Grant to build after a fortified Mannor the Terms are Kernellare Turrellare that is to make Cranies and Loopholes to discharge Crossebows and other missile Weapons and to embattel with Towers and Curtain Walls the Mannor House at Boughton from him it descended to Robert Corby his Son and Heir who dyed and left only one Daughter and Heir Joan marryed to Sir Nicholas Wotton twice Lord Maior of London and so by Female Right this Mannor became the Possession of this Family and in a continued Series was it carryed down from Sir Nicholas to Thomas Lord Wotton not many years since deceased whose Lady Dowager Mary Daughter and one of the Coheirs of Sir Arthur Throgmorton of Paulers Perry in the County of North-Hampton as parcel of her Joynture did lately before her Decease enjoy it Colbridge Castle lay in Boughton Malherbe under the Hill towards Headcorne and hath found a Sepulcher now under its own Rubbish King Henry the third in the forty third of his Reign granted Licence by his Charter to Sir Fulke Peyforer to fortifie and build after a Castle-like Manno this Mansion House at Colbrge it
and the other called Joan wedded to Sir William Fiennes this upon the Division of the Estate accrued to Fiennes and coming again by the Heir General of Fiennes Lord Dacres to be possest by Leonard William Leonard Son and Heir of Fiennes Leonard a younger Branch of that House hath lately passed it away to Mr. Francis Barnham and Mr. Edward Maplesden There was in old Time a Fountain within the Limits of this Parish at a place called Haly-Garden venerable it was and of no small Account amonst the People who for the sanctitie they conceived was in it ascribed divine Attributes unto it as the Name imports for what we call Holy our Ancestors long time since styled Halyg as Halyfax in York-shire from holy Haire that that the People devoutly esteemed and frequently with blind credulity visited In the seventeenth of K. Richard the second the Friars Carmelites of Alresford obtained a Grant by Letters Patents to bring the Water from that Fountain in Haly-Garden to their Monastery in Alresford to what purpose they that will survey the Designs of the Monks of those Times may easily discover Burmersh in the Hundred of Worth was a Member of that Patrimony which in Times of a higher Calculation related to the Abby of St. Augustines in Canterbury and had here a Mansion called Abbots Court which is an Adjunct to this Mannor and had this Denomination imposed upon it because the Abbot of that Covent used to sojourn here when he came to survey that Demeasn which augmented the Revenue of that Abby and lay spread into Romney Mersh This Mannor upon the Surrender of the Patrimony of that Cloister into the Hands of Henry the eighth in the twenty ninth year of his Reign was in the thirty fifth of that Prince granted to William Finch Esquire whose Successor Sir Thomas Finch Earl of Winchelsey not many years since passed it away to Sir Ralph Whitfield Serjeant at Law whose Son and Heir Sir Herbert Whitfield is now Lord of the Fee C. C. C. CAnterbury hath so exactly in all the Parts and Limbs of it been described and surveyed by Mr. Somner that I should exceedingly eclipse the Labours of so inductrious a Pen if I should go about to Pourtray that in any contracted Landskip which hath been before represented to the Publick pencilled out in so large and exquisite a Volume Onely some few things are there omitted which in this Search I shall take notice of and so proceed The Augustine Friars or Convent of Black Canons in Canterbury was founded by Thomas de Bonington Pat. 17. Edw. secundi Memb. 18. Parte secunda The Prior of the Trinity in Canterbury was accustomed to receive two pence upon every Vessel of Wine coming into the Port of Sandwich Rot. Claus Hen. tertii Memb. 17. Baldwin de VVereval had a Charter in the second year of K. John for the Aldermanry of Westgate in Canterbury Hubert de Burgh Earl of Kent had the Castles of Canterbury Dover and Rochester granted to his Custody Carta 12. Hen. tertii King Henry the third in the sixteenth year of his Reign at Canterbury took the Fealty of the Knights and Free Tenants of Kent as likewise of the Barons of the Cinque Ports K. Henry the third in the forty eighth of his Reign grants a Pardon for Life to Francis de Balsham for that She was hanged for Felony at Canterbury from nine of the Clock on the Munday till the rising of the Sun next Day and yet escaped with Life Pat. 48. Membra 24. I should not have mentioned this but that an Accident proportionate to this in all the Circumstances of it happened to one Ann Green who not many years since being hanged at Oxford for the supposed Murder of her Child miraculously escaped with Life King Edward the first Landed at Dover 1274 and restored divers Liberties to Canterbury which before were seised into the Hands of the Crown Pat. 4. Edw. 1. There was a Chauntry founded in St. Dunstans Church by John Roper for two Priests to celebrate at the Altar of St. Nicholas in that Church Pat. 4. Hen. 4. Parte prima Memb. 29. There was another Chauntry mentioned by Mr. Somner founded by VVilliam Brenchley Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench for one Priest to celebrate at the Altar of St. John Baptist in Christ Church for the support of which he gives one House in St. Elphage Parish and ten pound Rent issuing yearly out of his Lands at Bilsington Pat. 25. Hen. 6. pars 1. Memb. 15. The Mannor of Dodindale had originally owners of that Name for as Mr. Somner in his Survey of Canterbury out of the Records of St. Augustins instructs us Haymo the Son of Guido de Dodindale gave the Tithes of Dodindale to the Priory of St. Augustins But it seems it was but for certain years for in the Reign of Henry the second as the same Records testifie Robert de Marci gave the Tithes of this place to the Hospital of St. Laurence so far he in that laborious Peice of his hath exhibited to the publick view who were its ancient Possessors when it bore the Name of Dodindale now out of the private Evidences it must be my Task who were its Proprietaries since it carried the Name of Morton By a Deed without date Elias de Morton from whom it assumed the Name of Morton which hath clove to it ever since demises the Fee-simple of it to Hugh Fitzvinon a Family which had large possessions at Selling by Monks Horton whose Daughter Eugenia Fitzvinon passes it away by Deed to Nicholas de Twitham in the twentyeth year of Henry the third and he immediately after by a Deed not bounded with any date settles it in Robert de Polre but whether his Successor sold it to J. Chich or not is incertain because there is a vacancy or gap in in the private Evidences though the Records of St. Augustins make him to have some Interest in it in the year 1330. The next that I find to have been entituled to the possession were Hardres and Isaack who in the twenty second year of Henry the sixth conveyed it away to William Say for the use of Robert Rigdon but it seems the title did not long fix here for he in the thirty third year of the abovesaid Prince transmits all his concernment in it by sale to William Barton and John Whete and they by mutual consent in the eighteenth year of Edward the fourth alienate it to Edward Pargate who transmitted it to his Son and Heir John Pargate from whom descended Edward Pargate who in the twenty fifth year of Henry the eighth demises it to Peter Bruin and after the Title had many years united to this Family Henry Bruin dying without Issue gave it to his Sister Jane Bugge who in the first year of King James cast her Right by Sale into her Kinsman John Bruin who in the fifth year of that Prince by the same alienation translated the Title into William
Grandchild John de Cobham in the thirty sixth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 43. Parte secunda And in this Family and its Descendants did they settle until the Reign of Henry the sixth and then by an old Survey of Chalke I find them in the Hands of Brent and continued in their Possession until the eighth year of Henry the seventh and then Jo. Brent Esq conveys them as appears by a Fine levied in that year to Sir Henry Wiat and his infortunate Grandchild Sir Thomas Wiat having by an unsuccesseful Solleviation or Rising forfeited them to the Crown in the second year of Queen Mary they remained there until Queen Elizabeth in the thirty seventh of her Rule granted them in Lease to Sir Peter Manwood who passed it to Menfield and he to Mr. James Crispe but the Fee-simple still remained lodged in the Royal Revenue until the late King Charles passed it away to the City of London in the year 1630 and that City the same year they were granted conveyed them to Mr. James Crispe who upon his Departure disposed them by Testament to his two Sons Mr. Thomas Crispe and Mr. James Crispe Challock in the Hundred of Calehill hath two places in it which may deservedly come within the Register of those Mannors which are in this Survey to be recorded The first is Otterpley which was an eminent Seat belonging to the ancient Family of Apulderfield The first that I find of Note in any publick Record to have possest it was Henry de Apulderfield who had the Grant of a Market and Fayre to his Mannor of Apulderfield in Coldham in the thirty eighth year of Hen. the third and this mans great Grandchild Henry de Apulderfield was Sheriff of Kent the fiftieth of Edward the third and held his Shrievalty at Challock His House was near East-well in the Earl of Winchelseys upper Park called Apulderfields Garden which is now so obscured in its own Ruins that we now with Difficulty trace out its Sepulcher made up of its own complicated Rubbish but this Mannor as to some Proportion of it was passed away before he was Sheriff to Edmund de Hant who held it at his Decease which was in the forty fourth year of Edward the third but neither of these Families lasted longer then the Beginning of Richard the second for then I find it entirely invested in Richard Lord Poynings who in the eleventh year of that Prince was possest of it at his Death and left it to his Sole Heir Eleanor matched to Henry Percy Earl of Northumberland in whose Successors the Right was constantly fixed until the twenty third year of Henry the eighth and then it was conveyed by Henry Earl of Northumberland to Sir Thomas Cheyney William Walsingham and William Fitz-Williams and they immediately after re-conveyed it to Sir Christopher Hales and his Son Sir James Hales about the latter end of Henry the eighth alienated it to Sir Thomas Moile by whose Daughter and Coheir Katharine it came to be the Inheritance of Sir Thomas Finch unhappily Shipwract by New-Haven in France a Person who deserved a longer Life and not so dark a Fate from whom by paternal Descent it is now transmitted to the right honourable Heneage Finch now Earl of Winchelsey Loringden and Deane are places in Challock worthy of Consideration There is a Tradition very frequent amongst the Country people in this Track that Loringden now altogether desolate and full of solitude was once the Mansion of Gentlemen of this Name one of which should have waged Combate with one of the Apulderfields of Otterpley not far distant about building a Chappel in the Valley which was pretended by Loringden to be erected on Land that was of his Fee-simple but because this without some more solid Foundation to support then Fame and Vulgar Report will appear but legend I will re-present to you what the original Muniments and Evidences have discovered to me in Relation to those who were Possessors of this place That there was a Family which bore the Name of Lourdingden or Loringden is most certain for there is a place in Challock which yet continues the Name of Lorindens Forestal but when I consulted the private Evidences of this place I found upon a serious Disquition they reached no higher then Henry the fourth and in his Reign it acknowledged it self to be of the Propriety of Cadman a Family grown into a reverend esteem by a long Prescription in this Track but the Name of Dean continued in being till the Reign of Henry the sixth and was in very ancient Deeds some of which are not limited with any Date written At Dean and A Dean and in that Princes Reign was by Sale passed away to the above mentioned Family of Cadman in which Name both Loringdean and Dean remained clapsed up till the entrance of K. James and then by a Sole Daughter and Heir they went over to Plomer who almost in our Memory transferred his Right in both of them by Sale to Peirce The Church of Challock being fallen down was new erected by the Apulderfields as the Glass windows and Stone work in divers places embroider'd and diaper'd with the Voided Cross which was their paternal Coat Armour do more then sufficiently testifie Cranebrook gives name to the Hundred wherein it is seated a Town very populous in respect it was one of the first places where the Manufacture of Clothing was professed and practised being brought into England in Edward the thirds Reign who by proposing rewards and granting many Immunities trained Flemings into this Nation in the tenth year of his reign to teach the English that Art of Draperie or Weaving and making woollen Cloth which is esteemed at this day one of the Butteresse which sustains the Common-wealth and certainly for making durable Broad clothes with very good Mixtures and perfect Colours Cranebrook doth with the most that way excell The first place of note in it which obviates the eye is Sisingherst but more properly and truly written Saxenhurst and as Bittenden not far distant derives its Name from the Brittons so in most probability did this take and assume its Denomination from the Saxons In Testa de Nevil a Book kept in the Exchequer which is a memorial of those who holding their Lands in the Knights Service paid relief in the twentieth year of Henry third towards the Marriage of the Kings Sister There is mention of John de Saxenhurst who was taxed for his Lands here at Cranebrook which certainly was this Sisingherst with the two little Mannors of Copton and Stone which had alwayes the same Owners with Sisingherst In times of a more modern Character the Berhams by the Female Heirs of Saxenhurst were Lords of Sisingherst with its two adjuncts Copton and Stone Richard de Berham who was Sheriff of Kent in the forty fourth year of Edward the third was here resident and is written of this place and Henry de Berham this mans Father paid respective
Grandfather to Thomas Brent in whom the Male Line determined so that Margaret his Sister became his Sole Heir who by matching with Jo. Dering of Surrenden Dering Esquire hath made Wickins ever since parcel of the Demeasn of that Name and Family Newland is another eminent Mannor in Charing which gave Seat and Sirname to a Family so styled Sir John de Newland lived here in the Reign of Edward the first and sealed with an Escollop upon a Cheveron for his Coat which is yet visible in ancient Registers and other venerable Monuments of Antiquity but before the latrer end of Edward the third this Family was extinguished at this place and then it became parcel of the noble Family of Brockhull of Cale-Hill and continued folded up in their Possession untill the twelfth year of Henry the fourth and then it was passed away by Deed from Henry Brockhull to John Darrell Esquire from whom it is by successive Devolution now transported to his Successor Sir John Darrell of Cale-Hill Knight Eversley next courts us to a Remembrance it lies partly in Charing and partly in Stacefield and though now obscure yet in elder times was made eminent by being one of the Mansions of Brian de Eversley a Man very eminent in the Reign of Henry the third and Edward the first and is mentioned in the Leiger Book of Feversham to have been a Benefactor to that Covent but his Piety could not secure the Title to his Posterity for about the beginning of Edward the third I find it planted in the Posfession of Peiferer by the Heir General of which Family called Julian it came to be the Possession of Thomas St. Leger and he died possest of it in the tenth year of Henry the fourth and bequeathed it to Mary his Daughter and Coheir espoused to Henry Aucher from whom it was wafted down by descendant Right to his Successor Sir Anthony Aucher who about the beginning of Queen Elizabeth alienated it to Michael Sond Esquire afterwards created Sir Michael Sonds from whom it is now devolved to his Descendant Sir George Sonds Knight of the Bath Tremhatch in old Deeds Tramhatch lies likewise in Charing and is advanced and ascended to some Note and Estimate since it was honoured by being parcel of the Patrimony of Barham a Family which was made splendid by an eminent Repute and no less considerable by a spreading Revenue which they held in this County of whom I shall speak more when I come to Barham Court in Terstan one of the principal Mansions of this Name Finally after it had for several Descents confessed the Propriety of this Family it was by Richard Barham conveyed by a Fine levied the eleventh year of Henry the fourth to John Haut where the Title was not so fixed as in the former for he not long after by a semblable Alteration passed it away to Henry Malmains and who about the Reign of Henry the fifth determined in two Daughters and Coheirs whereof was Agnes wedded to Thomas Gouldwell and so by this Alliance Tremhatch was enwrapped in his Patrimony and continued in the Descendants of this Name untill the forty second year of Q. Elizabeth and then it was alienated by John Gouldwell and Cicely his Wife to Robert Gaunt whose Son Thomas Gaunt died possest of it 1625 and gives it first to his Brother George Gaunt and in Defailance of Issue to Thomas Carlisle who in Right of the premises is now invested in the Possession Broughton is a Mannor which is likewise circumscribed within the Limits of Charing and had Owners likewise of that Sirname Adam de Broughton and sometimes written Brocton flourished here about the Reign of Edward the first and his Descendants enjoyed the Proprietie of it untill the latter end of Richard the second and then it was alienated to Paunsherst Thomas Paunsherst made his Will in the year of our Lord 1472 and gave it to Thomas Paunsherst his Son and he made his Will in the year 1503 and disposed of it to his Daughter Joan Paunsherst and in Defailance of her Issue to his Kinsman Thomas Paine She deceased without Issue and so the Remainder devolved to be the Inheritance of Paine in which Name it remained untill times of our remembrance and then it was alienated to the Father of the instant Proprietary Withick Here was a Chauntry at Charing founded as an ancient Survey of this Parish instructs me by Sir Iohn Burley who bare Quarterly Or and Sables and was called successively Burley's Chauntry the Duty enjoyned the Priest that was to officiate was to pray for the Soules of Sir Iohn Burley Sir William de Burleigh and the Descendants of that Family the Demeasn which was to support it was upon the suppression granted to Sir Io. Darell Ancestor to Sir Iohn Darell of Cale-Hill who now is in the Enjoyment of it Acton is the laft place of Account in Charing which is eminent in respect of that relation it had to the ancient and noble Family of Beaufits who made it their Seat before they were transplanted to Twidal in Gillingham Robert Beaufits as appears by an ancient Court Roll held it in the Reign of Henry the third and from him did it descend to his Grandchild Robert Beaufits who about the fourth year of Edward the third planted himself at Twidal but yet this still continued in the Name untill the Reign of Henry the seventh and then this Name expiring in Daughters and Coheirs one of them called Ioan by matching with Robert Arnold made it the Propriety of that Family and he had Issue William Arnold who conveyed it about the the middle of Henry the eighth to Sir Anthony Sonds whose Grandchild Sir Richard Sonds in our Fathers remembrance alienated it to Hutchins from whom by the Hands of Mr. Nicholas Nicholson who was made his Feoffee in Trust to discharge Debts and Legacies it is now come over to Godden Chartham in the Hundred of Bredge and Petham is a Mannor belonging to the Sea of Canterbury but of whose Donation I know not onely Doomsday Book represents it thus appraised Certeham est Manerium de vestitu Monachorum T. E. R. defondebat se pro IIII Sullings nunc similiter est appretiatur XX V lb. Having done with Chartham I shall now discover what places are enclosed within the Verge of it which were alwayes of temporal Interest Densted is another Mannor in Chartham which in the twentieth year of Edward the third was held by John the Son of Sir John Polre of Polre in Harbledowne but onely as Lessee to the Priory of Leeds to which Covent it was given by Hamon de Crevequer about the forty seventh year of Henry the third pro salute Animae suae Antecessorum suorum says an old Note extracted out of the Coucher Book of the Prioty yet the whole Mannor did not accrue to this Cloister by the former Donation for in the eighth year of Rich. the second Rob. Bovehatch as appears Rot.
cast into the Revenue of Denny by whose Daughter and Heir it is lately become the Demeasn of Mr. Robert Filmer second Son of Sir Robert Filmer of Sutton not long since deceased Winchcombe is an ancient Seat likewise in Crundall which ever since the Reign of Edward the second hath acknowledged the Carters as appears by private Evidences for its uninterrupted Proprietaries and is still in the Tenure and possession of that Name and Family Cuckston anciently written Cuckleston lies in the Hundred of Totlingtrough and was given to the Church of Rochester by Ethelwolfe Son of King Egbert See Textus Roffensis first Monarch of the English Saxons this King Ethelwolfe after his decease which happened to be about the year 857. was for his several and exemplary acts of Charitie and pious Munificence towards the Church of which Cuckston till these unhappy times ravished it away stood a visible Monument Recorded in the Register of Saints VVhornes-Place in this Parish was erected by Sir VVilliam VVhorne who was Lord Maior of London in the year 1487. upon which though he setled his Name he could not so fasten it to his Family but that the next Age by Purchase brought it over to Vane where the Title had not long fixt but the vicissitude of Sale alienated it to Barnewell who about the beginning of Queen Elizabeth sold it to Nicholas Lewson of the County of Stafford Esq whose Grandchild Sir Richard Lewson desirous to settle himself in his own County where a vaste Estate lay spread which had been transmitted to him from his Ancestors passed away this by Sale to John Marsham Esquire originally extracted from the Marshams of Norfolk where many years before they had flourished under no contemptible Estimate D. D. D. D. DArent in the Hundred of Acstane is very often written North-Darent it belonged in the Conquerours time to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury as the Record called Doomsday Book instructs me and was exchanged for the Mannor of Lambeth by Hubert Walter Arch-Bishop Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice with Gilbert Glanvill Bishop of Rochester in the year of our Lord 197. which exchange was afterwards confirmed by Richard the first Saint Margaret-Hills now united to this Parish had formerly a Church which being decayed and the Congregation diminished it was by Cardinall Pole in the year 1557. incorporated into Darent It was anciently and is so still distinguished by the Name St. Margaret-Hills which additionall Character it borrowed from a Family originally called Hells and then by Tradition and Vulgar corruption afterwards stiled Hills a Family which had large Possessions both here at Dertford and at Ash likewise by Sandwich John de Hells had a Charter of Free-warren to his Mannors of Hells and his Estate at Dertford in the seventeenth year of Edward the first and from this John de Hells did Sir Edmund Hills descend and he about the beginning of Edward the sixth alienated this Mannor to Lane whose Son Henry Lane went out in a Daughter and Heir called Martha who matched to Edw. Rolt descended from the Roults of Bedford-shire in Right of which Alliance Mr. Thomas Rolt his Grandchild is now invested in the Possession of this Place Dartford gives name to that Hundred wherein it is situated and before the Foundation of the Nunnerie was a Mannor which was wrapt up in the Demeasne of the Crown there was a Family called Tingewike which had it in Lease for when King Edward the third Pat. An. primi Edw. tertii Memb. 6. granted the Royalties of the Mannor of Dartford to Edmund of Woodstock Earl of Kent paying as a Rent-Service of 30. l. per annum it is mentioned in the Patent that he should hold them all in as ample a manner as Alice Tingewike formerly had done upon his decease it reverts to the Crown and the same King Edward in the year 1355. and in the fiftieth year of his Reign erects here a Nunnerie whose Lady-Abbess and the Nuns of the Covent were for the most part in succeeding times elected into this Cloister out of the noblest Families of the Nation Upon the suppression King Henry the eighth converted the House into a Palace for his own habitation and under that notion it continued till K. James by exchange passed it away to Robert E. of Salisbury who conveyed it to Sir Edw. Darcy whose Grandchild Edward Darcy Esquire descended from the noble Family of Darcy of Yorke-shire at this instant possesses the Fee-Simple of it The Mannor of Temple in this Parish was involved in that Revenue which was marshal'd under the Jurisdiction of the Knights Templers as the very Name doth seem to insinuate and upon the totall disannulling this order here in England was by a Statute made in the seventeenth year of Edward the second setled on the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem where it was fixed and constant untill the disbanding of that Order likewise in this Nation by King Henry the eighth and then it was annexed to the Patrimony of the Crown and rested there untill K. James exchanged it with Robert E. of Salisbury who sold it to Edw. Darcy Esq whose Grandchild Edw. Darcy Esq hath lately conveyed it by Sale to his Brother in Law Mr. Will. Gough The Mannor of Charles is Seated in this Parish and was a Branch of that Estate which fell under the Signorie of the ancient Family of Charles from whom it assumed its appellation Of this Family was Edw. Charles who was Captain and Admiral of the Fleet from the Thames-Mouth North-ward as appears Pat. 34. Edw. 1. after this Family had left the Possession of this place which was about the beginning of Richard the second Nicholas de Brember was planted in the Proprietie but he was scarce warm in his new atchieved Purchase but he fell under the guilt of high Treason only for being too fast in his Loyaltie and Faith to his Prince and too loose in his fidelity to his Country for there it seems that blind distinction had its first rise and growth which like some Alembeck distil'd and dropped the Power of the King distinguished apart from his Person upon the forfeiture of his Life and Estate together which was in the tenth year of Rich. the second It was by that Prince suddenly after conveyed by grant to Adam Bamme Lord Maior of London in which Family after it had for many Ages been seated it was as appears by an exemplification now in the hands of Mr. Took of Dartford transmitted by Sale to Death who about the latter end of K. James passed it away to Goldsmith of Marshals-Court in Creyford who some few years since sold all his Concernment in it to Mr. Tooks branched out from the ancient Family of the Tooks of Bere in West-Clive though since this Name setled at Dartford it hath by Depravation been called Tuke Horsemans-Place is a Mansion of good account likewise in Dartford in the sixteenth year of Edward the second I find it owned one Thomas
de Luda for Proprietarie between whom and Thomas de Sandwich Abbot of Lessnes there was a Composition about that time touching the passage of a Current of Water But this Family before the end of Edward the third had deserted the Possession and then by old Court-Rolls and other Evidences I find it in the Tenure of John Horsman who it is probable new built this Mansion and on the old Foundation established this new-Name and he had Issue Thomas Horseman who about the beginning of Henry the sixth dying without Issue gave it to his Widow Margaret Horseman re-married to Shardelow and she upon her decease in the ninteenth year of Henry the sixth bequeathed it to her Kinsman Thomas Brown whose Daughter and Sole Heir Katherine annexed it to the Patrimony of Robert Blague one of the Barons of the Exchequer and he had Issue by her Barnabie Blague who in the thirty third of Henry the eighth conveyed it by Sale to Mr. John Bere who much adorned and augmented the ancient Shell or Structure of this Seat in the thirtieth year of that Princes Reign but left his Acquists thus increased and improved to Ann his Sole Heir matched to Mr. Christopher Twislton descended from Twislton Castle in the County of Lancaster whose Successor Sir Jo. Twislton Knight and Baronet is now by descendant Right Possessor of it At Stanpit in this Parish there was a Chappell founded by one Thomas de Dertford and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin for one Priest to celebrate divine Offices for the Soul of the Founder In this Parish there was likewise a perpetual Salary established by one Thomas Martin to pray for the Soul of the Founder and Light-lands which were given by John Grovehurst Denton in the Hundred of Shamell was given to the Church of Rochester by a Noble man called Brichric and Efswith his Wife but it seems there had been some Invasion made upon the Original grant for as the Book called Textus Roffensis informs me it was restored to that Cathedral by William the Conquerour and was in after-times when Henry the eighth upon the Ruines of the Priory of St. Andrews raised the Dean and Chapter of Rochester by royal Concession united to their Demeasn Denton in the Hundred of Eastry with the appendant Mannor of Tapington now by Contraction called Tapton were in Times of very ancient Inscription both couched in the patrimony of Yerd and though several datelesse Deeds represent this Family to have been possessors of both these places as high as the reign of K. Jo. and H. the third yet the first of this Name whom Record discovers to us to have been eminent was John de Yerd who held the Mannors of Denton and Tapington by that Service which they call ad Wardam Castri Doveriensis and paid a respective Supply for them in the twentieth year of Edward the third at making the Black-Prince Knight and from this man did the possession of both these places flow down to Jo. Yerd Esq who was Sheriff of Kent in the nineteenth of Hen. the sixth and he had Issue John Yerd who conveyed Tapington to Jo. Fogge Esq and he again by a Fine levyed in the fifteenth year of Edw. the fourth passed away his Interest in it to Richard Haut and he determined in a Female Heir called Margery Haut matched to William Isaack who annexed Tapton to his Demeasn and in his descendant line the propriety remained untill that Age which was enclosed within the Circle of our Grand-fathers remembrance and then it was alienated to Bois But Denton with some part of the revenue of Tapington continued longer in the Yerd until Jo. Yerd the last Heir male of this Family going to London fell sick in Southwark and dyed without Issue and was enterr'd in St. Margarets-church afterwards converted to the Court of Marshalseys so that Langley of Knowlton in right of a former Match with the Heir General of this Family was entituled to the possession of Denton and the Demeasn of Tapton but Edward Langley the last of this Name dying Childlesse in the reign of Henry the eighth in relation to a former Match of the Heir General with Peyton Sir Robert Peyton of Cambridgeshire became Heir to his Estate in Kent whose Successor Sir Robert Peyton passed away all his Interest here to Bois Bois by Sale demised Tapington to Verier who almost in our Remembrance conveyed it to Mersh the instant proprietary But Denton was by Bois alienated to Rogers who in those Times our Fathers lived in translated his right into Swan who not many years since sold it to Sir Anth. Percival of Dover and he not long since transplanted it by Sale into Phinees Andrews of Hartfordshire Esq Wigmere is a third Mannor in this Parish there was a Family of this Name in East-Kent for in divers old Evidences which I have seen there is mention of Will. de Wigmere and divers others of this Name but for many Ages it acknowledged the Signory of Brent and so continued till the Beginning of Q. Eliz. and then Tho. Brent dying without Issue Margaret married to Jo. Dering of Surrenden Dering became his Heir in Right of which match the Family of Dering is entituled to the instant possession Madekin lies partly in Denton and partly in Barham and owned a Family of that Sirname as appears by the Evidences now in the hands of Mr. Oxenden and continued by a thread of several descents fastned to this Name but about the beginning of Henry the sixth the Succession of the Title was disordered and by Sale translated into Sednor where the possession for many years dwelt till at last upon some Acquists in Brenchley they withdrew themselves thither and passed away their Interest here to Brook in whom after it had continued three descents the Fate of Sale cast it into the Inheritance of Brooker and by Elizabeth the Daughter and Heir of that Family it not long after descended to Sir Henry Oxenden whose Grandchild Henry Oxenden Esquire now possesseth the Signory of it Davington in the Hundred of Feversham was given to the Cloister of Black-Nuns which was founded there by Fulke de Newenham and dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen In the thirty ninth of Henry the third that Prince confirmed them their Lands and invested them with severall priviledges as appears Chart. 39. Hen. tertii Memb. 5. In the seventeenth of Edward the third the King sent his Writ to the Sheriff of Kent to be certified of the Estate and Revenue which belonged to this Nunnery for the Abbess and Nuns petitioned for relief in regard their Income was not sufficient to support them and Jo. de Vielston then Sheriff of Kent returned per Sacramentum proborum legalium Hominum that they had not a competent Demeasn for Subsistence that whereas formerly there were twenty six Nuns now there were but fourteen and that those could not live upon the revenue of the Covent but had the Charity of their Friends to supply them Thus
alienated both the Title and Demeasn to Allen and he in our Memory sold one moitie of it to Ford and setled the other proportion of it upon his Daughter and Heir who was matched to Giles Down-Court in Dodington is an ancient Mannor which in elder times owned the Signorie of Simon de Dodington who flourished here in the Reign of K. John and Henry the third and was entituled likewise to the Patronage or Advouson of the Church but he determined in an only Daughter called Matilda de Dodington who in the forty first of King Henry the third as appears by a Fine levied in that year passed away her Interest here to John de Bourne in which Family the Title many years after rested untill about the latter end of Henry the sixth it was conveyed to Dungate of Dungate-Street in Kingsdowne And Andrew Dungate the last of this Name at this place dying without Issue male his sole Daughter and Heir was marched to Killigrew who likewise about the entrance of Henry the eighth expired in two female Coheirs whereof one was wedded to Roydon the second to Cowland In Roydon The Pssession was but brief for he about the latter end of Henry the eighth alienated his Proportion to Adye a Name deeply rooted in this Track whose Successor Mr. John Adye still enjoyes the capitall Messuage or Mansion called Down-Court but the Mannor it self which accrued to John Cowland upon the Division of the Estate was by his Will made 1540. ordered to be sold to discharge Debts and Legacies and was according to the Tenure of the premises not long after conveyed to Allen Ancestor to him who is the instant owner of it Downe in the Hundred of Rokesley is so called from its eminent situation it was in times of elder Aspect the Habitation of a Family which passed under that Sirname Richard de Downe who flourished under Edward the first and Edward the second lies buried in the Chancell of the Church but with no date upon his Tombe Soon after this Family was expired the Petleys became Lords of the Fee and Stephen Petley is Recorded in the Book of Aid to have paid an Auxiliary supply for Lands at Down at making the Black Prince Knight in the twentieth year of Edward the third and in this Family was the Title of this place successively wrapped up for many Generations untill about the latter end of Henry the eighth it melted away with the Name For Jo. Petley resolved into four Daughters and Coheirs Agnes the eldest was matched to Jo. Manning the second was espoused to Bird the third was wedded to Casinghurst of Valous and the fourth was married to Childrens and upon partition of the Estate this Mannor fell to be the Inheritance of Manning and in this Name for many years it remained constant untill in our Fathers Remembrance it went away by Sale to Sir Nicholas Carew of Beddington in Surrey and his Son Sir Francis Carew conveyed it to Ellis of London who not many years since alienated his Right in it to Colonel Richard Sandys third Son of Sir Edward Sandys of Northbourne but Down-Court was long before passed away by Manning to Palmer which was separated from the Mannor of Downe and singly sold by it self The Arms of Philipot and Petley are extant in the South-window of the Chancell with this Inscription affixed to the Pedestall of their two Pourtraicttures Orate pro Animabus Jo. Petley Christiana Uxoris Jo. Petley Aliciae Filiae Tho. Philipot ........ ac Parentum corum E. E. E. E. EGerton in the Hundred of Calehill hath two places within the Verge of it remarkable The first is Barmeling which was the Seat of a Family of that Sirname Robert de Bermeling and in old datelesse Deeds called Sir Robert de Barmeling he held it at his Decease which was in the fifty third year of Henry the third and left Issue William de Bermeling who was also in the enjoyment of it at his Death which was in the twenty second year of Edward the first and so did Robert de Bermeling who made his Exit the thirty first of Edward the first and here in this Family hath the Propriety by an undivided Track of Succession been so fixed and permanent that it is yet the unseperated Inheritance of this Name of Barmeling The second is Bruscombe This was a Branch of that Demeasn which formerly acknowledg'd the Chitcrofts for its Possessors a Name of very great Antiquity both here and at Lamberherst Agnes wife of Richard Chitcroft held it at her Death which was in the eighteenth year of Edward the second Rot. Esc Num. 198. After Chitcroft was worn out the Beaumonts were invested in the Possession and John de Bellemont or Beaumont deceased in the enjoyment of it in the twentieth year of Richard the second Rot. Esc Num. 14. But not long after this the Title ebbed away from this Name and by a successive Channel of Vicissitude was powred into Baron a Family originally extracted out of the West where they are yet in being John Baron died seised of Bruscombe the second year of Henry the fifth The Family which succeeded this in the Inheritance upon their Recesse which was about the latter end of Henry the sixth were the Wottons of Boughton Malherbe in which Family the Title and Propriety hath been ever since so constantly resident that it still rests in the Descendants and Heirs of Tho. Lord Wotton of Marley Eltham in the Hundred of Black heath anciently called Ealdham did anciently belong in part to the King and partly to the Mandevills from whence it came to be called Eltham Mandeville King Edward the first granted that Moiety which belonged to himself to John de Vescy a potent Baron in the North in the ninth year of his Reign and in the twelfth year ennobles his former Concession and gives him a new Grant to hold a Market weekly and a Fair yearly at his Mannor of Eltham In the fourteenth year of the abovesaid Prince John de Vescy with his Knowledge and Consent made an Exchange with Walter de Mandevill for that Proportion of Eltham in which he was Interessed and gave the sixth part of the Mannor of Luton in Bedfordshire for one Messuage with the Appurtenances in Eltham and Modingham This John de Vescy died without Issue in the eighteenth of Edward the first and William his Brother succeeded in the Possession and was Lord Vescy and had Issue by Isabell Daughter of Robert Perington Widow of Sir Robert de Wells William de Vescy his lawfull Son born in the year 1269 who died without Issue in his Fathers life Time at Conway and was buryed at Malton Then William de Vescy having a base Son called William Vescy de Kildare born at Compston in the County of Kildare 1292 * Fines de Anno 24. Ed. primi VVill. de Vescy sold to Anth. Beck Bishop of Durham the Mannor of Eltham with the Appurtinances which Isabell the Widow of
of which Name which held this place was Tho. Chesman whose Female-heir Alice brought this Seat to her Husband Rob. Stodder Ancestor to Will. Stodder Esq not long since deceased who was proprietary of it A strange and marvellous Accident happened at this place upon the fourth day of August 1585 in a Field which belongeth to Sir Percival Hart. Betimes in the morning the ground began to sink so much that three great Elme-Trees were suddenly swallowed into the Pit the tops falling downward into the hole And before ten of the Clock they were so overwhelmed that no part of them might be discerned the Concave being suddenly filled with water the Compass of the hole was about 80. yards and so profound that a sounding line of fifty Fathoms could hardly find or feel any bottome ten yards distance from that place there was another piece of ground sunk in like manner near the high-way and so nigh a dwelling house that the Inhabitants were greatly terrified therewith Edenbridge in the Hundred of Westerham was ever esteemed a Chappel of ease to the Parish of Westerham The first that I discover by the beams of Record to have been possest of Edenbridge were the Stangraves who had here their capital Mansion which was known by their Name John de Stangrave obtained a Charter of Free-warren to Edenbridge in the twenty sixth year of Edw. the first Sir Rob. de Stangrave was his Son and Heir who was with Edw. the first at the Siege of Carlaverock in Scotland and there for his generous Service received the Order of Knighthood and dyed seised of Edenbridge and Stangrave the twelfth year of E. the third Rot. Esc Num. 52. After the Stangraves were vanished the Dynleys were setled in the Signory of these above-mentioned places Jo. de Dynley had a Confirmation of the Chatter of Free-warren to Eden-bridge in the fourteenth year of Edward the third and immediately after passed away his Interest here to Hugh de Audley Earl of Gloucester Lord of the Mannor and Castle of Tunbridge by whose Daughter and Heir the Lady Margaret Audley Stangrave and Edenbridge came to acknowledge the Signory of Ralph Stafford Earl of Stafford and he dyed seised of them in the forty sixth year of Edward the third and in this Family of Stafford as they were successively Earls of Stafford and Dukes of Buckingham was the propriety of these places resident untill the twelfth year of Henry the eighth and then Edward Duke of Buckingham Lord high Constable of England having unadvisedly consulted with a Monk and a Wizzard touching the Succession of the Crown fomented so Vast a Stock of Fears and Jealousies in the Brain of that Cautious Prince that they could not be extinguished but by his Blood which was poured out on a Scaffold as the last expiation of that Treason which was by Cardinal Wolsey pinn'd upon him and likewise of his Prince's Fury Upon this his untimely Exit his Estate escheated to the Crown and King Henry the eighth not many years after granted Westerham Eden Bridge and Stangrave which were parcell of the Confiscation to Sir John Gresham Knight from whom they by Descent are now devolved to Marmaduke Gresham Esquire who enjoys the instant Possession of them Delaware is a Seat of very venerable Account in this Parish It was the Seat of Gentlemen of that Name as high as the Reign of Henry the second as appears by old Evidences now in the Hands of Mr. Seyliard of which Robert de la Ware was the last who about the latter end of Edward the third went out without Issue-male so that Dionysia Delaware who was matched to William Paulin became Heir to this place In Paulin it remained constantly resident till the beginning of the Rule of Henry the sixth and then William Paulin determined in a Daughter and Heir likewise who was wedded to John Seyliard of Seyliard in Hever which is still in the Possession of Mr. Seyliard of Gabriells in this Parish and who descended from Ralph de Seyliard who flourished about the Reign of King Stephen In an old Pedigree of Seyliard now treasured up amongst the Evidences of Delaware there is enrolled the Coppy of a Deed without date by which Almerick d'Eureux Earl of Gloucester who flourished in the Reign of Henry the third demises Lands to Martin at Seyliard and other Lands called Hedinden to Richard at Seyliard who were Sons of Ralph from which Ralph John Seyliard Esquire now Proprietary of this anâ—â—ent Mansion of Delaware by a Steady and unbroken Current of many Descents in a Direct Line is originally extracted The Mannor of Sharnden in this Parish was parcell of that Estate which belonged to the Lords Cobham of Sterborough Castle not far distant and continued folded up in the Patrimony of this Family till the Government of Edward the fourth and then Thomas Lord Cobham of Sterborough deceasing without Issue-male Anne matched to Edward Lord Borough of Gainsborough became his Heir in which Name and Family the Title of this place successively streamed down till almost our Times and then the Lady Katharine Borough to whom it was assigned by Thomas Lord Borough her Husband to defray Debts and other Uses passed it away to Sir Edward Richardson Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench whose Grandchild the Lord Edward Richardson Baron of Cromartie in Scotland does now possesse the Signory and Inheritance of it Elham in the Hundred of Lovingborough is anciently written Helham which denotes the Situation of it in a Valley amongst Hills Though now the Magnificent Structures which in elder Times were here be dismantled and have only left a Masse of deplored Rubble to direct us were they stood yet in Dooms-day Book it is written that the Earl of Ewe a Norman and neere in Alliance to the Conquerour held it and left the Reputation of an Honour unto it as the Record of the Aid granted at the making the Black Prince Knight in the twentieth of Ed. the third doth warrant For the Mannor of Mount adjacent to Elham is said to be held of the Honour of the Earl of Ewe by Knights Service In Testa de Nevill there is mention of Gilbert Earl of Ewe who then paid respective Aid in the twentieth year of Henry the third at the Marriage of Isabell that Prince's Sister From this Gilbert Earl of Ewe it went away to Edward eldest Son to Henry the third who obtained a Market and Fair to Elham by Charter in the thirty fifth of Henry the third and after he had fortified it with these Priviledges in the forty first year of the abovesaid Prince conveys it by Sale to Boniface of Savoy Arch-bishop of Canterbury Boniface to decline the Envy and Emulation of his English Opposites which he and the rest of those Forreiners and Aliens had contracted upon themselves by their practicall Turbulencies in the Managery of the principal Affairs of State under Henry the third passed it away by Sale to Roger Lord Leybourne a great Partisan and
others so that being thus broken into Fragments it hath now lost the estimate of a Mannor and is to be entombed in Silence Hering-Hill is a place not to be forgotten having been in elder Times the Residence of a Family called Abell The first whom I find represented to us under a Character of estimate was Sir John Abell who was in the List of the Kentish Knights which were Assistant to King Edward the first at his Siege of Carlaverock in Scotland John Abell his Successor was a Judge as is manifest by the patent Rolls of the Tower in the eighth year of Edward the second and it is very probable that it was either this John Abell or his Father that obtained a Charter of Free-warren to the Mannor of Catford in Lewsham which was after sold to William de Montacute in the twenty third year of Edward the first In the Reign of Henry the fourth I find by the Registers of the Crown Office one Edward Abell to have been in Commission for the Peace and he lyes enter'd in Erith Church not in the Coemitery or Church-yard though I confesse upon a large square Plate of Wood there is a Register of those accurately enrolled who were Possessors of Hering-Hill from John Abell the Judge down to another John Abell who dyed possest of it about the latter end of Queen Elizabeth but the date is so violated by Time and the Impression of the injurious Elements that it is hardly visible much lesse intelligible the last of this Family at this place was John Abell who about the year 1611 joyning with his Father Samuell Abell alienated his Concernment here to Mr. William Draper whose Successor Mr ..... Draper now of the County of Oxford is the instant Proprietary of it Lesnes Abby was founded by Richard de Lucy Lord Chief Justice of England under H. the second in the year 1179 and dedicated to St. Thomas the Martyr the Saint of Canterbury who as he had been above the Kings Will on earth was now above his Faith in Heaven being after his but early Canonization grown into such Veneration and Estimate that Orisons and Prayers Shrines and Altars Abbyes and Temples were offered up to his Name of which this was none of the least being a House of black Canons or Canons of St. Augustins This Richard de Lucy the Founder was Son of Richard who was Son of Roger de Chilham and he was Son of Fulbert de Dover who entred into England with William the Conquerour and changed his Name of Lucy to Dover of which first there is not only a Signiory or Lordship but likewise a Family at this instant remaining in France because he was one of those eight to whom certain Knights-Fees were assigned by William the Conquerour to be Assistant to John de Fiennes in the Guard of Dover Castle thus much for his Extraction Now for his Dignity he was not only Lord Chief Justice but likewise Protector of England in the twelfth year of Henry the second in his Absence in France which great Office he managed with so much Fidelity Prudence and Magnanimity that when the Earl of Boloign invaded this Island in the thirteenth year of the abovesaid Prince he was forced to retire with Shame Confusion and Losse which Action must certainly have improved his Name to a very high Estimate in the Opinion of those Times Yet notwithstanding he devested himself of that Pomp and Pageantry these great Offices had made him glitter with which Conquest that he made upon himself within was of more Importance then any he could have atchieved without and clouded himself in a Monks Cowle and became the Prior to that Covent he himself had erected and there likewise found his place of Sepulture And it is probable that those Coffins with Pourtraictures insculped which were discovered in a Grotto or Vault upon the breaking down the Foundation of this House in the Government of King James were the Exchequers which treasured up not only the Reliques of this Sir Richard de Lucy but likewise the remains of others of the same Family But to proceed the Prior of this place was in that Repute that it was customary for him as the Records of the Church of Rochester tell us to have his Induction into this place either by the Bishop immediately or else by some Proxie who represented the Bishop of Rochester's Person And in this State it continued untill Cardinall Wolsey laid the Foundation of his eminent Colledge of Christchurch in Oxford and thenwith the consent of the present Abbot in the year 1525 it was supprest and the Revenue of this Cloister being found in the Hands of the abovesaid Cardinal at his Death was by Henry the eighth united to the Income of the Crown where it dwelt untill it was granted to William Brereton Esquire who being engaged in the fatall Business of Katharine Howard was attainted and executed upon whose Tragedy it returned to the Crown and was in the thirty eighth of Henry the eighth granted to Sir Ralph Sadler and he not long after passed it away to Mr. Henry Cook in whose Successors the Possession was resident untill almost our Remembrance and then it was conveyed to Sir Thomas Gainsford of Crowherst in Surrey who not many years since demised his Right in it to Mr. Haws of London who dying lately without Issue hath setled it for ever on the Hospital of St. Bartholomews in Smithfield In the ninth year of Edward the second Bartholomew Lord Badelesmer obtained the Grant of a Market to Erith on the Thursday and a three Days Fair at St. Crosse and another three Days Fair the Monday Tuesday and Wednesday in Whitson Week Lesnes had by the Mediation of William de Wilton a Grant of a Market procured to be observed there on the Thursday and a Fair to continue yearly the Eve Simon and Judes Day and three Days after as is manifest Pat. 41. Henrici tertii Memb. 48. Estling in the Hundred of Feversham gave Sirname to a Family who had here an eminent Mansion called Northcourt the last of which Family was Ralph de Estling whose Daughter and Heir Alice de Estling about the Beginning of Ed. the first was matched to Fulke de Peyforer Custos of the Fleet and Westminster in London who in her Right became Lord of this place and in the thirty second year of Edward the first to inforce his Interest here obtained a Charter of Free-warren to this place and in this Family did it reside untill the latter end of Edward the second and then was Northcourt Denton and Plomford Mannors which came along to Peyforer with Northcourt were sold away to Roger Lord Leybourn and his Widow Juliana de Leybourn held them at her Decease which was in the first year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 86. And after her Decease they devolved to John de Hastings a Kinsman of Lawrence de Hastings Earl of Pembroke who was the first Husband of her Daughter and Heir
inhabiting at Hougham not far distant and Robert de Hougham dyed seised of it in the forty first year of Henry the third In the Reign of Edward the second I find the Clintons possest of it and William de Clinton Earl of Huntington dyed seised of it in the twenty eighth year of Edward the third and from him it descended to his Kinsman John de Clinton great Grandfather to John Lord Clinton who about the Beginning of Henry the seventh sold it away to Davis from which Family by a Daughter and partly by Purchase it came over to Lessington and he in our Fathers Remembrance alienated his Concernment in it to Hopday whose Son is the instant Possessor of it Bredmer or Berdmer is the last place worthy any Consideration It is partly situated in Folkston and partly in Cheriton that there was a Family of this Name was most certain For in ancient Deeds and Court Rolls of Valoigns who was Lord of Cheriton after Scotton I find frequent mention of severall of this Name who held Land of this Family But in the Book of Aid I find William de Brockhull held the fourth part of a Knights Fee in Cheriton which was this in the twentieth year of Edward the third From this Name by Elizabeth Heir of Thomas Brockhull it came to be the possession of Richard Selling Esquire and here it rested untill the Beginning of Henry the eighth and then it was passed away to Edmund Inmith a Retainer to Thomas Lord Clinton who gave it to his second Son Edmund Inmith and he was extinguished in two Daughters and Coheirs one was married to Reyner and the other to Baker who in her Right shared this place and in the Reign of King James passed it away by Sale to Ben who holds the instant Possession of it G. G. G. G. DEptford in the Hundred of Blackheath and Lath of Sutton at Hone so called from the deep Channel of Ravens-purg'd The River that here slydeth into the Thames was heretofore called West-Greenwich from the turning of the River Thames in such a crooked Compass and the green Meddows adjacent Gislebert Magminot or Magminiot for he was a great Favorite to William the Conquerour was one of those eight Barons and Trustees that were joyned to John de Fiennes for the sure Guard of Dover Castle and were assigned competent Lands for the maintenance of that Service his Castle or Scite of his Barony hath been long time buryed in its own Ruines yet some remains of Stony Foundations make me conjecture it stood nere Says Court in Bromfield upon the Brow of the Thames Bank neere the Mast Dock where the Skeleton of Sir Francis Drake's Ship was layd up and in a very short time nothing left of her but the Fame of her Captain and Steersman cannot perish so long as History shall last But to return to the former Subject it may appear by the Quire of Dover Castle transmitted on Record in the King's Exchequer that it had the Reputation of a Barony and these Knights Fees were held of it Pevinton Kanc. duo Feeda Militum Estswale Kanc. unum Feedum Militis Davinton Kanc. duo Feoda Militum Cuckleston alias Cuckston Kanc. unum Feodum Militis Waldeswareschare Kanc. 3. Feoda Militum Leckhamsted-Bucks unum Feodum Kennington-Hert duo Feoda Militum Gothurst Northampton unum Feodum Militis Hertwell-Northampton duo Feoda Militum Brandiston-Suffolk duo Feoda Militum Hecchesham-Surrey duo Feoda Militum Whitfield Kanc. unum Feodum Militis Coudham-Kanc duo Feoda Militis Bredinghurst Kanc. unum Feodum Militis Thornham Kersoney tria Feeda Militum Bingbery Kanc. tria Feeda Militum Brickhill-Buck unum Feodum Militis Haec sunt Feoda de Baronia de Magminot quae tenentur de Willielmo de Say quae ipse tenet de Rege per Baroniam Et reddunt Wardam ad Castrum Dovoriae Per 32. Septimanas You may find mention of Walkelme Magminot in the Catalogue of the Lord Wardens But the Daughter and Heir of this Line was married to Say from whom it came to be called Says-Court which Name it still retaineth And was by reason of the Commodiousnesse of the Meadows belonging to it and Stalls there erected made a place in the Time of the late King for feeding Sheep and Oxen served by Composition for the Kings House William Duke of Suffolk held the Mannor of West-Greenwich and one Messuage in Deptford Anno 29. Hen. 6. by West-Greenwich which was ment by that which we now call Deptford Strand and by Deptford is ment the upper Town where a fair strong Stone Bridge lately erected doth acknowledge the sole Royal bounty of K. Charles by this Inscription This Bridge was re-edified at the only charge of King Charles in the fourth year of his Reign Anno Dom. 1628. In former Times it w as repaired at the Charge of the Contry adjacent For I find by a Record in the Tower Esc Anno. 20. Edw. 3. n. 66. Quod Reparatio Pontis de Depeford pertinet ad homines Hundredi de Blackheath non ad homines Villarum de Eltham Moding-ham Wolwich The Treasurer of the Navy hath here a commendable and convenient House for his Residence at the Dock to view the building and repayring the States Ships and what is most expedient for the Manufacture of Cordage Anchors and other Provisions for Ships by which means the Town is so greatly increased in small Tenements and the Statute for Cottages excepting Market-Towns and such places as are used for building of Ships that for number of Inhabitants and Communicants it may compare with diverse Counties in the Kingdome which great Increase of the Parish caused them to new build another Isle on the North-side the Church to which the East-Indian Company of Merchants were good Benefactors And the Chancel enlarged with beautifull Additions partly at the Cost of Sir William Russell Knight and Baroner Treasurer of the Navy and the circumspection of Doctor Valentine the late learned and worthy Incumbent of the place Adjoyning to the Church The Company of Navigators and Seamen incorporated by King Henry the eighth have a Hall or House for their meetings and Consultations Certainly the use of this Society is most considerable and commendable for the Common-wealth upon all Occasions may from them receive necessary Intelligence of all the Roads Waterings Depths and Conveniences of most part of the Maritime places in the Known World One thing more I have to mention and that is Hacham which was in K. Hen. the seconds Time the Seat of Hacham lying upon the Confines of Kent and Kent-fields or Kent-lands within this County as Kent-Hatch in Westerham is the very out-side of this Shire As that place towards Surrey called Kent-House designs the Bounderies of this County between Bekenham and Croydon Divers Inquisitions taken since that time have found Hacham to be in Kent And I believe the Mannor of Bredingherst before mentioned was formerly in this Shire which is now slipt into Surrey
descended to John Bamme Sheriff of Kent in the second year of Richard the third And he gave it to his Daughter Katharine Bamme who passed it away by Grant to Kempe and Wiatt Sir Thomas Kempe sold his moiety to Sir Thomas Wiatt who having forfeited this to the Crown by his unhappy Defection in the second year of Q. Mary it lodged in the royal Revenue untill Queen Elizabeth in the twenty fourth year of her Rule granted it back again to the Lady Joan Wiatt and her Son George Wiatt Esq who in our Fathers memory alienated it to Hayward from which Name by the Heir Generall of this Family it is lately brought to acknowledge Mr. Will. De Lawn of London for its present Proprietary There was a Chappel belonging to Grench which upon the Inquisition returned into the Court of Augmentation but upon the Suppression in the Reign of Hen. the eighth was affirmed to have been erected by Sir John Philipott I confesse I have seen no other Record to evince any thing to the Contrary and therefore I acquiesce in that Testimony Vpbery is the last Mannor in Gillingham which was a Limb of that Demeasn which related to the Nunnery at Minster in Shepey and when the whirlwind of the common Dissolution in the Reign of Henry the eighth had shook this into the Revenue of the Crown that Prince in the thirty eighth year of his Reign passed it away by Grant as appears by the original Patent to Sir Thomas Cheyney whose Son Henry Lord Cheyney exchanged it with other Lands with Queen Elizabeth and shee as is manifest by the Patent now in the Custody of Brasen-nose Colledge granted it to Sir Edward Hobby who about the latter end of her Reign conveyed it to the Reverend Alexander Nowell Dean of Pauls and he dying without Issue in the year 1601 left it for ever to Brasennose Colledge in Oxford with this Proviso that one of his Alliance should hold it in Lease from that Society for ever paying to the Colledge an 100 Marks per Annum according to the Tenure of which Testamentary Restriction it is now enjoyed by Col. Tho. Blount of Wriklemersh Esquire Gillingham had a Market procured to it to be held weekly on the Thursday and a Fair to be observed yearly at the Feast of St. Crosse and seven days after by John Lord Arch-bishop of Canterbury in the eleventh year of Edward the first as appears Cart. Num. 3. Lidsing is the last place of Account in this Parish it was in Ages of a higher Ascent the Inheritance of an ancient Family called Sharsted Simon de Sharsted possest it at his Death which was in the twenty fourth year of Edward the first Rot. Esc Num. 42. In Ages of a lower Computation I find Roger de Say to be possest of it and he about the fiftieth of E. the 3d. gives it to Rob. Belknap the Judge who about the tenth year of Richard the second was by Sentence from Parliament exiled into Ireland for too vehemently asserting the Prerogative of the Crown which in the Estimate of those Times was thought to have opened those sluces too much which would have let in the Inundations of an arbitrary Power upon the people's Liberties But this Mannor was again restored by that Prince who looked upon this person as his Martyr to him as its ancient Possessor in the twenty second year of his Reign and he by his Deed bearing Date the eighth of October in the second year of King Henry the fourth gives it to the Priory of St. Andrews in Rochester for one Monk who was a Priest to celebrate Masse for ever for the Soul of his Father John Belknap and for the Soul of his Mother Alice Wife of the said John and likewise for the Soul of himself and all his Successors in the Cathedrall of Rochester This upon the Dissolution of the former Priory was by Henry the eighth upon his Institution of the Dean and Chapter of Rochester granted to them for their support and Alimony and rested in their Revenue untill these Times There was another Chauntry founded at Twidall by John Beaufits which he makes provision for by his last Will the twenty second of November in the year of our Lord 1433 and orders it to be dedicated to John the Baptist and likewise that one Priest should there celebrate Masse for the Soul of Himself his Wife Alice his Father John his Mother Isabell and his Uncle William Beaufitz the Seats in the Chappel and other Remains declare it to have been formerly a neat and elegant Piece of Architecture Here was a signall Encounter as the Annals of St. Austins testifie between Edmund Ironside and Canutus the Dane wherein after a Sharp Debate the Dane was broken and discomfited At Gillingham likewise as Thomas Robburn a Monk of Winchester testifies was acted that bloody Tragedy by Earl Godwin who slew all those Normans who arrived with Edward unto the tenth man for which his Name as well as his Conscience stands bespatter'd and stain'd with an indelible Character of Ignominy and Cruelty to all Posterity Goodwenston in the Hundred of Feversham was the ancient Seat of Chich. The first of Eminence was Ernaldus Chich who was a man of principall Account in the Reign of Henry the second Richard the first and King John nor were they more eminent here then they were at Canterbury where they had large Possessions and unto them did the Aldermanry of Burgate appertain Thomas Chich of Goodwenston was a prime Benefactor to the Church of St. Mary Bredmin in Canterbury where his Name together with his Effigies are in an old Character set up in the West-window as his Coat is likewise in the Chancel insculped in Stone-work He was Bailiff of Canterbury an Office not contemptible in those Times in the year 1259 and again in the year 1271. Thomas Chich this mans Son was Sheriff of Kent in the forty fourth year of Edward the third and held his Shrievalty at Goodwenston Thomas Chich this Mans Son was Sheriff of Kent likewise in the fifteenth year of Richard the second and he was Grandfather to Valentine Chich who matched with Philippa Daughter and Heir of Sir Robert Chichley Brother to Henry Chichley Arch-bishop of Canterbury but dyed without Issue-male so that his three Sisters and Coheirs wedded to Kemp Judde and Martin shared his Inheritance and by a joint Consent about the Beginning of Henry the eighth passed away their Estate here and at Ewell in this parish to Pordage of Rodmersham and from this Name about the Beginning of Queen Elizabeth it passed away to Fagg descended from the Faggs of Willesborough where I find by the Court Rolls of the Mannor of Brabourne that one Andrew Fagge held Lands there of that Mannor in the Reign of Edward the third But to go on the Faggs had not long been planted in their new atchieved Purchase at this place when Robert Fagge concluded in two Daughters and Coheirs Ann who was matched to Sir
seventeenth year of Edward the second as appears Rot. Esc Num. 75. And leaving no lawfull Issue this upon the partition of his Estate increased the Revenue of John Comin Earl of Badzenoth in Scotland who had married Joan one of his two Sisters and Coheirs But long it remained not here for he deceased without any Issue-male so that Joan his sole Daughter matched to David de Strabolgie Earl of Atholl became his Heir and he in her Right was found to be invested in the Possession in the first year of Edw. the third as is manifest Rot. Esc Num. 85. And from him did it devolve by Descent to his Son and Heir David de Strabolgie who in the seventh year of Edward the third by Deed setled it on his Kinsman Sir Henry de Hills which Katharine his Widow and Countesse confirms the twentieth year of that Prince Gilbert de Hills lieth buryed in Godmersham Church and as appears by his Pourtraicture in his Armour was a person of Eminence in that Age wherein he flourished and from him and Sir Henry de Hills did issue forth many eminent and worthy Successors who were Proprietaries of this Mannor untill that Age which fell within the Precincts of our Crandfathers Memory and then it went away by Sale to Scot a Cadet or younger Sprig of the Scotts of Scotts-Hall the Heir General of which Family was Mrs. Dorothy Scott who being lately matched to Mr. Daniell Gotherson he in her Right is now though not without a signal Contention at Law with some collateral Pretenders to the Title peaceably planted in the Possession of it Godmersham as the Records of Christ-church inform mee had the Grant of a Market to be observed weekly on the Tuesday and a Fair yearly upon the Thursday and Friday in Whitson Week by the Prior of Christ-church in the Reign of Edward the third Goudherst in the Hundred of Marden with the inherent Mannor of Bedgebury were the ancient Patrimony of a Family of no cheap Account in this Track which as it chose one of these Mannors for its Seat so did it derive its Sirname from thence likewise and was called Bedgbury and certainly were of a very high Ascent in their Extraction For in a Deed without Date one John de Bedgebury demises some parcels of Land to William de Comden of Comden House in this Parish and the Seal affixed to this Deed is a Cavalier on Horseback armed like one of the Knights Templers which argues that he lived before the Suppression of that Order and assumed that Impresse out of his particular Affection to them or else which was customary in those Times out of some signall and solemn vow to maintain the Temple of our Saviour from the Assaults and barbarous Impressions of Infidels which these persons were by their Oath and first Institution oblieged vigorously to defend also John de Bedgebury this man's Successor paid respective Aid for his Lands at Goudherst and likewise for his Mannor of Bedgebury at making the Black Prince Knight in the twentieth year of Edward the third and left these above recited Mannors to his Son John de Bedgebury who dying without Issue his Sister became his Sole Inheritrix who by matching with Thomas Colepeper of Bayhall in Pepenbury Sheriff of Kent in the eighteenth year of Richard the second fastned the Propriety of these places to the Interest of this Family where they continued undivided but in the thirty eighth year of Henry the eighth Court Shingley was by Thomas Colepeper alienated to Stephen Darell but Goudherst and Bedgebury were not plucked away from this Family by this Alienation but continued united to their Estate so that at this Day they own Thomas Colepeper Esquire for their Proprietary Combwell was a Priory of Black Canons under the Rule of St. Augustin and was founded by Sir Robert de Thurnham and dedicated to the Honor of St. Mary Magdalen Their Revenue lay scattered in Marden Stapleherst and Goudherst in which last there was an obscure Cell or Convent of Nuns which had their principal Subsistence by their Charity whose Ruines are yet visible though their Revenue was so narrow that no Record informs us where it was situated Upon the Dissolution in the Reign of Henry the eighth this devolving to the Crown that Prince in the thirty fourth year of his Government granted it to Sir John Gage one of the Justices of the Peace both for Sussex and Kent and his Successor conveyed it to Colepeper who immediately after passed it away to William Campion Esquire Ancestor to Sir William Campion who was offered up a Sacrifice to the Cause and Quarrel of the last King at Colchester in the year one thousand fix hundred forty eight and in his Heirs is the Interest of this Mannor at this instant resident Finchcocks is a third place of note in this Parish made more eminent in that it was the Mansion of a Family of that Sirname whom although I find invested in the Possession of this place ever since the fortieth year of Henry the third yet do I not discover that any of the Family was illustrious by any important undertaking or famous by any eminent Office The next Family which stept into the Possession was Horden of Horden and he became Proprietary of it by Purchase about the Beginning of Henry the sixth one of which Family was Edward Horden Esquire who was Knight of the Greencloth to Edward the sixth Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth who dyed without Issue-male and left his Estate to be shared between two Daughters and Coheirs Elizabeth matched to Mr. Paul Bathurst descended from Bathurst Street in Nordiam and Mary espoused to Mr. Delves of Fletchings who in her Right carried away Horden where certainly the above-recited Family had flourished under a noble Estimate for Edward Horden the last of this Name was issued out from William Chichley second Brother to Henry Chichley Arch-bishop of Canterbury and for some considerable Service performed to the Crown had the Augmentation of a Regal Diadem upon a Canton added to his paternal Coat by Queen Elizabeth But to proceed Finchcocks by the above-mentioned match devolved to be the Possession of Bathurst and so owns it self at this Day to be the Estate of this Name and Family Patenden is another place which gave Seat and Sirname to a Family of no vulgar Repute in this County and was seated in its Possession as appears by original Deeds and other old Records as high as the Reign of Edward the first and where in the twenty ninth year of Henry the sixth there was issued out a Commission to Gervas Clifton Esquire then Sheriff of the County to return all those who did portare Arma antiqua Amongst the Register and Catalogue of those who were then returned Patenden is recorded who was Lord of this place and from him did the Propriety of this place by Descent glide down to his Successor who in those Times we style our Fathers passed it away by Sale
County for in the Pipe-Rols relating to the Raign of King John I discover that Robert de Malavill was one of the Recognitores magnae Assisae in the fourth year of that Prince and then again in the seventh year of his Rule he was dignified with that eminent Place of Trust and he had Issue William de Malavil who was in the enjoyment of this Mannor at his Death which was in the Raign of Henry the third as appears by an escheat Roll marked with the number 56. And in this Family did the Right and Title of it lie involved untill the latter End of Edward the third and then the noted Family of Bures stept by Purchase into the Possession and John Bures as appears to me by an old Deed held it in the fourth year of Richard the second he was Son of William Bures who paid respective Aid for part of a Knights-fee which lay in Bromley in the twentieth year of Edward the third at making the Black Prince Knight and William Bures Son of John lies entombed in Halsted Church pourtraied at length in Brass and mail'd in Armor upon a fair Grave-stone being Marble with this Inscription Hic jacet Willielmus Bures Armigeri Dominus Manerii de Halsted qui obiit 1454. And this was he who was Sheriff of Kent in the eleventh year of Henry the sixth But after his Death it was not long in the Fruition of this Name for about the Beginning of Edward the fourth I find it in the Hands of Thomas Bourchier descended from the Bourchiers of Essex and he about the Latter End of that Prince passed it away to Stephen Petley Esquire who lies buried in Halsted Church And in this Family was the Title fixed untill the Beginning of King James and then the Fatality of Sale did alternate the Possession and annexed it to the Inheritance of Sir Thomas Watson who dying without Issue-male his only Daughter and Heir was espoused to Sir William Pope afterwards created Earl of Downe in Ireland by King James and so in her Right this Mannor became the Inheritance of his Son the Right Honourable William Earl of Downe who not many years since passed it away to Mr. Edward Ash whose Widow Mrs. ........ Ash holds it at this instant in Right of Dower Halstow in the Hundred of Milton hath nothing memorable in it but Berkesore alias Basser-court which was as high as any print of Antiquity can direct me to discover the Patrimony of the Church for King Stephen devoted it to find a supply of perpetual Lights before the Chest or Shrine ante Capsam those are the words of the Record of Anselme the eminent Arch-bishop of Canterbury and it hath been many years past held by the Darrels of Cale-hill as Lessees and is still by that Right enjoyed by Sir John Darrell of the same place The Church of Halstow as the Records of Christ-church instruct us was given by Boniface Arch-bishop of Canterbury to buy Books for the Chaunter of that Covent Hamme in the Hundred of Eastry was as the Records of Christ-church in Canterbury inform me given to the Prior and Monks of that Covent in the year 934. by one Eylfleda but how it was rated in the Conqueror's Time when if not all yet at least the principal part of this County was surveyed the Pages of Doomesday Book are silent In brief the Moity of this Mannor for one Half of it was alwaies under the Jurisdiction of Lay-proprietaries being by the Donation abovesaid made parcel of the Spiritual Patrimony remained treasured up in the Revenue of the Church as in an unviolable Exchequer until both the Covent of Christ-church and all its Demeasne was surrendered into the Hands of Henry the eighth and that Prince in the thirty fifth year of his Raign granted that part of it which belonged to the Priory of Christ-church to Sir Thomas Moile who not long after passed it away to Sir Robert Oxenbridge Knight from which Family in our Grand-fathers memory it went away by Sale to Bois of Betshanger The other Moity of Hamme belonged to the Criolls of Walmer of which Family I shall speak more at that Place Simon de Crioll as I discover by old Deeds held it in the Raign of King John and Henry the third and transmitted it to his Son Nicolas de Crioll who held it at his Death which was in the one and thirtieth of Edward the first and from him did it by the steps of several Generations descend to Sir Thomas Crioll who was slain at the second Battle of Sr. Albans tamely and in cold Blood that is he was beheaded by Queen Margaret wife to King Henry the sixth in the thirty eighth of that Prince's Raign because he had been an eager Partisan of the House of Yorke and being thus infortunately cut off left that great Estate he was possest of in this County to two Daughters and Co-heirs one of which was matched for his second wife to John Fogg of Repton Esq Son and Heir of Sir William Fogg and he had Issue by her Thomas Fogg Serjeant Porter of Callis Esquire a Place of eminent Trust and Concernment in those Times And he ended in two Daughters and Co-heirs Anne first matched to Mr. William Scott Brother of Sir Reginald and secondly to Mr. Henry Isham and Alice first wedded to Edward Scott of the Moat in Sussex Esquire and after to Sir Robert Oxenbridge of the County of South-hampton but the Moity of this Mannor of Hamme upon the dividing the Estate into equal Portions fell to be the Inheritance of Edward Scott in Right of Alice his wife and his Descendant in our Grand-fathers Remembrance alienated all his Interest and Concernment here to Bois of Betshanger whose Successor Mr. John Bois of Betshanger Esquire is now entirely possest of this Mannor as namely of that Moity which came over to this Family by Purchase from Oxenbridge as well as of that which devolved to this Name by Purchase from Scott Harbledowne in the Hundred of Westgate though at present but an obscure Village and not of much Eminence was in Time of more ancient Date famous for three memorable Places First for an old Chappel situated upon the Margin of that Precipice which overlooks that way which leads to Canterbury In which Oratory as Tradition informs us was preserved the Slipper of Thomas Becket taken from one of his Feet after his being destroyed at his own Church at Canterbury and which as Report insinuates was bespattered with his Blood this being curiously enchased with Diamonds so much did those Times dote on this then reputed Saint and Martyr was let down for Passengers who travelled to Canterbury to offer up their Orizons at his Shrine to adore with a kiss nor was it returned but full fraighted and laden with the Benevolences of devoted Pilgrims The second was Polres which anciently had and still keeps the Repute of a Mannor John de Polre Son of John de Polre payd respective Aid for it in
it at making the Black Prince Knight And here is much Land in this Parish which bears the Name of Pend a probable Argument of the Antiquity of it in this Track nor did it yeild to Time or desert the Possession of this Place but was constant in the Tenure of it until that Age we call our Grand-fathers and then it was alienated to a Family called Dominie alias Fullaker the last of which Name at this Place was Christopher Dominie alias Fullaker who not many years since passed it away to Mr. John Hulks of Newenham whose Son and Heir Mr. Stephen Hulks does now possesse the Signory of it Herietsham in the Hundred of Eyhorne was anciently a Limb of that Estate which was entituled to the Possession of the Noble Family of Crescy Hugh de Crescy died seised of the Mannor in the forty seventh year of King Henry the third and his Grand-mother Margery was Daughter of William de Cheyney of Patricksbourne Cheyney as appears Claus 52. Henrici tertii Memb. 6. in Dorso But he deceased without Issue and so his Brother Stephen de Crescy became his Heir and Lord of Herietsham and in this Family it continued until the latter end of Edward the second and then the Possession of this Place went from Crescy into Northwood as is manifest by the Book of Aid where Roger de Northwood is represented to have held this Mannor and have paid a proportionate Aid for it at making the Black Prince Knight in the twentieth of Edward the third and he deceased seised of it in the thirty fifth year of that King's Raign And in this Name it remained fixed until the Beginning of Henry the fifth and then it was transplanted into the Interest of a Family called Adam who had large Possessions in Essex and bore for their Paternal Coat vert a Plain Crosse Or and John Adam held it at his Death which was in the ninteenth year of Henry the sixth and left it to his Son John Adam after whom I do not find any more of the Family possest of it for in the Raign of Edward the fourth I discover by some Court Rols that James Peckham of Yaldham Esquire was Lord of the Fee and Reginald Peckham his Son that was Sheriff of Kent in the last year of Henry the seventh kept his Shrivalty at Herietsham but after this it was of no long continuance in this Family for in the fifteenth year of Henry the eighth Reginald Peckham passes it away by Sale to Edward Scott Esquire and he not long after transmits it by the same conveyance to John Hales one of the Barons of the Exchequer and from him one Moiety of it went away by Sale in the twenty eighth of Henry the eighth to John Norton Esquire and the other not long after to Sir Anthony St. Leger Norton conveyed his proportion to Ashburnham of Sussex and both St. Leger and Ashburnham in the Time almost of our Fathers Remembrance by a concurrent Sale demised their joint Right in it to Sir John Steed whose Successor Doctour ...... Steed Doctour of the Civil Law is the instant Proprietary of Herietsham East Farbon and Bentley are two little Mannors in this Parish which belonged to the Priory of Leeds and upon the suppression were made parcel of the Revenue of the Crown and remained there until King Edward the sixth in the fourth year of his Raign granted them to Sir Anthony St. Leger whose great Grand-child Sir Warham St. Leger about the Beginning of King James passed them away to Mr. ........ Steed Father to Doctour Steed who upon the Decease of his Nephew Cromer Steed without Issue Male as Reversioner in Entail is now settled in the Possession of these two Mannors West Farbon sometimes in old Deeds called little Herietsham lies likewise in this Parish and was granted in the two and fiftieth year of Henry the third to William de Valentia Earl of Pembrooke But after him I track no more of the Family at this place For in the twentieth year of Edward the third at making the Black Prince Knight it was held by John Pennington and in the fourth year of Henry the fourth when Blanch that Prince's Daughter was married it acknowledged it self to be under the Signory of the above mentioned Family and continued divers years after united to their Interest But in the Raign of Henry the eighth I find them quite vanished from the Possession and a Family called Hede or Head entituled to the Inheritance and in this Name did it make its abode until the Raign of Edward the sixth and then it was conveyed by Sale to St. Leger where it rested until the Beginning of King James and then it was alienated by Sir Warham St. Leger to Mr. Benedict Barneham who left four Daughters and Co-heirs matched to Audley Constable Doble and Soame who equally shared his Estate and this upon the distinguishing of it into just Proportions augmented the Revenue of Constable Harbilton is another ancient Mannor in Herietsham It was in the twentieth year of Edward the third the Inheritance of Thomas de Malmains for at that Time as appears by the Book of Aid he paid a subsidiary supply for this and other Lands at making the Black Prince Knight After this Family was mouldred away which was before the End of Richard the second I find the Family of Maris was settled in the Inheritance William Maris who was Esquire first to Henry the fifth and after to Cardinal Kempe was Possessor of it and so was his Son William Maris Esquire who was Sheriff of Kent in the one and twentieth year of Henry the sixth After this Family I find the Moils about the latter end of the former Prince's Government to have stept into the Inheritance the first of which was Walter Moile who was Justice of the Peace for this County in the Raign both of Henry the sixth and Edward the fourth and left this and a spatious Patrimony besides to his Heir John Moile Esquire whose Son Robert Moile about the Beginning of Henry the eighth alienated it to Geffrey St. Leger Esquire from whom the Title for many years streamed into this Family until in that Time which fell under our Grand-fathers cognizance it was passed away by Sale to Steed Ancestor to Doctour Steed who is the instant Possessor of it Marley and Hopme Mill and in other Copies written Holme Hill did with their Income support the Chaunter of the Canons of Pauls to whose office they were annexed A Place certainly in elder Times of important Account for in the Records of Christ-church from whence Pitseus hath collected his Inventory of the English Writers there is mention of one Joannes de Teneth a Man as exemplary for his Piety as he was eminent for his Learning who was Chaunter to that Covent but this Office being entombed in the Ruines of those Canons of Paul in the General suppression the Revenue which upheld it was fixed in the Crown until King Edward the sixth
that Prince it for some years encreased the Royal Revenue until David de Strabolgie Earl of Atholl the first that altered his Name from Balioll to Strabolgie having expiated his Fathers Disservices by being constant to the Party and Interest of Edward the second against the Eruptions of the Nobility which then bandied in Combinations against him had this with much other Land restored to him in the fifteenth year of that Prince from whom it descended to David de Strabolgie his Grand-child who dying in the forty ninth year of Edward the third left it to Philippa his Daughter and Co-heir matched to John Halsham of Sussex by whom she had Issue Hugh Halsham who about the Beginning of Henry the sixth passed it away to Sir Robert Scott Lievtenant of the Tower of London 1424. And he concluding in Alice Scott a Female Inheritrix she by matching with William Kempe Nephew of Cardinal Kempe linked it to the Demeasne of that Family and here it remained until Sir William Kempe about the latter end of Henry the eighth alienated it to Browning from which Family about the Beginning of Queen Elizabeth it passed away by Sale to Mr. Robert Edolph whose Grand-child Mr. Robert Edolph dying in the year 1632. without Issue gave his Interest in it with Godchepes to his beloved Wife Cicelie Edolph remarried to Sir Francis Knowls of Reading and she passed away the Moiety of it the other proportion of it being invested in Mr. Thomas Edolph the third Brother with Godchepes now called Goodchepes to her Husbands second Brother Mr. Samuel Edolph who some few years since conveyed his Interest in Hinxhill with this by Testament to his Brother in Law Mr. John Angell of Croherst in Surrey to discharge Debts and Legacies and he that he might the more effectually perform the Contents of the Will hath lately passed away the Moiety of Hinxhill with Goodchepes to Edward Chowte of Surrenden Chowte in Bethersden Esquire lately deceased W. liham is another Mannor in Hinxhill which was folded up in the vast Demeasne of Crioll by whose Daughter and Heir it came to Rokesley and by the Female Inheritrix of Rokesley to Poynings in which Name it continued until the twelfth year of Henry the eighth and then Sir Edward Poynings dying without any lawful Issue after a signal and solemne Inspection by several Inquisitions into his collateral Alliance no Claim being laid unto his Estate this Mannor escheated to the Crown in the fourteenth year of that Prince and then King Henry the eighth by Grant passed it away to Sir Richard Damsell who not long after transmitted his Right in it to Goldhill who in our Grand-fathers Memory alienated it to Mr. Robert Edolph whose Grand-child Mr. Robert Edolph gave it with his Interest in Hinxhill and Goodchepes to his Wife Cicelie Edolph who passed away the Moiety to Mr. Samuel Edolph and he devised it by Will to Mr. Angell who hath transferred his Right in it by Sale to Mr. Edward Chowte The Farm called Godchepes or Goodchepes in this Parish for an unbroken Series of many Generations had Owners of that Sirname as appears by an Inquisition taken after the Death of Thomas Godchepe in the one and thirtieth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 47. and remained fastned to their Inheritance until the latter end of Henry the eighth and then by a strange and mysterious Fatality the Propriety of it was carried off to Barrow The Story is represented thus John Barrow being an Atturney was called to frame a Settlement by Deed of Thomas Godchepe and by his Direction was desired to insert eight Persons into the Deed who were successively to inherit his Estate and being asked by this John Barrow whether he should adde the Names of any more he was answered because there had formerly been reciprocal Obligations of Friendship between them that he should place his own next after those eight above mentioned It pleased the eternal Arbiter of humane Affairs so to order the vicissitude of things that those eight Persons recited in the Deed deceased without Issue so that his Estate here at Godchepe devolved to Barrow as his Heir at Law from whom by Elizabeth his eldest Daughter and Co-heir it came to Mr. Robert Edolph Hoo gives Name to the Hundred wherein it is situated and was a principal Branch of that Revenue which fell under the Dominion of Bardolfe Robert de Bardolfe held it under the Notion of a whole Knights Fee as appears by the red Book kept in the Exchequer in the Raign of Henry the second and from him it came down to Hugh Bardolfe who was rated for it after the same Account in the second year of Richard the first but Hugh Lord Bardolfe his Son not long after concluded in three Daughters and Co-heirs Mawde was matched to Nicholas Points Margaret was married to Robert Aguillon and Isolda was espoused to Henry Lord Grey of Codnor which divided the Inheritance of that Family at this Place But that Proportion of it which was annexed by this Alliance to Points and Aguillon was passed away by a Joint Sale to John de la Pole and he paid respective supply for his Lands at Hoo which were rated at half a Knights Fee at making the Black Prince Knight in the twentieth year of Edward the third but before the latter end of Henry the fourth this Family was worn out and that Estate they held here was by Purchase involved and swallowed up in the Inheritance of Grey who before was entituled to the Moiety of this Mannor as descending from Henry Lord Grey of Codnor and Isolda his Wife Co-heir to Hugh Lord Bardolfe and in this Family did it continue until Henry Lord Grey of Codnor in the twenty second year of Henry the sixth dying without Issue Male left it to be Patrimony of Daughters and Co-heirs one of which brought it to be the Inheritance of the Lord Zouch but in this Family it had not long remained when John Lord Zouch having pursued the Interest of the House of Yorke did exemplifie his Zeal to it by his being embarked in the Cause and Quarrel of Richard the third in that signal and fatal Encounter at Bosworth Feild where the Title of the two Houses Yorke and Lancaster was put to the bloody Arbitration of the Sword for which after the Crown and Scepter by that happy Contest devolved to Henry the seventh he was in the first year of that Prince's Rule attainted and his Estate here granted to Sir Henry Wiatt one of the Privy Councell to the said Monarch whose infortunate Grand-child Sir Thomas Wiatt being likewise attainted in the second year of Queen Mary it escheated upon that Confiscation to the Crown and there was lodged until King James about the third year of his Raign granted it to Robert Earl of Salisbury whose Son Robert Earl of Salisbury sold it quarto Caroli to Sir Edward Hales Knight and Baronet from whom it is now come down to his Grand-child Sir Edward
this Seat there is a frequent recital of John de Spelmonden who was Possessor of this Place After this Family had deserted the Inheritance of it the noble and eminent Family of Poynings was planted by Purchase in the possession of it Michael Poynings enjoyed it at his Death which was in the forty third year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 14. parte secunda and from him did the Title glide along in the Interest of this Name untill it came down to Sir Edw. Poynings and he in the fourteenth year of Edward the fourth alienated his Concernment in it to John Sampson and he had Issue Christopher Sampson who in the thirty seventh year of Henry the eighth passed it away to Stephen Darrell and his Son George Darrell in the tenth year of Queen Elizabeth sold it to Richard Payne of Twyford in Middlesex and he in the twenty eighth year of the above-said Princesse translated his Right in it by Sale into William Nutbrown and he in the twenty ninth year of the same Queens Reign conveyed it to George Cure of Surrey Esquire from whom immediately after it went away by Sale to Arthur Langworth and from him by as quick a Vicissitude to William Beswick Esquire Son to ....... Beswick Lord Maior of London in the year of our Lord ........ and his Grandchild Mrs Mary Beswick dying not long since without Issue shee by Testament gave it in Lease to Mr. ...... Haughton now of Chelsey in Middlesex originally extracted from the ancient Family of Haughton of Haughton Tower in the County of Lancaster Horton in the Hundred of Stowting was a Mannor which belonged to that Priory which was founded here by Robert de Vere Earl of Oxford Lord great Chamberlain of England and dedicated to the Honour of St. John Baptist it being a Cell to the Priory of Lewes and stored with black Monks of the Cluniac Order Adelina Daughter of Hugh de Montfort was a principall Benefactresse to this House and so were the Honywoods of Henewood in Saltwood not far distant The first remembred in the Register is Edmund de Honywood who flourisht in the Raign of Henry the third Upon the Generall surrender of the Estate of Abbyes into the Hands of Henry the eighth this by that Prince in the twenty ninth year of his Reign was granted to Thomas Lord Cromwell Earl of Essex but he being infortunately attainted in the thirty first year of the abovesaid Prince this Mannor returned to the Crown and was resident there untill King Charles passed it away by Grant in the fourth year of his Raign to the City of London and they 1630 conveyed it to George Rook Esquire Father to Mr. Lawrence Rook who enjoys the instant Signory of it but the Abby-house was by Henry the eighth upon the fatall Execution of the above-mentioned Lord granted to John Tate of the County of North-hampton Esquire and he in the sixth year of Edward the sixth sold it to Walter Mantle Esq who being infortunately involved in the Design of the noble but unhappy Sir Thomas Wiatt in the second year of Queen Mary forfeited this to the Crown where after it had for some interval of Time been lodged it was in the thirteenth year of Queen Elizabeth restored to the above-said Walter Mantle and from him did it come down to his Successor Mr. Walter Mantle who was the present Possessor of it 1657. Sherford aliàs East-Horton is another Mannor in this Parish it was a Branch of that Demeasne which fell under the Jurisdiction of Retling Sir Richard de Retling was found in the enjoyment of it at his death which was in the twenty third year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 12. and left it to Joane his Sole Daughter and Heir who brought it by espousing John Spicer to be parcel of his Inheritance and he died invested in the Possession of it in the tenth year of Richard the second and from him it devolved to his second Son John Spicer who assigned it as Dower to his Wife Joane and she was found to hold it in Possession at her Death which was in the fifth year of Henry the fifth Rot. Esc Num. 9. and in this Family did it reside until that Age which bordered upon our Fathers Remembrance and then it was passed away by Spicer to Morris in which Family the Propriety is still Resident Horton in the Hundred of Acstane was held by An. Retellus Rubitoniensis or Rosse in the twentieth year of William the Conqueror as Doomesday Book instructs me Alexander Rosse another of this Family and Lord of this Mannor was one of the Recognitores Magnae Assisae an Office of Eminence and no lesse Concernment In the first yeare of the Raign of King John William de Rosse held a Knights Fee in Horton and Lullingston and left it to his Sole Inheritrix Lora de Rosse who about the latter end of Edward the first brought it to be the Possession of her Husband ...... Kirkbie who by this Match being entituled to this place removed out of Lancashire where was his antient Mansion at Kirkbie Hall and seated himself at Horton where he re-edified the Castle which as Darell relates in his Tract de Castellis Cantii did acknowledge the Rosses for its Founders and built the Mannor House upon which he engrafted his own Name from whence it hath ever since acquired the Attribute of Horton-Kirkbie But it was not long united to this Name for about the Beginning of Henry the fourth this Family was extinguished in a Female Inheritrix who was matched to Thomas Stoner of Stoner in Oxfordshire Father and Mother of Sir Thomas Stoner who was Father to Sir William Stoner who by Anne Daughter and Heir of John Nevill Marquesse Montacute had Issue John Stoner who died Issue-lesse and had forfeited Horton Castle to Henry the seventh by confederating with the Lord Audley in his Insurrection against that Prince and Anne a Daughter matched to Sir Adrian Fortescue by whom he had the Mannor of Kirkbie Court and by her only a Female Inheritrix called Margery Fortescue matched to Thomas Lord Wentworth Ancestor to Thomas Lord Wentworth of Nettlested created Earl of Cleveland in the first year of King Charles but Kirkbie was passed away by Sir Adrian Fortescue to Sir James Walsingham in the Beginning of Henry the eighth whose Grandchild Sir Thomas Walsingham about the latter end of Queen Elizabeth alienated it to Alderman Hacket of London in whose Posterity the Propriety of it resides at this Day but Horton Castle continued in the Crown until King Henry the eighth granted it to Robert Rudston Esquire by the Heir General of which Family it is at this instant become the Inheritance of Mr. ...... Michell of Richmond Franks is an eminent Seat in this Parish which was the Mansion of Gentlemen of that Sirname who about the latter end of Henry the third came out of Yorkeshire and planted themselves at this place and writ their Sirnames in very old Deeds
Richard de Capell this Man's Successor dyed possest of Capell Court in Werehorn and this here in the fifteenth year of Richard the second But after this Man's decease it did not long remain annexed to the Name for this Family expiring in a Female Heir shee by matching with Harlackenden of the Borough of Harlackenden in Woodchurch united it to the Patrimony of this Family and here it rested untill the Beginning of King James and then Deborah Sole Daughter and Heir of Walter Harlackenden a Branch of the abovesaid Stem by espousing Sir Edward Hales late of Tunstall deceased entwined it with his Demeasne upon whose Death it devolved to his Grandchild Sir Edward Hales now of Tunstall Baronet Cheyneys Court is a second place of Account in this Parish and had this Name imposed upon it because it lay folded up in the Revenue of that Name of that Family Alexander de Cheyney who flourished in the Raign of Henry the third and Edward the first in the ninth of which Prince's raign he was one of that Catalogue as appears by Kirkbie's Inquest kept in the Exchequer who was embarked in that successefull War which was commenced by that Monarch against the Welsh and dyed possest of this Mannor in the twenty fourth year of his Government After whose Decease it was constantly resident in this Family untill Henry Lord Cheyney Son of Sir Thomas Cheyney about the latter end of Queen Elizabeth passed it away by Sale to Mr. Richard Knatchbull whose Heir Generall Sir Norton Knatchbull Knight and Baronet extracted originally from thâ— Knatchbulls of Limne where I find the Name by Deeds very ancient is now in the Possession of the Demeasne but the Mannor was conveyed by Sale to Sir Walter Roberts More Court is a third place in Ivie Church which must not find its enterrement in Silence because it was the ancient Seat of the Moores now Barons of Mellifont in Ireland before they were transplanted into More-place in Benenden by matching with the Heir generall of Sir William Brenchley Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench under Henry the sixth and this is evident by a Fine levyed between John the Son of Thomas de Iden and John de More of Ivie-church so he is named in the Record by which the said John passes away Land to John de More of Rolvenden in the year of Grace 1280. And in this Family for many Generations was it constant and permanent untill the latter end of Henry the seventh and then the common Vicissitude of Purchase which like a Moath or Canker frets into ancient Titles brought it to be the Possession of Taylor and here it was settled untill in the second year of Edward the sixth as by an Exemplification now in the Hands of Thomas Taylor Esq is evident it was divided between William and John Taylor Gentlemen and they immediately after by a joint and mutuall Concurrence alienated their Interest here to Peter Godfrey Gentleman Great Grand-father to Sir Thomas Godfrey now of Hepington in Nether Hardres who is the instant Proprietary of it Iwade in the Hundred of Milton is a small Parish situated no great distance from the Swale which exposes it self to the injurious Impression of many Fogs and other sullen Vapours which exhale from the adjacent Marishes so that the Air becomming by these Mists contagious and unheathfull we must expect that it cannot be very populous nor contain many places in it considerable in their Account The only place of Note being Colshill-hall a place in its Name proportionate to its Position though formerly it had Owners of its own Appellation for in a Deed of William de Codshill who held Land at Middleton Bobbing and elsewhere and which bears Date from about the fiftieth of Henry the third I find one John de Colsted a Witnesse But in Times of no great distance from that Prince's Raign I find the Alefs or Alephs possest of it and to this Family does the ancient Shell or Fabrick of the House owe the principal part of its Structure especially that which by its Antiquity obliges the Eye to so much Regard and Veneration as is evident by the Hall which in diverse places is diaper'd with an A. and then a Leafe a Rebus which treasures up the Relique of the Name remaining unwritten And appears to be exceeding ancient by the Character calculated for the Raign of Edward the third From whose Time untill the Beginning of the Raign of Queen Elizabeth it continued knit to this Name of Alef and then Thomas Aleph the last of this Name being extinguished in a Daughter and Heir called Margaret matched to John Monins Esquire this by that Alliance became the Inheritance of that Name but made no long aboad in their Revenue for in our Grand-fathers memory it went away by Sale from Monins to Lewin and Lewin not many years since concluding in a Female Inheritrix she by being affianced to Rogers branched out from Rogers of Brianson in the West linked it to the Inheritance of that Family where it had as brief a Residence for Rogers not long since dying without Issue-male Elizabeth his only Heir by her espousalls with Charles Cavendish Lord Mansfield hath now interwoven it with the Propriety and Income relating to that eminent and illustrious Family K. K. K. K. KEmsing in the Hundred of Codsheath is a Parish which in Respect of its Circuit and Dimension is but despicable but in Relation to those Persons who in elder Times were Possessors of it it is not inferiour in its value to scarce any Parish in this Hundred The first that I find to be its Proprietary was Falcatius de Brent and he is mentioned in the Red-book kept in the Exchequer to have held it in the Raign of Henry the second and was Castellan likewise of Kemsing-Castle a place then of important Concernment though now it 's Skelleton it self be shrunk into such a desolate and neglected Masse of Rubbish that it would be now as difficult to trace it out or find it as it was formerly to conquer it And this Mans Son was that Falcatius de Brent so famous in our Chronicles for those wild Disorders and Sallies arising from those Boilings and Evaporations which were cast out by the Calentures of Youth rather then from any vitious Habit contracted from severall Acts of Excesse and riveted into his Soul Yet it seems these Excursions of his did so disgust King Henry the third that he made the Forfeiture of his Estate here pay the price of his Vanities Indeed that name his Misfortunes rather then his Treasons seem to Challenge And then that Prince in the sixth year of his Reign granted it with the Mannor of Sauters in Sutton at Hone to Baldwin de Betun Earl of Albemarle in Right of his Wife Hawis Daughter and Heir of William le Grosse Earl of Albemarle and Lord of Holdernesse And this Baldwin had by her two Daughters and Coheirs Hawis the eldest of them was married to
this Mannor to his Patrimony and he the better to inforce and perpetuate the Memory of this Alliance and the Estate which devolved to him by so fortunate a Conjunction inverted his Sirname and writ it for the future Clerc alias Woodchurch in which Name the Propriety of this Place continued until the latter end of Q. Elizabeth and then it was alienated to Taylor of Shadoxherst in which Name the Interest of it had not long continued but that it was in our Remembrance by Sale conveyed to Whitwick West-Halks is a third Mannor in Kingsnoth which in elder Times was ennobled for affording a Residence to a Family of this Sirname who bore in ancient Seals a Fesse between three Hawks or Falcons and sometimes one a Family of no contemptible Estimate or shallow Antiquity in this Track as appears by old Escripts Pedigrees and other venerable Muniments which represent this Family under the Character of Gentlemen for above three hundred years Sampson de Halk died about the year 1360 and held not onely this place Ex Autographis penes Dom. Tho. Taylor but much other Land about Petham and other Parishes in that Track but about the latter end of Henry the sixth this Family had demised the Propriety of this place to Taylor of great Chart in which Name it was constantly fixed untill the latter end of Henry the seaventh and then it was sold to Clerc who about the latter end of Q. Elizabeth passed it away to Robert Honywood of Charing Esquire who upon his Decease settled it by his last Will on his second Son by his second Wife Col. ....... Honywood now the instant Lord of the Fee Knowlton in the Hundred of Eastrye was parcel of the Patrimony of the noble Family of St. Leger Hugh St. Leger who was one of the Recognitores magnae Assisae in the Raign of King John held this Mannor in the fourth year of the Raign of that Prince and left it to his Son John St. Leger who in the twelfth year of Henry the third exchanged it for other Lands with Reginald de Cornhill and he in the twenty fifth year of the abovesaid Prince passed it away by Sale as the Book of Christ-Church informs me to the Prior and Monks of that Covent but it seems not long after they exchanged it with Thomas Perot for he in the fourth year of Edward the third died possest of it as appears by his Office Rot. Esc Num. 31. and left onely a Female Heir who carried it along with her to Langley descended out of the County of Warwick and being thus chained by this Match to the Interest of this Family it remained for many Descents fastned to it and was productive in several Ages of Men of no vulgar Account William de Langley Son of William Langley was Sheriff of Kent the twenty first twenty third twenty fourth and twenty fifth years of Edward the third William Langley of Knolton was Sheriff of Kent in the fourth year of Henry the fifth and likewise Justice of the Peace for this County under that Prince John Langley Esquire was Sheriff of Kent in the twentieth year of Henry the seventh and had Issue Edward Langley Esquire who matched with Elizabeth Daughter of Thomas Peyton of Peyton Hall in the County of Cambridge descended from Peytonus de Vfford but he dying without Issue about the latter end of Henry the eighth his Wive's Brother Sir Robert Peyton by Reason of a former Match in the Raign of Henry the fifth between Peyton and a Daughter of Langley entered upon it as Heir General at Law and he not desirous to desert Cambridgeshire to transplant himself into Kent assigned Knowlton for Livelyhood to his second Son Sir John Peyton Grand-father to Sir Thomas Peyton the Primier Baronet of this County who as lineally extracted from him does enjoy the Propriety of it See more of this Family of Peyton in my Discourse of Werd L. L. L. L. LAmberherst lies in the Hundred of Little Bernefield and was sometimes written Lamberts-hurst from Lambert a Saxon Owner in old English this Name imports as much as bright or holy and glorious Lamp as Herebert is bright Lord. Part of this Parish is in Kent and the other part in Sussex distinguished by a small Stream which rises nere Cowden and glides through this Town towards Medway The Lordship of Lamberhurst it self with the Mannor of Woodroff belonged to the Monastery of Roberts Bridge and after the Dissolution were by Henry the eighth granted in the thirteenth of his Reign to Sir William Sidney Tutor to King Edward the sixth when he was Prince whose Successor Robert Sidney Earl of Leicester sold Lamberherst in our Fathers Memory to Mr. Porter and Woodroff to Sir Edw. Henden one of the Barons of the Exchequer who bequeathed it to his Nephew Sir John Henden lately deceased Hodleigh in this Parish was part of that Demeasne which related to the Colledge of Lingfield in Surrey which upon the Suppression was by Henry the eighth granted to Thomas Cardan from which Family it passed away to Edward Filmer Esquire Ancestor to Sir Edward Filmer eldest Son to Sir Robert Filmer lately deceased to whose Demeasne the Propriety of it is at present united The Abby of Begham in this Parish was founded by Ela de Sackvill and Sir Robert de Thurneham a man of principal Account in the time of Henry the third This Priory was suppressed by Cardinal Wolsey and filled with Cannons Praemonstratenses or white Cannons called so from their Habit. The Mannor which belonged to it was by royal Concession From Q. Elizabeth it passed away to Anthony Brown Viscount Montague who not long after alienated the Fee-simple to Alderman Barneham of London who gave it to Benedict a second Son and he dying without Issne-male one of his Daughters and Coheirs married with Dobell of Sussex and so carried it into the Inheritance of that Family where the Possession has ever since been setled Scotney in this Parish which hath borrowed that Appellation from its locall Situation and the over-shooting of the Water was the Residence of a Family distinguished by that Sirname and Denomination for one Walter de Scotney in Times of high Ascent was Proprietary of this Place but added not much Reputation to this Mansion for as Edmund de Hadenham a Chronicler of great Antiquity attests he in the year 1259 administred poyson by tacit Stratagem to the Earl of Gloucester and his Brother to destroy them of which the last dyed and the first escaped not without Danger of Life But to goe on After this Family was mouldered away at this place which was about the midst of Edward the third the eminent Family of Ashburnham of Ashburnham in Sussex were entituled to the Signiory of it Roger Ashburnham who was one of the Conservators of the Peace for this County of Sussex in the first year of Richard the second had here a castellated Mansion did sometimes inhabit at this place and was
de Averenches Baron of Folkstone and had Issue by her Robert de Crevequer who by Disloyalty lost himself and his Soveraign's Favour And then this Mannor being seised on by the Crown King Henry the third the more to oblige and endear Roger de Leybourn gave him this Mannor and Castle in exchange for some Lands which he enjoyed at Troscliff as appears Pat. 52. Hen. tertii But it seems either he or his Successor quickly re-invested the possession into the Crown as being a piece of Strength that the Prince began to look upon with Jealousie and Caution for Edward the second as is manifest Pat. 10. Edwardi secundi granted the Mannor and Castle of Leeds with the Advowson of the Priory to Bartholomew Lord Badelesmer who was great Grandchild to Guncelin de Badelesmer * Ex per vetusto Rotulo penes Edo Dering Militem Baronettum defunctum which Guncelin with his Brother Ralph de Badelesmer are enrolled in the List of those Kentish Gentlemen who accompanied King Richard the first to the Siege of Acon and Son to * See the late Printed Book styled the Vale-Royal of Cheshire published by Mr. King Guncelin de Badelesmer who was Justice of Chester in the Reign of Edw. the first an Office eminently considerable and of much importance in that Age in exchange for the Mannor of Addrisley in Shropshire And the Advouson of the Church and the Addition of this swelled both his Estate and Ambition to that heighth that he must be Master of all the remarkable places in Kent or else his Sails could not fill For he had the Barony of Fitz-bernard at Kingsdown Tong Castle Chilham Castle Ridlingswould and Hothfield But such a Tempest rose at this place as utterly overwhelmed him with one Gust The History is well made up by many Authors the Abstract is thus Queen Isabel Wife to Edward the second who had ever been the Nurse of peace and laboured to accord the King and his Barons making her progresse towards Canterbury was disposed to lodge in this Castle as belonging to the Lord Badelesmer who had been long King Edward's Steward and sending her Marshal to make ready for her and her Train they who kept the Castle told him plainly that neither the Queen nor any else should enter without Letters from their Lord. The Queen her self goes to the Castle and receives the same Answer whereupon she is necessitated to take such Lodging otherwhere as could be provided Of which Indignity she complains to the King who resented it with so much passion as instantly with an Army collected in London he layes Siege to the Castle carries it hangs the Castellan Thomas Colepeper sends the Lady and Children of the Lord Badelesmer to the Tower and seises upon his Goods and Treasure He to revenge this Devastation of his Castle associates with the Barons then in Arms who pretended the Common good and publick Liberty of the People they being still that unhappy Vessel which every Tempest shipwracks but no Calm secures Or indeed being like the Sea which never swells into Disorder untill it be breath'd upon by intemperate Winds and yet even those very Winds break to pieces those waters which they first raised into Billows and Surges But to go on This Design whether the Foundation on which it was fixt were crazy and infirme or not I know not was Ruinous to Bartholomew Lord Badelesmer and the Barons his Partisans for they were defeared by the Forces of King Edward and amongst the rest this Lord and the Lord Ashburnham being by their misfortune made prisoners were put to Death at Canterbury Upon this Shipwrack this Castle reverts to the Crown and Arch-bishop Arundell having a mind equivalent to his Birth gets such a Grant of this Castle as in many Acts of his he dates them At his Castle of Leeds and you may observe that this would not serve the turn neither for he was at the same time Constable of the late before builded Castle of Quinborough But the Estate he had in it determined with him and then it remained in the Crown and was reputed one of the Kings Houses and the Custody was conferred upon some of the principal Gentlemen of Kent whom the King pro tempore favoured And it seems it had the Reputation to be a piece of important Strength in the reign of Henry the fourth for Richard the second as Fabian in his Chronicle relates fol. 165. was by that Prince sent prisoner to this Castle In the Raign of Edward the fourth I find the propriety of it altered for that Prince seeking to endear the St. Legers to him who were then a Family who had a powerfull Influence upon this County made Ralph St. Leger Esquire Constable of the Castle of Leeds and annexed the park too to his Grant for anciently there belonged two Parks unto it though both are now clearly disparked and vanished but the Fee-simple remained in the Crown untill Edward the sixth in the fourth year of his Rule granted it to Anthony St. Leger his Successor who was Lord Deputy of Ireland and improved the English Interest in that Province by his Prudence and Magnanimity to that heighth and Advantage that he reduced most of the old Septs of the Irih Nobility and made them become Feodall to the English Scepter which could never be accomplished since the first Conquest of Ireland till his Time but his Son Sir Warham St. Leger was the last of the Name who was proprietary of Leeds-Castle for he sold it to Sir Richard Smith who not long after determined in two Daughters and Co-heirs matched to Sir Timothy Thornhill of Kent and to Mr. Barrow of Suffolk who both by mutual Consent did devest themselves of their Interest in it and by Sale transplanted the Inheritance into Sir Thomas Colepeper now of the Parish of Hollingbourne who setled it in marriage upon his Son Sir Cheyney Colepeper now Lord of the Fee The Priory of Leeds was founded by Robert de Crevequer soon after the building of the Cattle and not long after the Conquest and stored with black Canons or Canons of St. Augustins and dedicated to St. Mary and St. Nicholas The Successors of this Robert de Crevequer were all of them Benefactors Robert de Crevequer Son of Dan. de Crevequer who was Son of Rob. de Crevequer the Founder dedit Terras Canonicis de Leed pro Salute Animae Reg. Hen. secundi qui eum aluit Militem fecit says the Coucher Book There was a goodly Church annexed to this Priorie parallel to many Cathedrals whose Glory and Beauty were both blasted when the Priorie above mentioned suffered the Common Calamity of that great Tempest of the Dissolution This upon that Suppression augmenting the Revenue of the Crown continued with it until K. Edward the sixth in the fourth year of his reign passed it away by Grant to Sir Anthony St. Leger whose Son Sir Wartham St. Leger about the beginning of Queen Elizabeth conveyed it
James Driland of Davington and so this place became appropriated to the Interest of that Family but shortly after Constance Daughter and Heir of this man married Walsingham of Chiselhurst whose Son James Walsingham passed it away by Sale to Robert Atwater of Putwood in Otteringden and he not long after concluding likewise in a Daughter and Heir called Mary she by her Marriage with Robert Honywood Esquire a younger Branch of the Honywoods of Elmsted knit this Place to the Patrimony of that Family and Robert Honywood this Mans Son gave it in Dower with his Daughter to Thomson descended from the Thomsons of Petham There are two other Mannors in Lenham of Signal Estimate the First is West-Shelve written likewise Middle-Shelve it was parcel of the Estate of Bertram de Criol and by Joan his Daughter and Heir was linked to the Revenue of her Husband Sir Richard de Rokesley from whom the Fate of Female Interest devolved it on Thomas de Poynings and to this Family was it for many ages fastned till Sir Edw. Poynings extracted lineally from this Man in the fourteenth year of Hen. the eighth was found to have died both without lawful Issue and without Alliance and so this Name being both in the direct and collateral Line extinguished the Crown laid claim to this Mannor as de Jure escheated and in the seventeenth year of his Government Henry the eighth granted it to John Mills where after the possession had for some Time continued it was by Purchase brought into the Inheritance of Darel by whose Female Heir it is now brought to own the Signorie of Wilkinson Shelve Cobham is another Mannor in Lenham which in elder Times was folded up in the Inheritance of the Lords * See more of this Family at Roundall in Shorne Cobham of Sterborough Castle of which Family was Richard de Cobham made Knight Banneret by Edward the third as appears Pat. 15. Edw. tertii Parte secunda Memb. 22. and having continued many Descents constant to the Interest of this Family it did at last devolve to Thomas Lord Cobham of Sterborough who dying in the twelfth year of Edward the fourth without Issue Male Ann his only Daughter and Heir brought it to be parcel of the Patrimony of Edward Lord Borough of Gainsborough from whom the Propriety of it did flow down to his Grand-child Thomas Lord Borough who conveyed it by Sale to Mr. John Pekenham in the twenty fifth year of Q. Elizabeth and he was possest of it but untill the thirty fifth year of that Princesse and then an Alteration like the former made it the Demeasn of Boteler in which Name after it had remained until the fifth of K. Charles it was alienated by Sale to Sir John Melton whose Son John Melton Esquire hath lately conveyed it to Mr Salomon Adye Sindall is the last place of Account in this Parish of Lenham which as appears by the Evidences of this place was in the Raign of King John and Henry the third the Inheritance of a Family of that Sirname and as appears by some old Rolls and Armorials were Gentlemen of prime Note in this Track but continued not long owners of this Mansion for in the twenty third year of Edw. the third I find it in the Hands of Fulk de Peyforer and in this Family did it fix until the latter end of Edward the third and then it was passed away to Henman in which Name the Interest of this Place from the fiftieth year of the above Prince by a derivation of several Descents until this present year 1658 hath been successively resident Leveland in the Hundred of Feversham gave Seat and Sirname to a Family of that Denomination for I find that Giles de Badelesmer of Badelesmer not far distant was pardoned by Hen. the third for matching with Margaret de Leveland the Heir of this Place without the Kings especial License as is manifest Pat. 40. Hen. 3. Memb. 8. But he deceasing before her she was remarried to Fulk de Peyferor who in her Right died possest of this place in the fifth year of Edward the first but she had no Issue by neither of these two eminent persons so that Rafe de Leveland was her next Heir who had the Custody of the Palace of Westminster and the Fleet and after his Deeease Stephen de Leveland held both these places as his Brother and Heir This Stephen had a Daughter and Heir called Joan first wedded to John Shench and secondly to Edward de Cheyney who in her Right had the Custody of the Fleet and Palace of Westminster But John Shench was her Son and Heir who by a Right derived to him by Descent and Succession held both the Fleet and Westminster and was in the Possession both of them and Leveland at his Decease as an Inquisition taken after his Death in the twenty third year of Edward the third does signifie and left Margaret his Daughter Heir not onely to his Estate at Leveland but likewise to those Offices of Trust which it seems were in those Times hereditary and usually lincked together But this Family of Shench was not so entirely invested in the Signory of Leveland but that a considerable Proportion of it augmented the Patrimony of Northwood for Robert de Northwood held an Estate here at his Death which was in the thirty fourth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 70. and so did Richard de Northwood and Thomas Brother of the said Richard as appears by an Inquisition taken in the thirty fifth of the abovesaid Monarch Rot. Esc Num. 13. Parte secunda But before the latter end of Edw. the third both these Families had offered up their joynt Interest here to Richard Lord Poynings and he died possen of it in the twelfth year of Richard the second Rot. Esc Num. 148. and left his interest here to be enjoyed by his Kinsman Robert Poynings from whom an uninterrupted Line of Descent brought it down to Sir Edward Poynings who died in the twelfth year of Henry the eighth and there being none after a serious Inquisition taken in the fourteenth year of that Prince who could establish any Claim or pretence either in respect of any direct or collateral Affinity to his Estate the Crown by Escheat was entituled to this Mannor and here the Propriety was lodged until King Henry the eighth before mentioned granted it to Sir Robert Southwell who in the second year of Edward the sixth conveyed it to Sir Anthony Aucher and he not long after passed it away to Sir Anthony Sonds great Grandfather to Sir George Sonds Knight of the Bath now instant Lord of the Signory of it Lewsham in the Hundred of Blackheath was a Mannor which belonged to the Priory which was erected here but who was the Founder is unknown Onely thus we find that King Henry the third by a new Inspection confirmed it with all the Franchises and Immunities annexed to it as appears Cart. 13. Hen. tertii Memb. 9.
It was when it flourished most but a Cell of Benedictin Monks belonging to Saint Peters in Gaunt and paid to them 40 s. per Annum as a Rent-Service as appears Rot. Esc An. 12. Ric. secundi N. 72. And so continued till King Henry the fifth perceiving the ill Effects and impressions which the Influence of Priories-Aliens and their Fraternities might cause upon those Religious persons who were his Subjects who were altogether chained by a Connexion of Canonical Obedience to them suppressed this and sundry others of the like Nature and with their Revenue endowed that stately Monastery which he erected at Shene storing it with Carthusian Monks and dedicating it to the Name of Jesus of Bethlem and in the Patrimony of this Cloister did this Mannor lie included till the total Dissolution in that general Shipwrack in the Rule of Henry the eighth and then it returned to the Crown and there was lodged till Queen Elizabeth in the fifth year of her Government granted it to Ambrose Dudley Earl of Warwick who soon after exchanged it for other Lands with the said Princess and she in the year 1575 granted it in Lease for a space of forty years to Sir Nicholas Stodard of Modingham which expiring in the year 1605 King James passed it away in Lease for forty years more to Sir Francis Knolls and the Fee-simple in Reversion to John Ramsey Earl of Holderness who dying before the Expiration of the Lease gave it to his Brother Sir George Ramsey whose Son John Ramsey when the former Lease was worn out which was about the year 1645 sold the Fee-simple to Mr. Reginald Grime Catford in this Parish was formerly a Mannor which anciently was involved in the Inheritance of the Abels of Hering-Hill in Eriâ—h and John Abel had a Charter of Free Warren to this and other of his Lands in Lewsham in the twenty third year of Edward the first and after this Family was worn out the Lords Mountacute were Lords of the Signory and Fee-simple of it for William de Mountacute Earl of Salisbury obtained by Charter a Confirmation of Free Warren to this Mannor of his of Catford in the fifth year of Edward the third and in this noble Family did the Possession dwell till Richard de Nevil married Eleanor Daughter and Heir of Thomas de Mountacute Earl of Salisbury and in her Right had the Title of that Earldome and the Possession of this Place enstated upon him and divers of the Windows of the most ancient Houses in Lewsham are stained and coloured with his Armes This was that Rich. who gave up his Life to the Cause and Quarrel of the House of York and with Richard Duke of York most resolutely asserting the Truth and Justice of their Title to the Crown perished in the fatal and infortunate Battle commenced with the Partisans of the Lancastrian Claim between Sandall and Wakefield and afterwards his Son Richard Earl of Warwick he that broke and piec'd up the Scepter as he pleased and his younger Son John Nevil created Marquess Montacute by Edward the fourth in the year 1470 fell in that dysastrous Encounter waged with Edward the fourth at Barnet upon whose Ruines and Tombs he built his Throne and with their Blood coemented the Fabrick of his future Greatness But whether upon the Shipwrack of this Family it came by Escheat to the Crown or else to George Duke of Clarence second Brother to Edw. the fourth who espoused Isabel Daughter and Coheir of Richard E. of Warwick is incertain though it is probable it did because in a Great House of Mr. Streets at Lewsham the Armes of the Duke of Clarence stand empal'd with Nevil In Times of a more modern Aspect Catford was the Polsteds a Family of very deep Antiquity in Surrey for Hugh de Polsted gave Lands called Inwood by his Deed dated the sixteenth year of King John to the Abby of Waversley in that County but whether this place came to them or not by Grant from the Crown or by Purchase from some other I am ignorant 't is certain that Francis Polsted Cousin and Heir to Richard Polsted sold Catford to Brian Annesley Esquire in Reversion after the Decease of Elizabeth Wife of John Wolley and Widdow of the said Richard in the twentieth year of Queen Eliz. And He afterwards dying without Issue Male his two Daughters married to Sir William Harvey after Lord Harvey of Kidbrook in Kent and Sir John Wildgoose shar'd the Inheritance of this Place There were two Chantreys founded at Lewsham One by Rich. Walker for one priest to celebrate Mass at the Altar of the Trinity for the Founder's Soul The other by Roger Fitz who by the Appointment of his last Will the seventeenth of Henry the seventh devised that his two Houses the Lion and the Ram in the Stews on the Banck-side near London should be sold to build the Chantry House and indow it with maintenance for one Priest to celebrate at the Altar of the Trinity in Lewsham Church for the Founder's Soul Leybourne in the Hundred of Larkfield was the ancient Demeasn of the Lords Leybourne who erected here a Castle esteemed a strong Pile in our Ancestors Dayes however the Ruines and Raggs of it at present appear mean and despicable yet it hath by several Gradations sunk into this Condition The first of which Family which I find to be eminent was * Ex veteri Rot. penes Edw. Dering Militem Baronettum desunctum Roger de Leybourne who is enrolled in the Catalogue of those Kentish Knights who accompanied Richard the first to the Siege of Acon and another Roger de Leybourne is in the Roll of this Kentish Gentlemen who assisted Henry the third in his Expedition into Gascony in the thirty seventh year of his Raign and afterwards was a principal Partisan of Simon de Montforts in his Emotions and rude Essorts against his Scepter and Government for which he was pardoned by the Act of Amnestia or Pacification of that Prince made in the fiftieth year of his Raign at Killingworth and this is that Roger which slew Ernulphus de Monteney at a meeting of the round Table in the thirty sixth year of Henry the sixth and was the Husband of Eleanor Countess of Winchester Sir Henry and Sir Simon de Leybourne are recorded in the List of those Kentish Gentlemen who assisted the Edward the first in his Siege of Carlaverock in Scotland in the twenty eighth year of his Reign and for their signal Service performed in that Expedition were dignified with the Order of Knighthood William de Leybourne one of this Family was frequently summon'd to sit in Parliament as Baron in the Raign of Edward the first and by that Title subscribes in that memorable Letter which the abovesaid Prince and all the English Peerage wrote to the Pope in the year of Grace 1301 that is in the twenty ninth of Edward the first 's Government to justifie those Grounds on which the war was
who in so many remarkable and triumphant Conflicts asserted the Interest of this Nation in France in the Raign of the abovesaid Prince and at last received a mortal Wound by a Splinter of a Window struck into his Face by a Cannon shot at the Siege of Orleans of which he died 1428 and left his Estate here to his Natural Son James Montacute * Ex vetustis Autographis penes Rich. Lea Arm. de Rochester so written in the Deed but in all our printed Books of Nobility falsly and corruptly John and he in the thirtieth year of Henry the sixth conveyed it by Deed to Thomas Davy Gentleman and he not many years after alienated it to Edward Nevill Baron of Aburgavenny from whom it was transported by Descent to his Successor Henry Lord Aburgavenny who dying in the twenty ninth year of Q. Elizabeth without Issue Male gave it to his second Brother Sir Edward Nevill from whom it is come down to his Descendant John Lord Aburgavenny the instant Proprietary of it Buckland in this Parish did acknowledge the Bucklands for its Heirs and Possessors who sometimes did inhabit at Preston in Shorham and sometimes at this place which however now obscure and despicable was of Credit when Sir John Buckland paid respective Aid for his Lands at Ludsdown at the making of the Black Prince Knight in the twentieth of Edward the third from Buckland by a Daughter and Heir some few Ages since it came over with Preston in Shorham to Folhill and in that Family is the Title still at this instant resident Lullingston in the Hundred of Axtan was in ancient Records written Lullingston Rosse for Anketellus Rosse held Lands here in the twentieth of William the Conqueror William de Rosse this mans Grand-child as appears by the Pipe Rolls held two Knights Fees in Lullingston in the first year of King John Alexander de Rosse this mans Son was one of the Recognitores magnae Assisae or of the grand Assise about the end of that Prince's Rule but not long after this the Possession of this place was not lincked to this Family for Lora de Rosse Sole Daughter to William de Rosse by matching with William de Peyforer fastned it to the Revenue of that Stock from whence it assumed the Title of Lullingston Peyforer but it quickly deserted both the Title and Possessor for Gregory de Rokesley Lord Maior of London in the seventh year of Edward the first purchased it of the abovesaid William and in the same year obtained a Charter Warren to his Lands at this place In the twentieth year of Edward the third John de Rokesley Son to Walter Rokesley and Grand-child to the before mentioned Gregory paid Aid for the Mannor of Lullingston which held by a whole Knights Fee at the making the Black Prince Knight In the thirty third year of Edward the third Sir John Peche purchased the Mannor of this John de Rokesley this Sir John was Son to Sir John de Peche who was Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Constable of Dover Castle and was called to Parliament among the Barons in the fourth year of Edward the third In the same year he bought Lullingston he obtained a Charter of Free Warren to his Lands there which was renewed and by Confirmation fortified in the thirty fourth and thirty fifth of Edward the third Sir William Peche was his Son and Heir whose Widow the Lady Joane Peche who died seised of this Mannor in the eleventh year of Henry the fourth lies entombed in St. Mary Woolnoth Church in London Sir John Peche was Son and Heir to them both Sir William Peche was Son and Heir to this Sir John who died at Lullingston 1487 and had two Children Sir John Peche Knight and Banneret who died sans Issue which Sir John was a man of exemplary Account being Lord Deputy of Calais and of signal Charity as is evident by his Munificence and Bounty towards the Poor for he founded the Alms-Houses at Lullingston and gave 500 lb. to other Pious Uses to be performed by the Grocers Company in London of which he was Free and Elizabeth marched to John Hart Esquire who in his Wife 's Right upon the Decease of her Brother enter'd into the Possession of the Premisses from whom it is transmitted to William Hart Esquire his great Grand-child who hath the instant Signory and Fee-simple of this Mannor of Lullingston M. M. M. M. MAidstone giveth Name to the whole Hundred wherein it is seated an elegant Town it is whether we consider it in respect of the uniform and regular Building or of the healthful Situation of it spreading it self out partly upon a Hill and partly upon a Valley which are interlaced with a smal River which hath its Original about Leeds and on the other side its Banks are washed with the waters of the Medway from whence it primitively borrowed its Name being in Saxon called Medwegston The Places of most eminence which are circumscribed within the Limits of it are First Buckland which is situated on the opposite Banck of the River upon the Knob or Knoll of an Hill of easie Ascent from whence it takes in a various and delightful Prospect of the adjacent Valley It was anciently part of the Demeasn of the Bucklands but whether it originally gave Seat and Sirname to them or not is not evident because there was another Place which likewise bore this Name at Luddesdowne and which also acknowledged it self to be Parcel of their Proprietie John de Buckland held it at his Death which was in the third year of Edward the third and his Son and Heir was Sir John Buckland who was a Person of remarkable Reputation and Note in this Track for he had Lands about Wouldham Halling Snodland Ludsdowne and Shoreham as well as at this Place After this Name went out the Lords Cobham were Proprietaries of Buckland and in this Family was the Possession guided along by an undivided Clew of several Ages till the infortunate Henry Lord Cobham about the entrance into the Raign of King James being with Sir VValter Raleigh and others entangled in a Design which the then present Power after a serious and solemn Debate adjudged treasonable he could not unravel himself out of it but with the Forfeiture though not of Life yet of Estate but this Mannor before his Attaint being settled upon his Lady Francis Cobham as part of her Jointure upon his Decease was granted by the Crown to her and the Reversion to Robert Cecil Earl of Salisbury in respect he had married Elizabeth Daughter to William Brooke Lord Cobham and Sister to this last Lord Henry and She shortly after by marrying with ....... Fitz Gerald Earl of Kildare settled the present Interest of it in him and He and his Countess being embarked in a mutual and joint consent with the above-mentioned Earl of Salisbury passed away their Right in it about the year One thousand six hundred and eighteen to William
as appears by the Escheat Roll of that year marked with the Number 76. and left Mawde de Twitham heir to his large Possessions in this County who by marrying with Simon Septuans of Checquer in Ash by Sandwich invested him not only in the Signory of Dean-Court but likewise in his other Demeasne which lay dispersed in severall Branches over this County and he had Issue by her Sir William Septuans who matched with Anne Daughter and Heir of Sir Nicholas Sandwich and had Issue by her John Septuans Esquire who likewise wedded Constance Daughter and Heir of Thomas Ellys of Sandwich and had Issue by her John his eldest Son to whom he gave Hells Twitham Chilton Molands in Ash and other Lands in Kent Thomas his second Son who had Dean-Court in Mepeham and other Lands in this County and Gilbert Septuans his third Son who had his Mannor of Chequer in Ash above-said and from them it is sometimes writ At Chequer and afterwards Harfleet for some eminent Service by him performed at a Town of that Name in Normandy as the private Evidences of this Family do seem to insinuate under the conduct of Henry the fifth and so Successively by Custome and Prescription this Name became hereditary to all of the Name of Septuans who were either directly or Collaterally linked in Alliance to this Gilbert And in the Name of Harfleet alias Septuans did the Inheritance of this Mannor of Dean-Court sundry Ages reside till some few years since it was by one of this Name alienated to Mr. Francis Twisden third Brother to Sir Roger Twisden of Roydon-Hall Knight and Baronet Merworth stands in the Hundred of Littlefield and gave Seat and Sirname to a worthy Family of Gentlemen whose Ancestor branched out from a Family called St. Laurence William de Merworth is in the Register of those Kentish Knights who were embarked with Richard the first at the Seige of Acon upon which it is probable the Crosse Corslets were taken into the paternall Coat of this Family In the fifteenth year of King John one Roger the Son of Eustace de Merworth brought a Quare Impedit against the Prior of Leeds for the Adyouson of the Church of Merworth Roger de Merworth obtained a Charter of Free-warren to his Mannor of Merworth in the eighteenth year of Edward the first In the twentieth year of Edward the third as appears by the Book of Aid John de Merworth paid respective Aid for a whole Knight's Fee at Merworth and Crombery in Hadloe which he held of the Earl of Glocester at making the Black Prince Knight in the twentieth year of Edward the third and an Inquisition taken after this mans Death for his Mannor of Merworth though the Inquisition for his Mannor of Maplescombe and other Lands was not taken untill the forty ninth of Edward the third finds John Malmains of Malmains in Pluckley to be his Heir who in the forty sixth year of Edward the third sells it to Humphrey Bohun Earl of Hereford and Essex and he about the beginning of Richard the second conveys it to Nicholas de Brembre Son of Sir John de Brembre who at the Battle of Trent as Mr. Selden relates in his Titles of Honour pag. 556. made himself eminent by a signall encounter with John de Beaumonour in the year 1350. And endevouring to support the prerogative of Richard the second in an Age wherin his Crime was too much Loialty against the Assaults of some of the Factious and Ambitious Nobility sunk under the waight of their Hatred and Opposition and being attainted of High Treason this in the tenth year of the abovesaid Prince Escheated to the Crown and the same King in the thirteenth year of his Raign granted it to John Hermensthorpe who immediately after conveyed it to Richard Fitzallan Earl of Arundell Lord Treasurer and Lord Admirall of England whose Son Thomas Fitzallan dying without Issue Joan one of his Sisters and Coheirs matching with William Beauchampe who was created by Writt Baron of Abergavenny in the sixteenth year of Richard the second knit this Mannor to the Patrimony of that Family where it continued till Richard Beauchampe this mans Son dying without Issue-male in the ninth year of Henry the fifth bequeathed it to Elizabeth his Sole Daughter and Heir who matched afterward to Edward Nevill Baron of Abergavenny from whom the Title both of the Barony and Merworth flowed down to his Great Grandchild Henry Nevill who died the twenty ninth year of Queen Elizabeth and left this Mannor to Mary his Sole Daughter and heir married to Sir Thomas Fane unto whom King James in the first Parliament which he held Restored Gave Granted and so forth the Name Style Title Honour and Dignity of Baroness le Despencer and that her Heirs Successively should be Barons le Desp neer for ever She had Issue by Sir Thomas Fane of Badsell in Kent Sir Francis Fane eldest Son Knight of the Bath whom King James in the twenty second year of his Raign December the 29. created Earl of Westmerland and Baron Burghurst being likewise by his Mothers Descent extracted from the female heir of that old Barony for Edw. le Despencer who maried Elizabeth Heir of Bartholomew Lord Burghurst and Rich. Beauchampe who married Isabell Daughter and Heir of Thomas Lord Despencer and his eldest Son Sir Mildmay Fane Knight of the Noble Order of the Bath now Earl of Westmerland doth not onely enjoy the Concomitant Titles of Despencer and Burghurst but the Mannor of Mereworth likewise with all the Royalties of it which were not inferiour to any which hathreceived Honour by its owners for it is holden in Chivalrie by an entire Knights Fee and a Free-warren which was formerly granted to it is yet extant and the Conveniences of a Park and Conies are not wanting Jotes-Court in this Parish of Merworth had as appears by severall old Deeds some without Date Owners who were written Jeotes and by contraction of the Name call'd Jotes but before the latter end of Richard the second this Family was crumbled away and gone and then it came to have the same possessors with Merworth as namely Fitz-Allan Beauchampe and Nevill the last of which who enjoyed it was Sir Tho. Nevil third Son of George Nevill Baron of Abergavenny which Sir Tho. was one of the Privy Councel to Henry the eighth and Speaker of the Parliament and he in the thirty third year of that Prince conveyed it by Sale to Sir Robert Southwell who in the thirty fifth year of Henry the eighth by the same Fatalitie passed it away to Sir Edmund Walsingham of Scadbery whose great Grandchild Sir Tho. Walsingham Knight hath not many years since alienated all his Concernment in it to his Son in Law Mr. James Masters Swanton-Court is the last place considerable in Merworth It lay couched in that Revenue which related to the Knights Hospitalers untill the publique Dissolution supplanted it and surrendred it to the Crown and K. Henry the eighth about
on the Saturday which continues until this day Midley in the Hundred of Langport was parcell of the Inheritance of Echingham of whom more is spoken at Jacks-court in Lidde from whom by Margaret Daughter and Heir of Thomas Echingham it devolved to Walter Blount Esquire from him it descended to his Son Edward Blount Lord Montjoy who deceasing without Issue Elizabeth his Sister and Heir entered upon the Possession and she by matching with Andrew Windsor after created Lord Windsor by Henry the eighth swelled the Revenue of that Family by the Addition of Midley who not long after passed it away to Clache by whose Daughter and Heir it came over to Stringer and he transferred his Right in it by Sale to Scot and Scot conveyed the whole Demise to Godfrey whose Son Sir The. Godsrey does now possesse the Signory of the Premises Milsted in the Hundred of Milton though an obscure Village in it Self yet has been anciently eminent for several noble Families which have had their Residence within the Circuit of it For first Hogshaws gave not only Seat but Sirname likewise to a Family of that Denomination in whom when it had for many years continued Edmund Hogshaw in the eleventh year of Richard the second passed it away to Sir Thomas Lovell and he dyed seised of it in the second year of Henry the fourth and Thomas Lovell was his Heir after Lovell Greaves by purchase became entituled to the Possession of it whose Successor Robert Greaves in the ninth year of Henry the eighth passed it away to Roger VVake and this Roger VVake in the fifteenth year of the said Prince's Government alienated by Sale his Concernment in it to Richard Bernard who some few years after devested himself of his Right in it and sold it to Adam Henman of Lenham where after the Title some few years had fixed he in the twelfth year of Queen Elizabeth conveyed it over to Amias Thompson and he gave it in Dower with his Daughter Alice Thompson to Sir John Tooke from whom in the memory of these Times it devolved by Descent to his Son Captain Nicholas Tooke who passed it away by Sale to Mr. Richard Tilden Then we have here secondly another place which in some old Evidences is represented under the Name of Nottingham Court though now it bears the Name of Higham It was the Residence of a noble Family called Nottingham who were Owners of a large Patrimony in this Track and their Armes stand yet in old coloured Glasse in Milsted Church viz. Paly wavee of four pieces Gules and Artent The last of which was John Nottingham who expired in a Daughter and Heir called Eleanor Nottingham who by matching with Simon Cheney second Son of Sir Richard Cheney of Shurland brought this and a large Demeasne with it to acknowledge the Signiory of that Family in which Name without any Vicissitude to transplant the Title it is fixed at this day Milton Septuans in the Hundred of Westgate was anciently a Parish See more of this Family at Thurnham and had a Church appertaining to it though now by disuse it be languished into decay and shrunk into so narrow an Estimate that it has left only an Oratory or little Chappel which is yet visible to instruct us what was its former Glory which certainly was of no inconsiderable Account when it was the Seat of the elder House of Septuans who made this their Residence For VVilliam Septuans Son of William Septuans had here is Habitation when he was Sheriff of Kent which was in the fourth year of Richard the second but long after this Man did it not continue in the Name of Septuans for this Family as to that Branch of it which was planted at this place shrunk into a Daughter and Heir who was matched to Sir Francis Fogge and so this place fell under his Revenue And from him descended Sir Will. Fogge whose Successor Sir John Fogge of Repton Knight passed this away to Sir George Brown of Bechworth Castle in whom it remained till this Mans Grandchild Sir Thomas Brown of Bechworth aforesaid partly sold it and partly gave it in Dower with his Daughter Elizabeth Brown to Sir Robert Honywood of Charing whose eldest Son by this Match Sir Thomas Honywood of Marks Hall in Essex is now planted in the Fee-simple of it Moldash in the Hundred of Felborough is a Branch of the Mannor of Chilham but yet there is the Mannor of Flemings aliàs Bowers for so it is styled in Records and Court-rolls which deserves our Notice It was in the year 1019 as an ancient Court-roll now in the Hands of Mr. Chapman does inform me in the Hands of John de Fleming and probably here it remained diverse years though I can discover nothing which may evince the certainty of it for there is an Intermission or Gap in the Evidences In the twenty fourth year of Henry the sixth as appears by another ancient Court-roll it was the Possession of John Treswenall and in this Name it continued till the Raign of Henry the eighth and then it was alienated to Sir Thomas Moile in whose Posterity the Title and Demeasne was setled till our Fathers memory and then the Fee-simple was sold away to Mr. Henry Chapman Then secondly there is the Mannor of Witherling who had Owners who bore that Sirname and who had certainly the Possession of it severall Generations which is manifest from that compliance the Name had with the Mansion though the Evidence which I have drained from the Deeds and Muniments of this place reaches no higher then the Government of Henry the sixth for in the thirty eighth year of that Prince's Rule Joan Witherling the visible and only apparent Heir of this Family transmitted her Interest in it by Sale to William Keneworth whose Son William Keneworth by the like Fatalitie passed it away in the Raign of Henry the seventh to John Moile of Buckwell Esquire extracted from the Moiles of Bodmin in Cornwall and this John Moile in the fourth year of Henry the eighth sold it to Hamo Vidian a Name very ancient in Moldash for here is a Farme which at this Day carries the Name of Vidian-Forestall and his Grandchild William Vidian at this instant enjoys the Fee-simple of it Mongeham called for distinction Great-Mongeham to difference it from an Hamlet of that Name styled Little-Mongeham lies in the Hundred of Eastry and was given to the Church by Eadbert King of Kent for a supply both of Diet and Apparell of the Monks of St. Austins as the Book of Christ-Church does insinuate and upon the Dissolution of the Covent and annexing the Demeasn to the Revenue of the Crown it was by Henry the eighth in the thirty third year of his Raign granted to the Dean and Chapter of Christ-Church who conveyed it in Lease to John Fropchunt from whom by Purchase it was brought over to Gibs and is now the Patrimony and Hereditarie Right of Crayford a Name of deep and
Master or Conservator of her Jewells whose Son Sir Jo. Astley upon his Decease bequeathed it to his Nephew Sir Norton Knatchbull Knight and Baronet who is the instant Proprietarie of it Champions-Court is the second place of Account in this Parish It was in elder Times the Mansion and Demeasne of a generous Family whose Sirname was Campania and was certainly a Family of eminence in elder Times Robert de Campania is inserted in the Register of those Kentish Gentlemen who accompanied Richard the first to the Seige of Acon John de Campania his Grandchild obtained the Grant of a Market to Newenham weekly on the Thursday and a Fair yearly to continue the Vigil the Day of St. Peter and Paul and the Day after and was one of those Knights of Kent who was embarked in the Seige of Carlaverock in Scotland with Edward the first in the twenty eighth year of his Raign In Times of a younger Aspect the Name by Depravation and vulgar Use languished into Champion and so continued till it expired in Daughters and Coheirs one of which was Katharine Champion who by matching with Robert Corbett descended from the Corbetts of Morton Corbett in the County of Salop upon the Division of Champions Estate united this to his Revenue where it had not long rested but the same vicissitude brought this Name to determine in female Coheirs likewise two of which called Joan and Elizabeth were espoused to Samuell Slap and Ralph Hart. Samuell Slap had Issue Joan Slap who dyed childlesse and so this Mannor was cast into the Possession of Richard Hart Son of Ralph Hart the Successor of Richard Hart in our Fathers Memory alienated his Interest in it to Sir Henry Spiller and he not many years since conveyed all his Right and Title to it by Sale to Mr. Weckerlin descended from the Weckerlins a Family of good Ranke and Account in Upper Germany A third place of Note in Newenham is Sholand whih was in the Raign of H. the third as an old datelesse Deed discovers to us the Patrimony of Adam de Stomynton and after this Name went out the Bournes of Sharsted in Dodington not far removed from this place were about the twentieth year of Edward the third possest of this Lordship from them by purchase the Propriety was carried over to Chevin descended from the Chevins of Chevins-court in Marden and Thomas Chevin of this place married Thomasin Coheir of Champion of Champions Court in this Parish From Chevin the Interest of Sholand did descend by Sale to Maycott and from them by the same Fate to Adye a Family of Note and very much Antiquity as to the Name in this Track whose Right it had not long acknowledged but by the same Devolution the Title was invested in Steere from whom by Purchase it came over to Sayers descended from those of York-shire who in that Age our Fathers lived in sold his Concernment in it to Mr. Hugison of Dover in whose Heirs the Propriety of this place is at this instant resident Newington-Belhouse lies in the Hundred of Folkston and was in the Raign of King John and Henry the third the Possession of Hubert de Burgo Lord Chief Justice of England and from him it descended to his Son John de Burgo who in the fifty fifth year of Henry the third passed it away by Sale to Thomas de Belhouse by the Name of Newington juxta Hieth And probably this may be a Reason why this Family after they had adopted this Mannor into their own Name assumed a Coat which had some Affinitie with that of Hubert de Burgo videlicet Or upon a Bend Gules three Lozinges Argent and Gules which I suppose was done to preserve the Memory of him of whom it was first purchased But to proceed Sir Thomas de Belhouse great Grandchild of the above-mentioned paid respective Aid for this Mannor by the Name of Newington-Belhouse in the twentieth year of Edward the third at making the Black Prince Knight and died possest of it in the forty eighth year of that Princes Raign from whom a descendant Right brought it down to his Heir John de Belhouse who enjoyed it so narrow a space of Time that it is left upon Record that he died seised of it in the forty ninth year of Edward the third and Robert Knevit a younger Son of Sir John Knevit Lord Chancellor of England who had married the Heir Generall of this Family was found to be his Heir and it was this Robert or else probably his Son who in the seventh year of Henry the fourth had a Patent of Confirmation of Liberty of Free-warren to his Lands at Newington formerly granted to Thomas de Belhouse After the Line of the Knevits was extinguished at this place which was about the beginning of Henry the eighth this Mannor devolved to the Cloptons for Edmund Knevit of Stanwaymagna in Essex had three Sisters who were Coheirs to him and their Father Edward Knevit Esquire Thomasin the eldest was matched to Sir William Clopton of Kentwell in Suffolk for his second Wife and Katharine the second Sister was married to John Clopton Esq eldest Son of the above-said Sir William and Dorothy the third was matched to Thomas Carnaby but these desiring to Contract all their Patrimony within the Verge of Suffolk alienared this Mannor in the twenty seventh year of King Henry the eighth with much of their Land in the Mersh to Thomas Lord Cromwell who being attainted in the thirty second year of Henry the eighth this Mannor escheated to the Crown and lay couched in its Revenue untill the first year of Queen Mary and then it was granted to Edward Lord Clinton who in the last year of the above-said Princesse conveyed it with all its perquisites to Henry Herdson whose Grandchild Francis Herdson almost in that Age we entitle to our Fathers Remembrance alienated it to Mr. Henry Brockman Grandfather to the instant Proprietarie James Brockman Esquire Sene and Bithborough were two ancient Seats which related to the Knightly Family of Valoigns of whom I shall speak more in my Discourse of Petham but before the latter end of Edward the third this Family was extinguished and then one of the two Daughters and Coheirs upon the Distinction of the Estate parcells brought these two places to be the Inheritance of Sir Francis Fogge who lies buried Cross-legg'd in Cheriton-Church with the Arms of Fogge and Valoigns empal'd upon his Tombe and from him did the Propriety and Title in an uninterupted Channell stream down to George Fogge Esquire who alienated Sene in our Grandfathers Memory to Honywood and Bithborough to Mr. Henry Brockman who added much to the ancient Building so that it is now become the Seat of that Family Bertrams in Newington is so called because it was parcell of the Estate of Bertram de Crioll who died possest of it in the twenty third year of Edward the first and left it to Joan his Heir espoused to Sir Richard de
Imposition was scrued or wound up too much he abates and mollifies it by these Engagements perpetually for the future to oblige and endear them to assert and maintain his new atchieved Royaltie But to return to my Discourse In times of a more recent Inscription that is in the seventh year of King John the Prior and Monks of Christ-church obtained a Market to this their Mannor to be observed weekly on the Wednesday as appears Carta de Anno septimo R. Joannis Memb. secund with which Franchise it continued invested untill the twenty ninth of Henry the eighth and then being by the Monks abovesaid with the Residue of their Revenue into the Hands of that Prince it remained with the Crown untill the thirty second year of his Government and then it was granted to Pereivall Hart of Lullingston Esq to whose pious and charitable Beneficence the Almes Houses at this place owe their original Foundation and from him is the Propriety of it now descended to his great Grandchild Will. Hart Esq Crofton in this Parish did formerly swel into so much of Grandeur and populacy that it was known for a Parish of it self till by Fire it was entombed in its present Desolations and by the Violence of that wild and impetuous Element reduced into a Heap of Flame and Ruines and certainly those deplorable Remains which yet expose themselves to an Inquisitive Eye and the Groundsells too and scattered Foundations of Houses which the Plough often raises out of their Sepulcher of Rubbish and represents to the publick View do evince this Truth to us that Towns and Villages have their stated Period of Duration and must at length find a Grave like Men. But though this Village be shrunk into this disordered Heap yet still it preserves the Reputation of a Mannor which it had anciently when it was the Inheritance of Wibourn a Family in elder Times of high Esteem and a considerable Revenue in this Territory Ralph de Wibourn held Lands here and in other places of Kent as appears by sundry ancient Deeds now in the Possession of Wibourne of Halkewell in the raign of Edward the first and did after execute a Deed for Land in Wrotham Hundred in the tenth year of Edward the second And in the twentieth year of Edward the third John de Wybourne paid respective Aid for his Lands here and at other places in this County at the making the Black Prince Knight after Wibourne had relinquished the Possession of this place which was about the latter end of Edward the third it went away by Sale to Sir Robert Belknap who was attainted and banished by that Factious Parliament which was held in the tenth year of R. the second for vigorously endevouring to vindicate and assert his Prerogative against the Invasions and Inroads which some of the turbulent Nobility of those times did attempt to make upon it but this though forfeited and escheated to the Crown upon his pretended Treason was by Richard the second restor'd to Hamon Belknap Lord of Oston in the County of Warwick and from him it was by Descent transferred to John Belknap his Son who upon his Decease which was in the fifteenth year of Henry the sixth bequeathed it to Sir Henry Belknap who determined in three Daughters and Coheirs Alice married to Sir William Shelley Anne matched to Sir Robert Wotton and Elizabeth first wedded to Sir Philip Cook of Giddy-Hall in Essex and after to I eonard Dannett of the County of VVorcester who divided his Patrimony but this upon ballancing the partition of the Estate fell upon the poising of it in equall portions to be the Demeasn of Sir VVill. Shelley who demised it by Sale to Sir Rob. Read Lord Chiefe Justice of the Kings Bench and he in the raign of Henry the seventh passed it away by Grant to the Hospital of the Savoy in ' London where it has ever since without any Interruption of the first Donation remained successively resident Bark-hart has obtained a place in the Map of Kent and therefore shall not want one in this Discourse It was built by Percivall Hart Esquire Father to the late Sir Percivall but it was adorned with this Name by Queen Elizabeth when she was magnificently entertained at this place by the above said Gentleman Upon her Reception she received her first Caresses by a Nymph which personated the Genius of the House then the Scene was shifted and from several Chambers which as they were contrived represented a Ship a Sea Conflict was offered up to the Spectator's View which so much obliged the Eyes of this Princesse with the Charms of Delight that upon her Departure she left upon this House to perpetuate the Memory both of the Author and Artifice the Name and Appellation of Bark-hart There is a Tradition that Thomas de Beckett Arch-bishop of Canterbury was born at Tubbingden whose Demeasne is partly situated in Ferneborough and partly in this Parish But to dissipate this received Fiction I shall manifest out of an old Parliament Roll of the thirty first year of Henry the sixth the original Truth that is so much of it as concerns his Cradle or place of Nativity The Record in its own Dialect speaks thus James Earl of Wiltshire and Ormond whose Fader and many of his Ancestors are lineally descended of the Blode of the glorious Martyr St. Thomas sometimes Arch-bishop of Canterbury The which glorious Martyr was born of his Moder within the Ground where now is set the House or Hospital of the said Martyr called St. Thomas Acres now in the City of London where the Body of the said Earl lies buried and Dame Joane Beauchamp late Lady of Burgavenny Crandame to the said Earl of Ormond and Wiltshire For Tubbenden it self it was Anciently the Demeasne of a Family which was known by that Sirname for by a Deed now in the Hands of Mr. Wittingham Wood of Canterbury Esquire it appears Gilbert Saundre of Crofton did demise several parcels of Land to John de Tubbenden of Ferneborough and to Richard Philip John and Robert his Sons in the twenty first year of Edward the first which justifies it Anciently to be the Possession of one of that Name After Tubbenden Belknap was Proprietary of this place and then successively by Alice his Co-heir Sir William Shelley of Michelgrove in Sussex from which Family it was brought down by Purchase in the beginning of the raign of Henry the eighth to be the Estate of Posier who after some few years continuance in the Possession demised his Concernment in it by Sale to Dalton issued out from the Daltons of Yorkeshire which Name suddainly resolved into a Female Heir known by the Name of Anne Dalton who by matching with Aunsell Beckett linked it to the Demeasne of that Family from whom it descended to his Son Matthew Beckett who upon his Decease bequeathed it to Mr. John Winterborn of London who hath lately passed it away to Mr. ...... Gee of the County of Yorke
Esquire St. Mary Crey in the Hundred of Rokesley though it be a Market Town yet is but a Chapâ—el of Ease to Orpington Before the Conquest one Elfgat held it as Doomes-day Book which makes a Recapitulation of the first Owners informs us of the Arch-bishop of Canterbury In the Conqueror's Time Hugh Nephew of Herbert Bishop of Baion possest it under the Notion of a whole Knights Fee In Ages of a more modern Date that is in the raign of Henry the third John de Maries descended from Thomas de Maries who accompanied Richard the first to the Seige of Acon enjoyed a whole Knights Fee at Ackmere and Sentling two eminent Mannors in this Parish but about the beginning of Edward the first had deserted the Possession and surrendered it to Gregory de Rokesley Grand-child to John de Rokesley who likewise was embarked with Richard the first at the Seige of Acon and he in the ninth of Edward the first obtained the Grant of a Market on the Wednesday and a three Dayes Faire at the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary to St. Mary Crey as appears Pat. 9. Edw. 1. Memb. 35. and left it to his Son Sir Richard de Rokesley who dying in the seventeenth year of Edward the second without Issue-male by Agnes one of his Daughters and Co-heirs to Thomas de Poynings in which Name it continued until the latter end of Edward the third and then I find it possest by Sir Robert Belknap who was attainted in the tenth year and banished into Ireland for too vigorously attempting to boulster up the Majesty and Prerogative of that Prince against the Assaults and invasions which were made upon it by a Factious Junto of the Nobility yet it was suddainly after restored to his Posterity for in the ninteenth of Richard the second I find Hamon Belknap reseated in the Possession by the Royal Concession and Indulgence of that Prince and from him it did devolve to his Grand-child Sir Henry Belknap which Family being enterred in Daughters and Co-heirs Sir Robert Wotton by matching with Anne that was one of them entituled himself in her Right to the Inheritance of both these Places and so by the Thread of a continued Descent was it brought down to Thomas Lord Wotton who settled them in Marriage upon his eldest Daughter and Co-heir Mrs. Katherine Wotton who was espoused to Henry Lord Stanhop Heir apparent to Philip Earl of Chesterfeild Orlanston in the Hundred of Hamme was the Inherirance of a Family of that Sirname William de Orlanston is registred in the List of those Kentish Gentlemen who assisted Richard the first at the Siege of Acon William de Orlanston his Son held it in the raign of Henry the third and obtained a Charter of Free-warren to it in the one and fiftieth year of Henry the third and more to improve the Grandeur of this his Mannor with Additional Franchises he likewise obtained a Market to be weekly observed here and a Fair yearly which was to continne by the space of three Dayes at the Feast of Holyrode as appears Pat. de 51. Hen. 3. Memb. 10. The Grant of which Market was renewed and confirmed to John Kemp Arch-bishop of Yorke and after of Canterbury in the twentieth year of Henry the sixth William de Orlanston this mans Grand-child was Sheriff of Kent in the second year of Edward the third and had the Custody of the County some part of the year following and died the thirty eighth year of Edward the third and had Issue Sir John Orlanston who was Burgess for Romeney as appears by some old Records in Dover Castle sundry Times both in the raign of Edward the third and Richard the second and matched with the Daughter and Heir of Sir William at Capell from which Alliance proceeded Richard Orlanston Esquire who died possest of Orlanston in the seventh year of Henry the fifth Rot. Esc Num. 16. and left his Inheritance to be divided between his two Sisters and Co-heirs Margaret matched to William Parker of Parkers in Werehorne and Joane espoused to William Scott of Scotts Hall who upon the Partition of the Ancient Patrimony was invested in his Wife 's Right in this Mannor of Orlanston from whom the Clew of many Descents hath transported the Propriety to the instant Possessor Mr. Edward Scott of Scotts Hall Esquire Here were Lands divorced from this Place by no far Distance called Oswareston for I find Henry Earl of Augie gave to the Monks of Bermondsey in Southwarke his Lands called Oswareston near Romelin in the Parish of Lyda and the Lands of John the Clerk in Bilsington of which see Vincents Book of Nobility Fol. 190. Westbery in this Parish was as high as the private Evidences of this Place can give us any Prospect to discover the Propriety of a Family called Prisott who was planted here as high as the Raign of Henry the fourth and t is probable much higher though the Deeds reach no farther Of this Family was Sir John Prisot the Judge of whom there is frequent mention in our Law Books which have an Aspect upon the Raign of Henry the sixth and in this Name was the Title of this Mannor carried down to the eighth year of Henry the eighth and then it was by Thomas Prisot passed away by Sale to George Hount in whom the Possession had not many years been resident but the same Fatality brought it over to Reginald Strogle who was in the Commission of the Peace in the Raign of Edward the sixth and was descended from a Family which was of a very high Original in Romney-Mersh where there are some Lands yet which bear their Name After Strogle had left it it came by Purchase to Mr. Bennet Guildford a Branch of the Guildfords of Hempsted who in the beginning of the Raign of Queen Elizabeth falling under the Censure and Penalty of a Pramunire for refusing the Oath of Supremacy and flying beyond Sea forfeited this place to the Crown and this Princesse immediately after passed it away by Grant to Walter Moile of Buckwell from whom not many years after this original Concession it went away by Sale to Mr. Francis Bourne Grand-father to Mr. ...... Bourne the present Proprietary of it Ospringe in the Hundred of Feversham was anciently a Limb or Appendage of the Royal Revenue until King Edward the thind in the tenth year of his Raign by Royal Concession or Grant passed it away to John de Pultency afterwards Lord Mayor of London to hold it in Fee of the Crown by the Service of a Rose offered up or presented as a Symbol of Annual Fealty and with this Mannor he granted him likewise all the Advousons of-Churches which formerly related to it to hold in Soccage only by the former acknowledgement In the nineteenth year of his Raign the above said Prince grants this John de Pulteney that Thomas Son of William de Dene should be accountable to him for all those Knights Fees which lay in
Num. 14. And from him did it by a constant Tide of uninterrupted Interest surrender it self up to Sir Edward Poynings who in the fourteenth year of Henry the eighth dyed without any lawful Issue and as it appeared too then without any collateral Alliance that could by any Title knit by never so far distant an Affinity to him lay the Foundations of any pretended Claim to his estare so that it escheated to the Crown and K.H. the eighth in the thirty second and thirty third of his Rule granted it to I. Limsey who not many years after passed it away to Alderman Garret of London Ancestor to Sir Iohn Garret of the County of Hertford Baronet in whom the possession of this place is at this instant resident Preston in the Hundred of Wingham was the Inheritance of the Lord Leybourn William de Leybourn had a Grant of a Market and a Fair to his Mannor of Preston in the thirty fifth year of Edward the first from whom it descended to his Son Roger de Leybourn who went out in a Daughter and Heir called Juliana Leybourn so often mentioned in this Discourse who first matched to John de Hastings a Kinsman of Laurence de Hastings Earl of Pembroke That he was not his Son is most evident for then he must by Consequence have been her second Husband for William de Clinton who was her second Husband and hath been by publike Records always so reputed deceased by the Testimony of all in the twenty eighth of Edward the third Juliana his Wife in the forty third year of that Prince Rot. Esc Num. 57. And John de Hastings in the forty ninth year of Edward the third which upon a serious Computation of Time makes it impossible that this John de Hasting whom all conclude to have been her first Husband should be that John who was Son to Laurence Earl of Pembroke nor could it be any other William de Clinton then this before mentioned First because he was the last Earl of Huntington of the Name Secondly if we should make him to be any other he must be designed Husband for this Juliana after the Death of this John de Hasting who survived this Juliana six years as appears by the former ballancing of Time which will appear altogether absurd and impossible Thirdly all do concurre that this VVilliam de Clinton who was her second Husband was Lord Warden of the Cinque-ports in the twelfth year of Edward the third Admiral of the Narrow-Seas Westward in the fifteenth year and had the Custody of all the Kings Forrests Southwards beyond Trent in the seventeenth year of that Prince's Government which could be no other than this VVilliam Earl of Huntington who although he were fruitful in Offices he was not so in Children for he dyed without Issue by this Lady Juliana who after his death remained in the State of Widowhood for ought I can yet discover untill her decease for in the Escheat-roll mentioned before she is styled Comitissa de Huntington upon whose death none appearing either directly or collaterally who justly could entitle themselves to her Patrimony the Crown claimed it as an escheat and Richard the second granted it to Sir Simon de Burleigh Lord Warden of the Cinque-ports who being afterwards attainted in the tenth year of that Prince it was re-invested in the royal Revenue and was not long after by Richard the second granted to the Abby of St. Mary Grace on Tower-hill and some part of it to the Priory of Canons Langley and sometimes written Childrens Langley and here it dwelt untill the general Suppression and then King Henry the eighth in the thirty fifth year of his reign granted it to Sir Thomas Moile whose Daughter and Coheir Amy Motle incorported it into the demeasne of her Husband Sir Thomas Kempe where it had had no long aboad when this Sir Thomas dyed without Issue-male and left his estate to be divided between four Daughters and Coheirs Anne one of whom carried this away to Sir Thomas Chichley of the County of Cambridge whose Son Thomas Chichley Esquire hath lately by Sale transmitted his Right in it to Mr. ..... Spence and Mr. Robert Spence of Baukham in Sussex Preston by VVingham had the Grant of a Market procured to it on the Monday and a Fair of three days continuance at the Feast of St. Crosse in the thirty fifth of Edw. the first Sir Simon de Burleigh had the Grant of a Market renued to this place on the Friday and a Fair by the space of three days at the Feast of St. Mildred the Virgin in the tenth year of Richard the second Petham gives Name in part to that Hundred wherein it hath its Position being called the Hundred of Bredge and Petham and was always a Mannor folded up in the revenue of the Arch-bishop though I confess I cannot trace out in the wilderness of Antiquity who was the first Donor If you peruse the Pages of Doomes-day Book you wil find it there thus represented Petham est proprium Manerium Archiepiscopi in Tempore Edwardi Regis se defendebat pro VII Sullings nunc similiter est appretiatum XX lb. And this is enough to refute that mistake in Eadmerius not long since printed by Mr. Selden which I believe is only by Accident and not voluntary which says that Anselm mortgaged or pawned Peckham to the Monks of Canterbury which was long before given to them by Q. Edgiva Indeed it should have been printed Petham that being always as you have seen a Mannor of the Arch-bishops till it was engaged which it seems was never redeemed for it continued in the revenue of the Monks in Christ-church until the Dissolution and then it was transplanted into the revenue of the Crown and lay there until K. James in our Fathers memory granted it to Tho. Thompson Esq Ancestor to Mr. Thompson Esq who now enjoys the possession of it Swerdling is a Mannor in this Parish of as eminent Account as any in this Track and was the Capital Mansion of the Noble and ancient Family of Valoigns Ruallo de Valoigns was Sheriff of Kent in the first year of Henry the second and in the Pipe-rolls of that year is written of Swerdling and he was witness to King Stephen's Charter Rot. Pipae de An. 13. Hen. tertii whereby he grants the Mill at East-Bridge in Canterbury to the Monks of Christ-church Waretius de Valoigns is in the Catalogue of those Kentish Gentlemen who assisted Richard the first at the Siege of Acon in Palestine Robert de Valoigns had the Repute of a Baron in the thirteenth year of Henry the third and under that Notion held the fourth part of a Knights Fee of Wallingford Castle Allan de Valoigns was Sheriff of Kent in the thirty first thirty second thirty third and thirty fourth years of Henry the third and held his Shrievalty at Swerdling Waretius de Valoigns in the forty fifth year of Henry the third by
this Family was mouldered away the Says of Coldham were interessed in the possession and Geffrey de Say possest it in the fifteenth year of Edward the second Rot. Esc Num. 20. The next Family in Succession to these was the Mowbrays and Elizabeth Wife of Thomas Duke of Norfolk and Daughter of Richard Earl of Arundell held it at her Decease which was in the third year of Henry the sixth Rot. Esc Num. 25. And so did her Son John Mowbray Duke of Norfolke who deceased in the eleventh year of Henry the sixth Rot. Esc Num. 129. And was descended from John Mowbray who held it as appears by ancient Court-rolls as parcel of the Barony of Bedford in the reign of Edward the second After the Mowbrays the Nevill Barons of Aburgavenny were invested in the Fee and remained seated in the possession until the reign of Q Elizabeth and then Henry Lord Nevill in the twenty ninth year dying without Issue-male it was disposed with much other Land to his Brother Sir Edward Nevill from whom it is now brought down to his Grandchild John Lord Nevill who enjoys the instant Inheritance of it Ridley in the Hundred of Acstane acknowledges it self to have been anciently a Branch of the patrimony of the Lords Leybourn and Rog. de Leybourn in the 55 th year of H. the third sells Ridley excepting the Advowson to Bartholomew VVodeton In which Family the Title was not very permanent for in the reign of Edward the third I find the VVallis's to have been its Proprietaries Augustin VVallis obtained a Charter of Free-warren to his Mannor of Ridley in the twenty second year of Edward the third and dyed possest of it in the twenty eighth year of that Prince's Government Rot. Esc Num. 55. After the VVallis's were expired and vanished the Rickhills held this Mannor where it was not long constant for VVilliam Rickhill about the sixteenth of Henry the sixth conveyed it by Deed to Tho. Edingham or Engham who again in the ninteenth year of the abovesaid Prince passed it away by Fine to Robert Savery from which Name not many years after it came by the same Vicissitude to be the Inheritance of Bevill in whose Descendants it remained untill the Beginning of Henry the eighth and then it was by purchase fastned to the demeasn of Fitz and VValter Fitz by Deed whose dare commences from the twenty seventh of Henry the eighth conveyed it to Will. Sidley of Southfleet Esq Ancestor to Sir Charles Sidley Baronet to whom upon the late Decease of his Brother Sir William Sidley it owns for its present Possessor Ridlingswould is a Member of Dover Bartholomew Lord Badelesmer obtained the Grant of a Market to Ridling swould and a three Dayes Fair at St. Nicolas in the ninth of Edward the 2. as appears Pat. 9. Ed. 2. N. 57. and was parcel of the Honor of Fulberts and Fulbert de Dover held it as appears by Doomes-day Book in the twentieth year of William the Conqueror in Ages of a nearer Approach to us that is in the raign of Henry the third Richard de Dover and Roesia his Wife were possest of it as appears Ex Bundellis Annor incertorum Henrici tertii Rot. Esc Num. 237. When this Family went out the Badelesmeres stept in Bartholomew Lord Badelesmer that powerful Baron obtained a Charter of Free-warren to his Lands here in the ninth year of Edward the second and was Steward too to the Houshold of King Edward the second as appears by a Confirmation of the Charter of the City of London which bears Date from that year of Edward the second and to which he as Teste writes himself Steward of the Kings Houshold but not long after being entangled in that Combination which was made by Thomas Earl of Lancaster and sundry other Barons against that Prince he forfeited both his Estate and Life as the price of that seditious Attempt but this with much other Land was restored to his Son Bartholomew Lord Badelesmer in the second year of Edward the third but he died without Issue in the twelfth year of that Prince Rot. Esc Num. 44. So that his large Revenue was proportionably divided between his four Sisters and Co-heirs whereof this was a Limb and fell in upon the partition to the Inheritance of John Vere Earl of Oxford by Matilda de Badelesmer and he held it at his Death which was in the fortieth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 38. But in this Family it did not long continue after his Exit for in the raign of Richard the second I find Robert Belknap possest of it and enjoyed it at his Death which was in the second year of Henry the fourth after his Return from his Exilement into Ireland whither he was banished for his too active asserting the Prerogative against the Liberty of the Populacie in the tenth year of Richard the second In the second year of Richard the third I find William Belknap Esquire was in the Fruition of it at his Decease Rot. Esc Num. 16. and from him did it devolve to his Successor Sir Henry Belknap in whom this Name was extinguisht so that his Estate was resolved into several parcels which came over to Alice his Daughter and Co-heir matched to Sir William Shelley Anne married to Sir Robert Wotton and Elizabeth wedded to Sir Philip Cooke of Giddie-hall in Essex and in these Families did the complicated Interest of this place remain concentered until that Age which fell under our Grand-fathers Cognisance and then it was by joint-Concurrence passed away to Edelph from whom it is brought down to Sir ...... Edolph who holds the present Signory of it Oxney-house in this Parish was an Ancient Seat of the Noble Family of Criol Matilda Widow of Simon de Criol died possest of it in the fifty second year of Henry the third and transmitted it to Bertram de Criol who held it at his death which was in the twenty third year of Edward the first Rot. Esc Num. After him his Son Bertram de Criol was setled in the possession but was not long liv'd after his Father for he died in the thirty fourth year of Edward the first Rot. Esc Num. 37. and left it to his Brother John Criol who dying without Issue it was brought over to his Sister Joan Criol who by matching with Sir Richard de Rokesley made it the Inheritance of that Name and Family and was in possession of it at her Death which was in the fifteenth year of Edward the second Rot. Esc Num. 95. From whom it came down to Thomas Lord Poynings who had espoused Agnes one of the Coheirs of them two and in Right of this Alliance was his Successor Richard Lord Poyning found invested in it at his Death which was in the fifteenth year of Richard the second Parte prima Rot. Esc Num. 53. and left it to his Kinsman Robert de Poynings who passed it away by Sale to Tame and in the fourth year of
in Marriage on Katharine-Wotton his eldest Daughter and Co-heir espoused to Henry Lord Stanhop and she by her Feoffees in Trust hath demised the Fee-simple to Mr. Robert Oliver of Leybourn Loveherst is another Mannor in this Parish was parcel of that Estate which by its Income supported the Priory of Leeds and upon the Suppression was by Henry the eighth granted to Sir John Gage in the thirty fourth year of his reign and he in the thirty sixth of that Prince demised it to Thomas Colepeper Esquire who not long after alienated it to Thomas Wilford Esquire from whom about the beginning of Queen Elizabeth it passed away by Sale to Mr. John Baker in whose Descendants the Title is yet resident Engeherst presents it self next to our View it is now vulgarly called Henherst in Ages of an higher Ascent Engeherst for some old Deeds without Date bounding some Land in this Parish of Stapleherst make it situated juxta Terras Osberti de Hengherst supra Dennam de Engherst and from this Den or Vally did that Ancient Family called Engherst or Hengherst take the first Extraction of its Name who bore as appears by several Seals for their paternal Armory Barrie of six peeces and having continued in the possession of this place for many Descents at last the Inheritance was transmitted to Henry Hengherst and he in the twenty third year of Henry the sixth by his Feoffees in Trust setles it on his Kinsman John Nash and in his Family I find it in the reign of Edward the fourth and Henry the seventh and here for want of clearer Intelligence I must leap to the reign of Queen Elizabeth and then the Fee-simple was invested in Roberts and from this Family about the latter end of that Princess it went away by purchase to Moodye who in our Fathers Memory alienated it to Samuel Ovenden by whose Daughter and Co-heir Elizabeth Ovenden it is now come to own the Heirs of her late Husband Mr. Partrich Tindall Spilsill-court is the last place of Account in this Parish it was as appears by very Ancient Deeds the Residence of a Family of that Name which before the end of King Edward the second was crumbled into Decay and then the Stangraves succeeded in the Possession for Robert de Stangrave at his Decease held some Estate at or in Spilsill in the twelfth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 52. But about the latter end of Edward the third this Family was likewise mouldered away and then it came to own the Signory of Maynie descended from Walter de Meduana or Maynie a man of that Repute as appears by the red Book in the Exchecquer Fol. 84. that he held twenty Knights Fees in this County but Mayneys situated in Bredgar was the Ancient Seat of this Name who having possest for so many Successions and Descents this Seat did not many years since transplant their Interest in it by Sale to Sharpeigh by whose Daughter and Heir it is now become the Inheritance of Mr. George Thompson of London Swalcliff in the Hundred of Blengate was given by Eadbald King of Kent as Thorn the Chronicler of St. Augustins informs me to the Cloister of St. Mildred at Minster in Thanett and was when her body was translated by King Canutus to the Abby of St. Augustins in Canterbury brought over along with it and knit to the Patrimony of that Cloister and the Monks of that Covent granted it away to be held in Fee by a Family which took its Denomination from thence and were called Swalclive and they held it the twentieth year of Henry the third as Testa de Nevill informs me and paid an auxiliary Contribution for it at the Marriage of Isabell that Prince's Sister but before the end of Edward the first this Family was expired and then the Family of St. Lawrence was setled in the Possession Thomas de St. Lawrence held it as appears by the Book of Aid kept in the Exchequer in the twentieth year of Edward the third at making the Black Prince Knight and dyed possest of it in the twenty second year of that Prince Rot. Esc Num. 9. And from him did it descend to his Grandchild Thomas St. Lawrence who setled it in Marriage with Katharine his Daughter and Heir matched to Sir William Apulderfield who determining in Daughters and Coheirs Elizabeth one of them espoused to Sir John Phineux Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench brought it to confesse the Signory of that Family but he deceasing without Issue-male Jane his only Daughter and Sole Inheritrix being matched to John Roper Esquire this Mannor became by this Alliance inoculated into his Patrimony and was resident in this Name untill the Beginning of King James and then it was conveyed to Mr. Benedict Barnham by one of whose four Daughters and Coheirs its Right and Title devolved to Soam of Suffolk who not many years since alienated his Concernment in it to Perry who hath lately transmitted it by Sale to Gould In the year 946. King Eadred gave Land at Swalclive to Heresigus one of his Servants and he again gave it to the Abby of St Augustins conditionally that a place of Sepulture might be reserved for him within their Cloister Snave in the Hundreds of Aloes-Bridge Ham and Newchurch was as high as I can discover a Portion or Member of that Patrimony which confessed the Signory of Haut and so continued untill Joan Daughter and Coheir of Sir William Haut being made the Wife of the unhappy Sir Thomas Wiatt a man of an unstained though an unsuccesseful Virtue this by Female Right became parcel of his Demeasne but when he and his Patrimony were demolished by that impetuous Gust of Misfortune which sunk them both into a heap of Ruines in the second year of Q. Mary this upon his Conviction of high Treason being escheated to the Crown that Princesse in the third year of her Government passed it away to Sir Henry Sidney Knight of the Garter and Lord Deputy of Ireland whose Successor the Right Honorable Robert Earl of Leicester not many years since conveyed it to Sir George Stonehouse Snavewick in this Parish was anciently wrapped up in the Demeasn of the Abby of St. Augustins but being pared off in the general Suppression by the rough Hand of Henry the eighth It was in the thirty fifth year of his reign granted for Life only to Sir Walter Henley but upon his Decease it returned to the Crown and lay there untill the late King Charls about the Beginning of his reign granted it to Mr. Patrick Black a Scotchman who not long after granted it in Lease to Sir Edw. Yates of Barkeshire and conveyed the Fee-simple in Reversion to Mr. Rob. Austin now of Hall-place in Bexley Swanscamp in the Hundred of Acstane hath contracted an eminent Character of Reputation since Sueno or Swain fixed here his Camp when he invaded England to expiate by a plenary Revenge that Blood which in so prodigal an Effusion
was by Etheldred let loose from the Veins of his Danish Subjects universally in this Nation and certainly it was this Swain that erected the Castle here to preserve a Winter Station for his Ships and though it now lye gasping in its own Rubbish yet there are yet some Characters and Signatures remaining which evidence and declare to us that there was once a Fortresse there where there is nothing now but dismantled Ruines The Tradition of the Country is that that Valley which interposes between that Hill which ascends up to Northfleet and that which winds up to Swanscamp was once covered with Water and being locked in on each side with Hills made a secure Road for Shipping which invited the Dane to make it a Winter-Station for his Navy and the same Report will tell you likewise of Anchors which have been digged up about the utmost Verge of that Mersh which is contiguous to the Thames and certainly if we consider the Position of this Valley which is nothing but a Chain of Mershland interlaced with a Stream called Ebbs fleet which swells and sinks with the Flux and Reflux of the adjacent River and the Dimension of their Ships then at that Time in use which were not of any extraordinary Bulk this Tradition is not improbable Near this place Stigand the Arch-bishop of Canterbury and Egelsine Abbot of St. Augustines assembled the Kentish Men into an Army pretending it was better to dye like Men in asserting and vindicating their Native Liberties with Swords in their Hands then like Slaves to prostitute themselves to the Insolence of the Conquerour by a cheap and tame Submission with Halters about their Necks which had so great an Influence and Impression upon their Spirits that they resolved their Franchises and themselves should find one Tomb together rather then they would give up both to the Sword and Will of an imperious Victor and indeed soon after they managed their Stratagems with that Successe that William Sirnamed the Conquerour advancing with his Normans into Kent to reduce Dover-Castle which was then made good against him he and his Army dropped into those Ambushes which the Kentish Inhabitants had strewed for him where he had indisputably perished had he not by Charter fortified and confirmed those Immunities they then contended and strugled for and which remain unviolated either by any forrain or domestick Eruption even untill this Day The Mannor of Swanscamp it self was as farre as Record can guide us to discover the Inheritance of the Montchensies called in the Latine Repertory de Monte-Canisio and Hubert de Montchensey as appears by Dooms-day Book was the first of that Name of any Eminence who was Lord of the Fee and after him his Son William de Montchensey by paternal Right held it and so dyed in Possession of it in the year 1287 from whom it descended to Dionis his Daughter and Heir and in Relation to her to her Husband Hugh de Vere who became by this Addition of Estate thus accruing Baron of Swanscamp and sat under that Notion in the Parliament which was summoned in the first year of Edward the second but he dying without Issue William de Valence Earl of Pembroke claimed it in Right of his Wife Daughter and Heir to John de Montchensey second Brother to William de Montchensey who was Father in Law to Hugh de Vere above-mentioned from whom it descended to his Son Aymer de Valence who dying without Issue in the seventeenth year of Edward the third Isabell his Sister matched to Lawrence de Hastings became his Heir who in her Right was Earl of Pembroke and Baron of Swanscamp and left it to his Grandchild John de Hastings Earl of Pembroke who dying without Issue in the fourteenth of Richard the second in the fifteenth year of that Prince Reginald Grey and Richard Talbot in respect of Marriage were found to be his Heirs and upon the Partition of the Estate this was united to the Demeasne of Talbot in which Family after it had rested untill the latter end of Henry the sixth it was conveyed to Sir Thomas Brown of Bechworth Castle whose Son Sir William Brown in the twelfth year of Edward the fourth surrendered them into the hands of Edward the fourth for the use of his Mother Cicely Dutchesse Dowager of York upon whose Decease it returned to the Crown and lay there untill the first year of Q. Elizabeth and then it was granted to Ralph Weldon Esq great Grand-father to Colonel Ralph Weldon the instant Lord of the Fee Alcharden alias Combes is another place in this Parish worthy this Survey It was many Hundred years since the Inheritance of a Family called Cumbe or Combe who continued resident in the Possession untill the reign of Edward the fourth and then it went away from them by Sale to Swan of Hook-House in Southfleet in which Family it was fixed untill the Beginning of Queen Elizabeth and then it was conveyed to Lovelace who not long after passed it away to Carter and he alienated it to Hardres from whom about the latter end of Queen Elizabeth the Vicissitude of Sale carried it off to Fagge who in the tenth year of King James transmitted it by Sale to Hudson whose Descendant not many years fince demised it by Sale to Mr. Richard Head of Rochester Ince-Grice is the last place considerable in Swanscampe It related before the general suppression to the Priory of Dartford but being torn off by King Henry the eighth it was by Edward the sixth in the fifth of his reign granted in Fee-Farm to Martin Muriell but the Fee-simple remained in the Crown until Queen Elizabeth in the fifth year of her Rule passed it away to Edward Darbishire and John Bere who not long after jointly conveyed it to Jones who in our Fathers Memory alienated it to Holloway whose Son and Heir Mr. Thomas Holloway hath lately demised his Interest in it to Captain Edward Brent of Southwarke Staple in the Hundred of Eastry hath two places memorable First Crixall which was Anciently written Crickleaddshall when in Ages of a higher Ascent it confessed the Family of Brockhull for its Owners which were Lords of it but until the twenty eighth of Edward the first and then it was setled upon a Daughter but whether she brought it or not by Marriage to Wadham which Family I find about the latter end of Edward the third to have been possest of it I cannot discover and where the Light of Record is dim I must acquiesce in silence William Wadhaem as I trace out by an old Pedigree of Fogg lived in the reign of Henry the fourth Henry the fifth and Henry the sixth under the Scepter of which Princes he managed the Office of Justice of the Peace for the County of Somerset and left his Estate here to his Son and Heir Sir Nicholas Wadham who determined in a Daughter and Heir matched to Sir William Fogg by which Alliance this Mannor came to be ingrafted into the
old Rentall discovers to me and farther none of the ancient Evidences do reach the Patrimony of Thomas Champneys and he makes it over in part to Sir William Wroth of Enfield and he in the second year of Richard the second alienated all his Right and Interest in it to Thomas Lovell but some part remained unsold untill the nineteenth of the abovesaid Prince and then it was wholly invested by Sale from Robert Champneys in the aforesaid Thomas Lovell and he by his Feoffees in Trust as namely John Osborne John Arnold Richard Marshall and John Atsheath conveyed it in the eleventh year of Henry the fourth to Thomas Theobald or Tebald and Mawde his Wife and so by this Purchase did it become the Inheritance of this Family and made its aboad here untill the twenty fourth year of Henry the seventh and then John Theobald alienated it to William Porter which Family it is probable were concerned in it before for in the tenth year of Edward the fourth I find John Alphey releases by Deed his right in Hall to William Porter Esquire and from William Porter abovesaid did the Title slow down in the Chanel of paternal Right to Mr. Andrew Porter who concluding in a Daughter and Heir called Elizabeth it is now by matching with her become the Patrimony of Mr. Peter Stowell Register of the Diocesse of Rochester Stidulfe is a third Mannor in Seale which afforded both Seat and Sirname to a Family so called Robert de Stidulfe is mentioned in Deeds without Date to have held this and much other Land in Seale In the thirty sixth year of Edward the third I find Reginald Stidulfe of Stidulfe accounts with Thomas Champneis for Land held of his Mannor of Hall And lastly I discover that William Stidulfe about the eleventh year of Henry the sixth by Sale conveyed it to William Quintin whose Son William changed the Name of Quintin into Oliver upon what Grounds I have discovered at Leybourn and in this Name was this Mannor lodged untill the Beginning of Queen Elizabeth and then it was passed away to Richard Theobald whose Son John exchanged it with his Kinsman Stephen Theobald who dying without Issue-male left two Coheirs Katharine matched to Edward Michell and Margaret wedded to David Polhill who shared his Inheritance and this upon the Division of the Estate augmented the Revenue of Michell and his Descendant Mr ....... Michell is now the Heir apparent of it Sedingbourn in the Hundred of Milton hath several places in its confines remarkable whereof Bayford and Goodneston first claim our Notice the last of which had a Castle whose Banks and Ruines are yet visible it anciently acknowledged the Family of Nottingham who likewise in elder Times were possest of Bayford for Proprietaries Robert de Nottingham flourished in the reign of Edward the first and dates several of his Deeds in the Beginning of that Prince's Rule apud Castellum suum de Goodneston Robert de Nottingham his Successor was Sheriff of Kent the forty eighth year of Edward the third and held his Shriovalty at Bayford in Sedingbourn in which year he dyed and was found to have held at his Death Lands at Sharsted Pedding in Tenham a place called Newland and another called la Herst Higham in Milsted Bixle in Tong now called Bex and lastly Goodneston and Babford now named Bayford in this Parish all which descended to his only Son John Nottingham whose only Daughter and Heir Eleanor Nottingham was matched to Simon Cheyney second Son of Sir Richard Cheyney of Shurland who brought all this spreading Revenue to acknowledge the Signory of this Family and the Coats of Cheyney and Nottingham viz. Azure six Lions Argent a Canton Ermin and Gules two Pales wavee Argent stand empaled in Milsted-church in coloured Classe But this Alliance though it much enhaunsed by additional improvement the Patrimony of Cheyney yet could not so strongly entwine the Interest of Bayford and Goodneston with this Name but that about the latter end of Henry the sixth they were conveyed away by Sale to Lovelace for Richard Lovelace of Queenhith in London a younger Branch of the Lovelaces of Bethersden made his Will the first of Aprill 1465 and there ordained that his Feoffees should make an Estate of his Mannors of Bayford and Goodneston in Sedingbourn which he had purchased of Cheyney to John Lovelace his Son and Heir which accordingly was performed and he invested in the Possession of them and from him did they by Descent devolve to his Crandchild Thomas Lovelace of Kingsdown who in the tenth year of Queen Elizabeth passed them away to Mr. Ralph Finch from which Family they went away by the same Revolution almost in our Fathers Memory to Alderman Garret of London who had Issue Sir John Garret of the County of Hertford whose Widow Dowager the Lady ..... Garret by right of Jointure now enjoys the Profits of both these Mannors Chilton is another Mannor in Sedingbourn which had Owners of this Sirname who likewise held another Mannor of this Name in Ash both which places William de Chilton held at his Death which was in the thirty first of Edward the first but after his Exit it did not long confesse the Propriety of this Family for about the Beginning of Edward the third it was demised by Sale to Corbie and Robert Corbie was possest of it at his Decease which was in the thirty ninth year of that Prince Rot. Esc Num. 9. and he had Issue Robert Corbie whose Sole Daughter and Heir Joan Corbie espoused Sir Nicholas Wotton twice Lord Maior of London by whom this Mannor and much other Land came by a fruitfull Augmentation to swell the Inheritance of this Family yet I find the Interest in Chilton was not solely lodged in Corbie for by ancient Deeds I discover that an old Family called Maris was concerned in some part of it likewise John de Maris held a Knights Fee in Wicheling and much other Land at Herietsham the twentieth year of Ed. the third as likewise the Mannor of Ackmere in St. Mary Crey in Castle-guard of Dover-castle and his great Grand-child William Maris was Sheriff of Kent the twenty first year of Henry the sixth and was Esquire to Henry the fifth and afterwards to Cardinall Kemp and lyes enter'd in Preston Church with so much of the Inscription left as may instruct the Reader that his Ashes slumber beneath the Tomb-stone yet before his Decease he had alienated his share in this Mannor to Nicholas Wotton Esquire from whom the united Interest of this place came down to Thomas Lord Wotton who not many years since setled it in Marriage on Katherine his eldest Daughter matched to Henry Lord Stanhop Son and Heir to Philip Earl of Chesterfeild lately deceased who still enjoyes the propriety of it In the year 1232. Henry Bishop of Rochester as Thomas Rudborne a Monk of St. Swithens in Winchester does relate came on a Sabbath Day with much exultation out of Sedingbourn Church
Rogers alienates it by Sale to Stephen Drayner and it is probable Rogers purchased it of Norton which Family as appears by the Feudaries Book held much Land here at Smerden and at or near Romden But to return In Drayner the Interest of this place was fixed until the seventeenth of Queen Elizabeth and then William Drayner passed it away by Sale to Sir Roger Manwood and he in the eighteenth year of that Princess alienates it again to Martin James Esquire Remembrancer of the Exchecquer and from him by the Devolution of successive and paternal Right it is now come down to acknowledge the Propriety of Mr. .... James Snergate in the Hundred of Aloe bridge celebrates the Memory of an Ancient Family styled Alarar Gervas Alarar was Captain and Admiral of the Fleet of Ships set forth and furnished by the Cinque-ports in the fourteenth year of Edward the first and Gervas Alarar was his Grand-child whose Widow Agnes Alarar was in possession of it at her Death which was in the forty second year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 1. But before the end of Henry the fourth this Family was shrunk into an Expiration and then Walter Moile who was a Judge in the reign of Henry the sixth succeeded in the Possession and he by a Fine levied in the thirtieth year of Henry the sixth demises it to Hugh Brent from whom about the latter end of Edward the fourth it was conveyed to Cheyney and in this Name it was fixed until Henry Lord Cheyney in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth alienated it to Henry Nevill Lord Aburgavenny who in the twenty ninth year of Queen Elizabeth dying without Issue-male Mary Nevill was found to be his Sole Inheritrix and she by matching with Sir Thomas Vane knit this Mannor to his Patrimony and his Son Francis Vane created Earl of Westmerland in the twenty second of King James alienated it in our Fathers Memory to Jackman who not long after sold it to Sir Edward Henden one of the Barons of the Exchecquer who upon his Decease gave it to his Nephew Sir John Henden whose Son and Heir Edward Henden Esquire now enjoyes the Signory of it Smeth in the Hundred of Bircholt hath in the Limits of it Scots-hall which is now and hath been for divers Descents the Inheritance of eminent Gentlemen of that Sirname whom I dare aver upon probable Grounds were originally called Balioll. William Balioll second Brother to Alexander de Balioll frequently writ his Name William de Balioll le Scot and it is probable that upon the Tragedy of John Earl of Atholl who was made prisoner by Edward the first and barbarously executed in the year 1307. whilst he endevoured more nobly then successfully to defend the gasping Liberty of Scotland against the Eruptions of that Prince this Family to decline the Fury of that Monarch who was a man of violent passions altered the Name of Balioll to that of their Extraction and Country and assumed for the future the Name of Scot. That the Sirname of this Family was originally Balioll I farther upon these Reasons assert First the ancient Arms of Balioll Colledge in Oxford which was founded by John Balioll and dedicated to St. Katharine was a Katharin-Wheele being still part of the paternal Coat of this Family Secondly David de Strabogie who was Son and Heir to the infortunate Earl abovesaid astonished with an Example of so much Terror altered his Name from Balioll to Strabogie which was a Signory which accrued to him in Right of his Wife who was Daughter and Heir to John Comin Earl of Badzenoth and Strabogie and by this Name King Edward the second omitting that of Balioll restored Chilham-castle to him for Life in the fifteenth year of his reign Thirdly the Earls of Bucleugh and the Barons of Burley in Scotland who derive themselves originally from Balioll are known at this instant by no other Sirname but Scot and bear with some inconsiderable Difference those very Arms which are at present the paternal Coat of this Family of Scots-hall Having thus traced out the Name I shall now represent a Scale of those eminent Persons who have either directly or collaterally been extracted from Scots-hall Sir William Scot who was knighted the tenth of Edward the third was Lord Chief Justice and Knight Marshal of England in the reign of that Prince Sir Robert Scot was Lieutenant of the Tower in the year 1424. Sir John Scot was Comptroller of the House one of the Privy Councel to Edward the fourth and Marshal of Calais Thomas Scot who was first Bishop of Rochester next of Lincolne Provost of Beverley Arch-bishop of York Lord Chancellor of England and Privy Councellor to King Edward the fourth altered his Name from Scot to Rotheram as being the place of his Education and Nativity but it is probable originally issued out from this Family Sir William Scot who was Son to Sir John above-mentioned was Lord Warden of the Cinque-ports Sir John Scot his Son was knighted by the Prince of Castile for signal Service performed by him against the Duke of Gueldres Sir Reginald Scot was Captain of the Castle of Callis Sir Thomas Scot was Commander in Chief of the Kentish Forces who assembled upon the plains by Northbourn to oppose the Spanish Invasion in the year 1588. All of which were either directly or collaterally Predecessors being of the same Family to Edward Scot now Proprietary of Scots-hall Esquire who was Son and Heir of Sir Edward Scot who was made Knight of the Bath at the Coronation of K. Charles Thevegate is a second Mannor in this Parish which was in elder Times the Inheritance of Gentlemen of no mean Account in this Track Robert de Passeley or Passelew for they are promiscuously so written was Treasurer of England under Peter de Rivallis in the reign of Henry the third as Mat. Paris in the Life of that Prince does record Edmund de Passeley was with Edward the second at Borough-Bridge in the seventeenth year as the Pipe-roll of that Time discovers and probably was instrumental in the Defeat given there to the Nobility then in Arms against that Prince and from him this Mannor did descend to John Passeley Esquire who in the reign of Edward the fourth determined in Elizabeth his sole Heir matched to Reginald Pimp Esquire who likewise had the Fate to conclude in a Female Inheritrix called Ann who was wedded to Sir John Scot of Scots-hall and Shee united Thevegate to the Revenue of that Family and from him is the Right of it by Descent transportted to his Successor Edward Scot of Scots-hall Esquire Smeth had the Grant of a Market procured to it by the Arch-bishop of Canterbury in the tenth year of Edward the third Shepebourn in the Hundred of Wrotham was the Patrimony of an ancient Family called Bavent whose principal Estate lay in Sussex and Surrey Adam de Bavent in the twelfth year of Edward the first obtained a Charter of Free-warren to his Mannor
her Brother is now entered upon it Brabourne is the second place of Account The first whom I find possest it was Baldwin de Betun Earl of Albemarle Falcatius de Brent who so vigorously asserted the Cause and Quarrel of King John against his Barons and afterwards merited very much of his Son Henry the third at the Battle of Lincolne where a considerable part of those Forces which Lewis the Dolphin of France had transported into England to support the Confederacie of the Seditious Barons was dissipated and discomfited But afterwards all National Animosities being charmed into Slumber by a general Peace he desiring still to improve the Flame of War since from that he expected both Heat and Light seised on the Castle of Bedford which was not wrung from him without the Expence of much Blood and Treasure to expiate which Crime his Estate here and else where was in the fifth year of Henry the third forfeited to the Crown as being the Price of so great an Insolence And then the abovesaid Monarch granted it wholly to Baldwin de Betun Earl of Albemarle and Hawis his Daughter and Co-heir brought it to her Husband William Mareschall Earl of Pembroke but Gilbert Mareschall this mans Successor dying without Issue Roger de Bigod Earl of Norfolk in Right of Mawde his Mother who was his Sister and Heir entered upon it and he in the eleventh year of Edward the first gives it to Otho Lord Grandison After this Family was worn out I find by an ancient Court-roll one Walter de Pevenley or Pemley possest of it in the reign of Edward the third and he it is possible erected the House which in old Deeds is written Pevenley or Pemley-court But before the beginning of Henry the sixth this Family was extinguished and gone and then the Ashe's were the succeeding Proprietaries a Family which before were Lords of much Land in this Track and in ancient Deeds were written de Fraxino from their Habitation near some place planted with those Trees and it is probable derived their Descent from Thomas de Esse who was one of the Recognitores Magnae Assisae in the fourth year of King John as appears by the Pipe-rols of that Time and certainly to this Name did a considerable part of the Fabrick of the House owe its first Original as appears by the Coat in divers of the Windows videlicet Azure three Cheverons Argent In fine after this Seat and Mannor had for many years been resident in this Family it was about the beginning of Queen Elizabeth alienated to Sir ...... Boswell whose Grand-child dying without Issue his Sister the Lady Margaret Boswell is now become the Heir General of this place Rumpsted and in very old Evidences written Rumpshot was the Inheritance of a Family which was known by that Sirname It is superfluous to inform the World how many by old Deeds are represented to have been possessors of this place amongst whom Sir William de Rumpsted is most eminent who flourished here in the reign of Edward the third and as the constant and successive Tradition of the Inhabitants of this Parish is was Foster-father to William de Sevenoke who was found a desolate and forlorn Orphan in the hollow Body of an Oake and received both Reception and Education from the Charity and Benevolence of the above-mentioned Person In whose Lineage the propriety of this place did not long after settle for by an old Court-roll I find it in the reign of Henry the sixth in the Tenure of Nisell but this Family not long after determining in a Female Heir she by matching with Bere brought it to acknowledge it self to be of the Interest of this Family but staid not long in the Name for about the beginning of Henry the eighth it was made by purchase the possession of Peckham from whom not many years after by the same fatality it went away to Bedell Nicholas Bedell in the third and fourth of Philip and Mary demised it to John Stacy of Hollenden and John Stacy in the fourth and fifth of Philip and Mary conveyes it to Richard Lone and his Successor Mr. Richard Lone hath very lately by Sale transmitted his Interest here to Thomas Lambert formerly of West-Combe in Greenwich Esquire Knoll is the last place of Account in Sevenoke It had in Times of elder Inscription the same Owners with Brabourne and Seale not far distant as namely Falcatius de brent Baldwin de Betun Earl of Albemarle William Mareschall Earl of Pembroke and Roger de Bigod Earl of Norfolk who in the eleventh year of Edward the first granted it with Seale and much other Land which devolved to him in Right of Mawde his Mother who was Sister and Heir to her Brother Gilbert le Mareschall Earl of Pembroke to Otho de Grandison and in his Descendants did it continue until the beginning of Richard the second and then it was conveyed by Sir Thomas Grandison to Geffrey de Say yet I do not find that the possession of this place was entirely planted in Grandison for an Inquisition taken after the Death of Reginald de Cobham in the thirty fifth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 62. Parte primâ represents him to have had some share or concernment in it yet how ever it were thus broken into parcels the Inheritance of this Mannor was wholly after this placed in Geffrey de Say as appears by some Court-rols which commence from the reign of Richard the second but he determining in Daughters and Co-heirs Joan one of them upon the Division of his Estate brought this as an Addition to the Patrimony of her Husband Sir William Fiennes and in this Family when the possession had had a Respite until the reign of Edward the fourth it was by Sir William Fiennes passed away by Sale to Thomas Bourchier Arch-bishop of Canterbury who added much of Pompe and Magnificence by a new Supplement or Superstructure to the ancient Pile or Fabrick and dying bequeathed it to the See of Canterbury as a convenient Pallace for his Successors but when William Warham Arch-bishop of Canterbury in the reign of Henry the eighth saw that the Grandeur of this Mansion was looked upon both with an Eye of Emulation and Envy by the Laity of those Times he to allay that Murmure and Regret in the twelfth year of the abovesaid Prince exchanged it with the Crown and here it rested until Edward the sixth in the second year of his reign granted it to Edward Seymour Duke of Somerset Protector of the Realm in the Minority of that Prince Who being convicted of Felony in the fourth year of that King it escheated back to the Crown and then it was in that year by a new Grant setled on John Dudley Duke of Northumberland but he being intoxicated with the Fumes of Ambition broke out into such treasonable and seditious practises against the Right and Title of Queen Mary that they could not be explated but with the Losse of his
Life and Forfeiture of his Estate and then this Seat upon his unsuccessful Exit returning to the Crown it was by the abovesaid Princess granted to her Cousin Reginald Poole Cardinal for his Life and a year after as he should by Testament dispose After his Death it reverts again to the Crown and then Queen Elizabeth in the third year of her reign grants it to Robert Dudley Earl of Leiceister and he the same year resigning it back into the Hands of his Soveraign it was by Lease made over to John Lennard of Chevening Esquire but the Fee-simple was by Royal Concession invested in the seventh year of Queen Elizabeth in Thomas Sackvill Lord Buckhurst and his Grand-child Richard Sackvill Earl of Dorset almost in our Remembrance conveyed the Fee-simple reserving it yet still in Lease to himself and his Heirs paying such a Rent-charge as is there specified for ninety and nine years to Mr. Richard Smith vulgarly called Dog-Smith who upon his Decease not many years since setled the propriety of it for ever upon St. Thomas Hospital in Southwarke The Honour of Sevenoke was granted by Queen Elizabeth to her Kinsman Henry Carey Lord Hunsdon in the first year of her reign from whom it devolved to his Grand-child Henry Carey Earl of Dover he passed it away by Sale to Richard Sackvill Earl of Dorset who alienated his Interest in it to Mr. Richard Smith who upon his above-mentioned Decease gave it with Knoll which both were exchanged and so united to the Royal Demeasne by William Warham to the Hospital of St. Thomas in Southwarke Kepington is the last place considerable in this Parish which was wrapt up in that Demeasne which owned the Signory of the Lords Cobham of Cobham as appears by an Inquisition taken in the thirty fifth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 62. Parte secundâ and after a Decursion of several Descents came by the Heir General of this Family to be possest by Brook whose Descendant about the beginning of Queen Elizabeth conveyed it to Burges and by his Sister and Heir it came over to Hanger who alienated it to Cowper and he not long since to Mr. Thomas Farnaby Spelherst in the Hundreds of Somerden Codsheath and Watchling stone hath many places in it of Repute First Grome-bridge which is a Chappel of Ease belonging to Spelherst and is dedicated to St. John it is in old Registers written Gromen-bridge and Gormen-bridge from some Saxon who was anciently Owner of it as Godmanchester in Huntingtonshire upon the same Account in old Orthography bears the Name of Gormonchester a Saxon having been possessor of it of that Denomination This Mannor in elder Times confessed the Dominion and Title of the Noble Family of Cobham Henry de Cobham and Joan his Wife obtained a Market to be observed weekly on the Thursday and a Fair three Dayes yearly videlicet the Vigil the Day of St. John Port-latine and the Day after as is manifest from an old Charter which I have seen whose Date commences from the fourteenth year of Edward the first the Market and Fair were kept where now the new Chappel is erected by the piety and expence of that Worthy Patriot John Packer Esquire late one of the Clerks of the Privy Seal After the Cobhams were departed from the possession of this place the Lords Clinton became by purchase Proprietaries of it and John de Clinton who was often summoned to fit as Baron in Parliament in the Time of Richard the second died possest of it in the twenty second year of that Prince Rot. Esc Num. 16. from whom the Title flowed in this Family until the latter end of Henry the fourth and then it was passed away to Waller of Lamberherst where and in Sussex they were before Masters of very ample Possessions for Thomas Waller and Katharine his Wife granted to Thomas Waller of Lamberherst his Father Richard Brenchley and John Brook all his Lands Messuages and Tenements in the Villages and Parishes of Rotherfeild Witheham Wadhurst Lamberhurst Little Horsted Alfricheston and Bucksted together with the moiety of the Advouson of the Church of Little Horsted as appears Claus 11. Richardi secundi in Dorso Memb. 35. Richard Waller Esquire was Sheriff of Kent the sixteenth year of Henry the sixth and kept his Shrievalty at Grome-bridge and was before Sheriff of Surrey and Sussex in the twelfth year of that Prince This is that renowned Souldier that in the Time of Henry the fifth took Charles Duke of Orleans General of the French Army Prisoner at the Battle of Agin-court brought him over into England and held him in honorable Restraint or Custody at Grome-bridge which a Manuscript in the Heralds-Office notes to be twenty four years in the Time of which his Recess he newly erected the House at Grome-bridge upon the old Foundation and was a Benefactor to the repair of Spelherst Church where his Arms remain in Stone-work over the Church-porch but lest such a signal peece of Service might remain entombed in the Sepulchre of unthankful forgetfulness the Prince to convey the Memory of this glorious Action to Posterity assigned to this Richard Waller and his Heirs for ever an additional Crest videlicet the Arms or Escocheon of France hanging by a Labell on an Oake with this Motto affixed Hae Fructus Virtutis This Richard was great Grand-father to William VValler of Grome-bridge Esquire Sheriff of Kent the twenty second of Henry the eighth and he was Father to Sir VValter VValler who was Grand-father to Sir VVilliam VValler now possessor of Winchester-castle and Father of Sir Thomas Waller which Sir Thomas almost in our Fathers Memory passed away Grome-bridge to Thomas Sackville Earl of Donset whose Grand-child Edward Earl of Dorset not many years since conveyed it to John Packer Esquire Father to ...... Packer Esquire now possessor of this place There was a Chauntry founded at Grome-bridge in the thirty eighth year of Henry the third by VVilliam Russell and Hawis his Wife as appears by the first Book of Compositions in Registro Roffensi Hollands in this Parish next cals for a View It was in Ages of a very high Date the Patrimony of a Noble Family of that Sirname and are in the Chartularies of this Parish recorded to have been great Benefactors to the Church of Spelherst and were allied to Thomas Holland Earl of Kent who matched with Joan Daughter of Edmund of VVoodstock but before the beginning of Henry the sixth this Family was worn out and vanished and then the VVallers stepped into the possession in which Family the Right of it did many years reside until it was in our Fathers Memory alienated to Thomas Sackville Earl of Dorset from whose Successor it passed away by Sale to Lindsey and from him not many years since the like Revolution carried it off to Caldicot Ferbies is another Seat of no vulgar Consideration in Spelherst if we consider that it gave Sirname to a Family of important Account in this
Reginald Sir Stephen and Sir Henry de Cobham who lies buried here at Shorne are in the Catalogue of those Kentish Knights who supported the Cause and Quarrel of Edward the first at the Siege of Carlaverock in Scotland in the twenty eighth year of his Reign Jo. de Cobham was frequently summoned to sit in Parliament as Baron in the Reign of Edw. the third Richard de Cobham was made Knight Banneret by Edward the third for his exemplary Service performed against the Scots as appears Pat. Edw. tertii Parte secunda Memb. 22. This Mannor escheating to the Crown upon the Attainder of Henry Lord Cobham in the second year of K. James it was by that Prince granted to Lodowick Duke of Lenox who upon his Decease bequeathed it to his Nephew James Duke of Lenox who being lately dead Esme Duke of Lenox his onely Son is now heir apparent of it Stowting lies in a Hundred which borrows its Name from this place In the reign of K. Iohn sundry ancient Records which have an Aspect upon that Prince's Time inform us that Stephen de Haringod was Lord of this Mannor and had the Grant of a Market to be held weekly at this place on the Tuesday and a Fair to be observed yearly for the space of two dayes viz. the Vigil and Day of Assumption of the Virgin Mary as is manifest Cart. 16. Joan. Num. 43. and died possest of it in the forty first of Henry the third But after this mans exit I can track no more of this Stem or Stock to have been proprietaries of it The next Family which was successively entituled to the possession was the noble Family of Burghurst or Burwash the first of which whom by some old Deeds I discover to have held this place was Bartholomew de Burwash who received the Order of Knighthood by Edward the first for his Noble and generous Assistance given to that Prince at the Seige of Carlaverock in the twenty eighth of his Reign and he had Issue Stephen de Burwash who obtained a Charter of Free-Warren to his Mannors Stowting Sifleston Ditton and Burwash in Chiddington in the first year of Edward the third and died possest of this Mannor and Hundred in the third year of that Prince's Government as appears Rot. Esc Num. 41. and from him did it descend to his Grand-child Bartholomew Lord Burwash who in the forty third of the abovesaid Monarch conveyed this Mannor with much other Land to Sir Walter de Paveley Knight of the Garter in which Family the possession was constant but until the beginnning of Richard the second and then it was passed away by Sale to Trivet from whom the same Fatalitie about the fifteenth year of that Prince brought it over to Sir Lewis Clifford and by Descent this devolving to his Successor Lewis Clifford he in the twelfth year of Hen. the sixth conveyed it by a Fine then levied to William Wenlock who not long after alienated his Right in it to Richard beauchampe Baron of Aburgavenny who had Issue Richard Beauchampe in whom the Male Line determined so that Elizabeth his onely Daughter and Heir being matched to Edward Nevill brought this Mannor and the Barony of Aburgavenny to be united to that Family and continued linked to the Demeasn of this Name until it was by Descent brought down to Henry Nevill Baron Aburgavenny who about the latter end of Henry the eighth passed it away to Sir Thomas Moile whose Daughter and Coheir Amy Moile united it to the Inheritance of her Husband Sir Thomas Kempe whose Son Sir Thomas Kempe setled it on his Brother Reginald Kempe and from him it descended to his onely Son Mr. Thomas Kempe who dying without Issue it came to be shared by his two Sisters and Co heirs matched to Denny and Clerk and they not many years since by mutual Concurrence and Assent alienated their joynt Interest here to Jenkins of Aythorne Stockbery in the Hundred of Milton celebrates the Memory of the illustrious Family of Crioll who lived here in Reputation amongst the eminent Gentry of this County and in the Recital of their Possessions in this Parish their Mansion was called a Castle and divers of their old Deeds bore Teste at their Castle of Stockbery Sir Nicholas de Crioll was the first that brought this Family into Repute and Eminence for he was one of those who accompanied Edward the first in the twenty eighth year of his Reign in his fortunate Attempt upon Scotland when after a pertinacious Siege he reduced the Castle of Carlaverock a piece in the repute of those Times held almost inexpugnable and for his signal Service in that Expedition was created Knight Banneret and died possest of this place in the thirty first of Edward the first and in this Name and Family did the Title of this place by an uninterrupted Current of Descent stream down to Sir Thomas Crioll Knight of the Garter eminent for several Services performed under the Scepter of Henry the sixth who being infortunately beheaded at the second battle of St. Albans whilst he endeavoured to support the Title of the House of York in the thirty eighth year of Henry the sixth determined in Daughters and Co-heirs one of which was wedded to Edward Bourchier who cast this Mannor into his possession and he in her Right died seised of it in the fourteenth year of Henry the seventh but after this it was not long constant to the Interest of this Family for in the twenty third year of the abovesaid Prince Robert Tate died seised of it by right of purchase And in the Descendants of this Name was the Possession involved by a long Series of years until those Times which almost fell under our Cognizance and then this Mannor was conveyed to Sir Edward Duke of Cosington in Alre sord whose Lady Dowager in Right of Joynture hath now the enjoyment of it The Mannor of Gillested in this Parish did formerly relate to the noble Family of Savage and was wrapped up in those Lands to which John de Savage Grand-child to Rafe de Savage who was with Richard the first at the Siege of Acon obtained a Charter of Free-Warren in the twenty third year of Edward the first and Arnold Savage Son of Sir Thomas Savage died possest of it in the forty ninth year of Edward the third and left it to his Son Sir Arnold Savage whose Daughter and Heir Elizabeth Savage was first matched to Reginald Cobham by whom she had no Issue and after to William Clifford Esquire second Brother to Robert Clifford who was often Knight of the Shire in the Reign of Henry the fourth whose Posterity in Right of this Alliance were possest of this place until the latter end of Hen. the eighth and then it was altenated to Knight Ancestor to Mr. William Knight upon whose Decease his sole Daughter and Heir Mrs. Frances Buck Widow of Mr. Peter Buck of Rochester lately deceased is now entred upon the Possession of it Cowsted
Sheriff of Kent in the thirty fourth year of Henry the eighth and again in the fifth year of Edward the sixth but being unhappily entangled in the dysastrous Attempt of Sir Thomas Wiat was upon the frustrating of that Designe and the Dissipation and Discomfiture of those Forces who were to support it in the second year of Queen Mary convicted and attainted of high Treason and executed at Sevenoke upon whose Tragedy this Mannor with all its Appendages escheated to the Crown but was the same year restored to his Son William Isley Esquire who was Sheriff of Kent part of the seventh year of Queen Elizabeth after whose decease the Title of this place which had so many Centuries of years like an Inmate dwelt in this Name and Family ebbed away to another Proprietary for in our Fathers Memory it was alienated by Sale to Brooker who not many years since passed it away to Mr. John Hide second Son to Mr. Bernard Hide one of the Commissioners of the Custome-house to his late Majestie Brook-place in Sundrich so called from its contiguous Situation neer some Drill of Water did acknowledge for many discents the Signory of Isley the last of whom who dyed possest of it was William Isley Esquire who held it at his Decease which was in the fourth year of Edward the fourth Rot. Esc Num. 34. After whose Exit it came to John Isley Esquire who not long after passed it away to John Alphew and he determinig in two Daughters and Coheirs one of them by matching with Sir Robert Read Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in the reign of Henry the seventh linked it to his Patrimony but he likewise went out in four Daughters and Coheirs Katharine one of which was matched to Sir Thomas Willoughbie Lord Chief Justice likewise of the Common Pleas and so he in her right was possest of this place from whom it came down to his Successor Thomas Willoughbie Esquire who about the latter end of Queen Elizabeth conveyed it by Sale to Mr. Hoskins of Oxted in Surrey descended from an ancient Family of that Name in Hereford-shire whose Successor Mr. Charles Hoskins being lately deceased the Fee-simple rests now in his Son and Heir Hethenden or Henden is another Mannor in Sundrich which was folded up in the Demeasn of the powerful and illustrious Family of the Clares who were Earls of Gloucester and Lords of Tunbridge by whose Heir general it devolved to Audley and this Family by the same Fatality languishing into a Female Inheritrix she by matching with Stafford cast this Mannor into his Revenue and in this Name was the Propriety resident untill Edward Stafford Duke of Buckingham was infortunately attainted in the thirteenth year of Henry the eighth it was by escheat annexed to the Demeasn of the Crown and made its aboad there untill King Henry the eighth in the thirty fifth year of his reign granted it to Sir John Gresham and he dyed possest of it in the first year of Queen Elizabeth after whose Decease it remained constant to the Interess of this Family until the latter end of Queen Elizabeth and then it was alienated to Sir Thomas Hoskins of Oxsted in Surrey in the Descendants of which Family the Signory and Propriety is at this instant remaining The Roman Fosse or Way which extended or stretched out it self from Oldborough in Igtham to Baston in Heys and afterwards to Woodcot in Surrey did cut thorough this Parish for not many years since in digging near Come-banke a Seat so called which did formerly relate to the Isleys and is situated in Sundrich were discovered many Roman Urns of an antick Shape and Figure from whence we may probably collect thus much that there was formerly erected some Fortresse at or near Combe-banke its Situation being fitted for such a Design by the Roman Generals to secure their forces in their March to Noviomagum or Woodcot against any Impression or Eruption of the Britons Sturrey in the Hundred of Blengate was a Mannor by a Prescription of many Generations wrapt up in the Patrimony of Apulderfeild a Family whom we shall have occasion often to mention thoroughout the Body of this Survey and here it continued till this Name met with its Tomb in a Daughter and Heir known by the Name of Elizabeth who was wedded to Sir John Phineux and although he likewise concluded in a Female Heir matched to John Roper Esquire who drew along with her a great portion of the Estate yet this still remained fixt in this Name and Family even till our Fathers Memory and then John Phineux Esquire died and left this and other vast possessions to his Daughter and Sole Heir Elizabeth Phineux who brought them over to her Husband Sir John Smith eldest Son of Sir Thomas Smith and Grand-father to Philip Smith Viscount Strangford who by Right planted in him by so worthy a Predecessor does entitle himself to the Interess and possession of it Mayton in this Parish though now of no great Importance yet formerly gave both Seat and Sirname to a Family that passed under that Appellation from whom by Sale the Inheritance was transplanted into Diggs where for some Descents without any Interval it made its abode till it was by Leonard Diggs Grand-father to Sir Dudley Diggs sold to Goodhugh by whose Daughter and Heir it became the Demeasne of Baggs which Name likewise going out here into a Daughter and Heir she by matching not long since to Farmer has made it to own him for its instant proprietary Sutton by Walmer lies in the Hundred of Cornilo and was the Inheritance of a good old Family called Stroude Peradventure it assumed its Denomination from the Shore not far distant and was sometimes in the Saxon Denomination called Strond and as often Stroude John de Stroude held it as the Book of Aide denotes in the reign of Edward the first and when this Family was worn out the next who were invested in the possession were the Criols and Nicholas Criol or Keriel held it at his death which was in the third year of Richard the second whose Grand-child Sir Thomas Keriel being an active Champion of the Cause and Quarrel of Edward the fourth against the House of Lancaster was slain in the second Battle of St. Albans where the Title of both Parties was put to the bloody decision of a Field who leaving only two Daughters and Co-heirs one matching with John Fogge Esquire incorporated this into his Revenue from whom by purchase the Right was setled in Whitlock where it tarried not long but was by the like devolution transplanted into Maycot from which Name the same Fate of Sale carried it into the possession of Stokes who in our memory by the like alienation transmitted his Interess here to Meryweather Sutton commonly called East-Sutton lies in the Hundted of Eyhorne and was formerly the Braybrookes Henry de Braybrooke one of the Lord Wardens of the Cinque Ports had Lands here and in this Track as the
Book of Aide and the Book called Feoda Militum in the Exchequer do both inform us his Son was Gerard Braybrooke and his Grand-child was Reginald Braybrooke whose Heir Joan Braybrooke married to Thomas Brooke of the County of Somerset but whether this Reginald Braybrooke gave this Mannor to pious Uses or not and principally to the Abby of Leeds adjacent I cannot positively determine upon the Suppression it was granted as being parcel of the Demeasne of the Convent of Leeds by Henry the eighth in the thirty seventh year of his reign to John Tufton Esquire who passed it away by Sale to Mr. Richard Argall whose Heir Elizabeth Argall being married to Edward Filmer Esquire made it the possession of that Family and by a communicative Right from him does his Grand-child Sir Edward Filmer Son to Sir Robert Filmer lately deceased now hold the possession and propriety of it Sutton Valence and Chart by Sutton both lie in the Hundred of Eyhorne the last of which contracted the Appellation from formerly owning William de Valence Earl of Pembroke to be Lord of the Fee who certainly instituted that Castle that now even in its Reliques and Fragments with much of venerable Magnificence overlooks the Plain And when Aymer de Valence his Son concluded in a Female Heir Isabell she was wedded to Lawrence Lord Hastings who in relation to her became not only Earl of Pembroke but Lord of Sutton-Valence also and from him did it descend to his Grand-child John Hastings Earl of Fembroke the last Earl there of that Name who transmitted his Title of that place to Reginald Grey and Richard Talbot who flourished here about the reign of Henry the fourth and they had this Mannor by Testamentary Donation in the fourteenth year of Richard the second In the next Age subsequent to this I find the Cliffords of Bobbing-court to be the Proprietaries and to this Family was the Inheritance in a constant Union fastned till Nicholas Clifford Esquire deceased without Issue-male and left only one Daughter and Heir called Mildred who was first married to Harper secondly to More thirdly to Warren and lastly to Blount but she had only Issue by Harper and More for in her Right Edward Lord More of Mellifont in Ireland and Sir Edward Harper divided the Possession but the first desiring to contract his whole Revenue into Ireland and the other to make this adjacent to his principal Seat of Ruspar-hall in the County of Derby Sir Edward Harper alienated this to Sir Edward Hales Knight and Baronet and the Lord More Chart by Sutton to the same worthy Person Grand-father to Sir Edward Hales Baronet who not only enjoyes the Title of his Ancestors Dignity but that of the Possession in these places likewise Cheyneys-court in this Parish hath been adopted into that Name since it for many Descents acknowledged the Jurisdiction and propriety of that Family and I could unravel a Successive Series of many of that Name but that it is superfluous who were Lords of the Fee it is enough that Sir Thomas Cheyney sold it to Iden which Name suddenly after resolving into two Daughters and Co-heirs one matching with Brown and the other with Barton the last made it parcel of the Patrimony of that Family and when some years it had been continued in the possession of Barton it was in our Memory by Sale brought over to be the Demeasne of Wollett and it is now but whether by Purchase or by the Right of a Female Heir or not I cannot ascertain my self the propriety of Jordan Sutton at Hone lies in the Hundred of Acstane and gives Denomination to the whole Lath wherein it is situated It was long since a Mannor relating to the Revenue of the Knights Hospitallers who had here a Mansion-house called St. Johns where they often made their Retreat when they visited their other Demeasne Land which lay circumscribed within the Verge of this County but their Estate here was much inforced and improved by the Addition of the Mannor of Grandison which whether it came to them by Purchase or Donation from Thomas Lord Grandison who died the forty ninth year of Edward the third is incertain Upon the Suppression of the Alberge of these Knights of St. John of Jerusalem here in England their Revenue was assumed into the possession of the Crown and King Henry the eighth bestowed by Grant on Sir Maurice Dennis St. John's and to him does that magnificent and elegant Pile where now the Countess of Leicester makes her Residence owe the first Institution of its Shape and Beauty though it has been since extreamly inlarged by the Additions both of Bulk and Ornament by Sir Thomas Smith But to proceed St. Johns was conveyed from Sir Maurice Dennis by his Coheir to Thomas Cranfeild whose Grand-child Vincent Cranfeild has lately alienated his Right to Mr. Hollis of London Merchant Haly Sawters is another Mannor in Sutton in Hone a place though now obscure in it self and not re-presented to our Remembrance but by Annals and Record yet in elder Times it was raised up to a higher degree of Estimate when it had Proprietaries whose Nobility and Title added both Value and Lustre unto it The first of which Register whom I trace in Record to be entituled to the Possession was Laurence de Hastings Earl of Pembroke and he died seised of it in the twenty second year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 47. from whom the Title came down to his Son John de Hastings and he likewise was in the enjoyment of it at his Decease which was in the forty ninth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 70. After this Family had deserted the Inheritance I find Richard Fitz Allen Earl of Arundel to be invested in the Possession and he died in the Tenure of it in the one and twentieth year of Richard the second Rot. Esc Num. 2. From whom it devolved to Joan his Daughter and Co-heir matched to William Beauchamp Baron of Aburgavenny whose Son Richard Lord Beauchamp dying without Issue Male Elizabeth his Sole Daughter espoused to Edward Nevill Baron of Aburgavenny in her Right be came his Heir and he in the sixteenth year of Edward the fourth died possest of this Mannor of Sawters And here for want of Light both from publick or private Record I cannot discover to my Reader or my self whether or not it passed away immediately from Nevill to Maio whom I find about the beginning of Q. Elizabeth to be planted in the Possession though the Affirmation of some old people of this Parish who derived that Knowledge they have of it from the Tradition of their Ancestors that assert it did Thomas Maio in the twenty eighth of Q. Elizabeth passed it away to Rich. Paramour and he presently after disposed of it by Sale to Sir Henry Brooke who conveyed it to Robert Wroth Esquire and he to Edmund Hunt Esquire who alienated Haly and Sawters to Mr. William Hewson in the thirty fourth year of
Q. Elizabeth whose Son Mr. William Hewson of London transmitted Haly with Sawters by Sale some few years since to Mr. Edward Badbie Grandisons is the last place remarkable in this Parish It was the ancient Inheritance of the noble and illustrious Family of Grandison before Otho de Grandison who was Governour of Jersey for life by Grant from Edw. the first in the fifth year of his Reign did transplant himself to Seale which he had purchased in the thirteenth year of that Prince William de Grandison this mans Son was likewise Lord of this place to whom K. Edward the second assigned the Value of 44 lb. yearly Rent out of his Mannor of Dartford in Exchange for the Mannor of Iden and other Lands in Sussex and from this Man did the Signory of this Mannor accrue by Descent to his Grand-child Sir Thomas Grandison who dying without Issue in the forty ninth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 62. left it partly to John de Northwood who had married Agnes his Sister and Co-heir and partly to Margaret his Lady Dowager who died possest of it in the eighteenth year of Richard the second but after her Exit the Title was not long permanent in Northwood for in the twenty first year of the Prince abovesaid Richard Fitz Allen Earl of Arundel held it and died that year possest of it And here I confess for want of Light and just intelligence I must make a Leap to the Reign of Henry the sixth and then I find it in the Tenure of Richard Nevill Earl of Warwick and it is probable it devolved to him by the Heir of Beauchampe After his Decease it became the Possession of George Duke of Clarence who had matched with Isabel his Daughter and Co-heir by whom he had Issue Edward Plantagenet Earl of Warwick who was offered up on an early Scaffold to the waking suspitions and weary Jealousies of those two politick Princes Henry the seventh and Ferdinand of Castile being invited to an escape from his long Duress in the Tower by the Arts and Stratagems of that eminent Impostor Perkin Warbeck But indeed those who have calculated this Action and surveyed the whole Scene of this Tragedy have discovered that his nearness to the Crown as being the last Relick of the Male-Line of Plantagenet was the cheiefest Ingredient in the severe Sentence of this infortunate Gentleman After his expiration this Mannor came over to be the Patrimony of his Sister Margaret Countess of Salisbury who was matched to Sir Richard Poole by which marriage this Mannor was annexed to his Demeasn and he had Issue by her Henry Poole who with his Mother was attainted in the Reign of Henry the eighth upon whose fatal Shipwrack Grandisons was in the thirty fifth of that Prince placed by Grant in his Brother Geffrey Poole who not long after passed it away to Sir Thomas Moile by whose Daughter and Co-heir it came to be the Inheritance of Sir Thomas Kempe and he about the tenth year of Q. Elizabeth conveyed it to Mr. Jo. Mabbe who not long after transmitted it by Sale to Sir Christopher Heron who about the beginning of K. James alienated his concernment here to Cole by whom not long after it was demised to Sir Thomas Smith second Son of Customer Smith of Westenhanger in the Heirs and Descendants of which Name and Family the Possession is still resident Hackstaple is likewise within the Bounds of this Parish and was as high as the reach either of private or publick Evidence can bring down any light to our knowledge the Killingworth's and here for an indivisible succession of Ages did the Possession fix and reside until at last the common Fate of Families brought this Name here at Hackstaple to find its interment or Grave in a Daughter and Heir for George Killingworth had an onely She-Inheritrix whose name was Elizabeth and she was matched with Christopher Eglesfield Gentleman so that Hackstaple in her right was intermingled with the Demeash of this Family and here some years did it by this Conjugall Knot appear fastned till lately the Possession received an alienation for Francis Eglesfield of London Son to Christopher Eglesfield some few years since sold it to Mr Christopher Searle T. T. T. T. TAningnton is situated in the Hundred of Bredge and Petham and in Times of a very ancient Inscription did own the Name and acknowledge the Signory of a Family called Wallis Richard de Wallis held it in the twenty first of Edward the first and as it appears by the Pleas of that year had a signal Contest with the Prior of St. Gregories in Canterbury about his Right to the Presentation of that Church After Wallis was worn out it fell under the Signory of a Family called Mesingham but it seems was not long resident in their Possession for about the beginning of Richard the second Nicholas Mesingham releases to Thomas Chich all his Interess and Right in Tanington and other Lands situated in Heckington and other places but here likewise was the Possession as brief and inconstant for before the Expiration of the Reign of Henry the fourth I find it by purchase from Chich and Wallis setled in the Tenure of Geo. Ballard and he died seised of it in the eighth year of Henry the sixth and in this Family did continue until the reign of Edward the sixth and then it was alienated by Nicholas Ballard Esquire to Sir James Hales of the Dungeon from whom the right by Successive Delegation is now transmitted to Sir James Hales the instant Lord of the Fee Terstan in the Hundred of Twyford was involved in the Revenue of the Crown until Eleanor Q. of England exchanged this and West-Farleigh with the Monks of Christ-Church for the eminent Port of Sandwich which Exchange Edward the first as appears by the Records of that Cathedral by his Charter fully strengthened and confirmed Yet though it was prop'd and supported by that Authority yet it could not be so fastened and riveted into the Ecclesiastical Patrimony but that that storm which arose in the reign of Henry the eighth tore it away and then that Prince in the thirty fifth year of his rule passed it away to Sir John Baker from whom it is now devolved by successive right to his descendant Sir John Baker of Sisingherst Knight and Baronet and he hath lately passed it away to Mr. Jasper Cleyton of London Barham Court in this Parish re-presents to our remembrance that it was once the Mansion or ancient residence of the noble and illustrious Family of Barham this Name was in Times of a very reverend Inscription written Fitz-Urse Randal Fitz. Urse was one of those four who were concerned in the Assassination of that turbulent and ambitious prelate Thomas Becket Arch-Bishop of Canterbury who though peradventure for his violent invasion made upon the royal prerogative of his Soveraign Henry the second might have deserved the Guerdon of an exemplary Death yet the manner of taking
was father to Will. de Septuans who was seised of it when he deceased which was in the twenty fifth year of Edw. the third but it seems it was not long permanent in the Tenure of this Name for immediately after the Gowers had it and Iohn Gower when he died was in the enjoyment of it which was in the forty third year of Edward the third from whom not many years after it was by purchase transported to Iohn Brockhul Esquire and with the Demeasn of this Family did the right of this place many years appear to be interwoven till Anne Daughter and Heir of Henry Brockhull married to Sir Iohn Taylor and then both the Name and Estate were swallowed up in this Family where the possession for sundry Ages remained till lately it was conveyed by Sale to Freake issued out from the Freakes of the County of Dorset who by marrying the Darghter of Sir Thomas Colepeper of Hollingbourne has planted himself in this County There was a Castle anciently in Thurneham which as Darel affirms in his Tract de Castellis Cantii had both its Name and Foundation from Godardus a Saxon being called Godard Castle which is so despicable an Heap that not the least Crums or Fragments continue of the Ruines which might signifie to us the lest symptome of its former strength and Grandeur Tunstall in the Hundred of Milton did about the twenty ninth of Henry the third confess it self to be under the Dominion of Walter de Grey who was Lord Paramont of this place but long did not remain invested in the Signory of it for in the forty fourth year of Henry the third I find Iohn de Burgh descended from Hubert de Burgh in the possession of it and he that year by the favourable compliance of that Prince obtained a Charter of Free-Warren to his Mannors of Norton and Tunstall but before the latter end of Edward the first this Family had deserted the Inheritance of this place and then the next which succeeded proprietarie of it was Thomas de Brotherton Earl of Norfolk who ending in Daughters and Co-heirs Margaret one of them being first matched to Iohn de Segrave and afterwards to Walter de Mayney descended from VValter de Meduana or Mayney who held twenty Knights in this County in the reign of Henry the third brought this to be the Demeasn of her second Husband Walter de Mayney a person on whom the Beams of Majestie reflected with so vigorous impression that he was summoned to sit in Parliament as Baron in the reign of Edw. the third and in whom that Prince reposed so great a confidence that as Daniel represents to us in his Chronicle he and his Son Edward the Black Prince fought under his Colours in a private Habit against Monsieur de Charmy a Frenchman near Calais in Picardy in the twenty third year of his reign and deceased full of Fame and of Years in the forty fixth of that Prince but determined in Anne Mayney his Sole Inheritrix who by matching with John Hastings Earl of Pembroke linked this Mannor to his Inheritance but he dying in the thirteenth year of Richard the second Reginald Grey and Richard Talbot were found to be his Heirs and they bring a pleading in the fifteenth year of the Prince abovesaid against John le Scroope who pretended some Title to his Estate and having rescued it from collateral Claim about the beginning of Henry the fourth conveyed it to Sir Robert Knolles who in the seventh year of that Prince passed it by Fine then levied to Sir William Cromer Lord Maior of London his Son William Cromer Esquire who was Sheriff of Kent in the twenty third year of Henry the sixth and was afterwards in the twenty seventh year of that Prince barbarously assassinated by Jack Cade whilst he endeavoured to impeach that Arch-Incendiarie in his March towards London He married Elizabeth Daughter of James Fiennes Lord Say and Seal by whom he had Issue Sir James Cromer Father of Sir Will. Cromer who was Sheriff of Kent the ninteenth year of Henry the seventh and the first year of K. Henry the eighth and George Cromer who was Arch-Bishop of Armagh in Ireland This Sir William had Issue James Cromer Esquire from whom descended Will. Cromer Esq his Son and Heir who was Sheriff of Kent the ninth and twenty seventh of Q. Elizabeth and had Issue Sir James Cromer of Tunstall Knight Sheriff of Kent in the second year of K. James in whom the Male-line determined so that Francis his Daughter by his first Wife matched to Sir Mathew Carew Elizabeth his Daughter by his second Wife wedded to Sir Iohn Steed of Steed-hill and Christian born likewise by that Venter married to Sir Iohn Hales eldest Son to Sir Edward Hales of Wood-Church became his Co-heirs Upon the partition of the Estate Tunstall was shared by Sir Iohn Hales from whom it is now descended to his Son and Heir Sir Edw. Hales Baronet who lately hath begun to erect upon the ancient Foundation a Frabrick of that stupendious Magnificence that it at once obliges the eye to Admiration and Delight Vfton is a place of Repute Seated in this Parish but it is raised up to a higher estimate since we find it was anciently parcel of the patrimony of Shurland for Robert de Shurland had a concession by Charter of Free-Warren to sundry of his Lands in Kent amongst which there is a recital of Vfton afterwards in Times subsequent to this by the Heir General of Shurland it was cast into the possession of Cheyney and Will. de Casineto for so this Name is rendred in Latine Records or William Cheyney held it at his Death which was in the eighth year of Edward the third and after for many Descents it had layn included in the Interest and proprietie of Cheyney it was by a Daughter and Heir put into the Demeasn of Astley from whom again the like flux of Circumstances bore away the Inheritance and transferred it to Harlackenden the instant Lord of Vfton Gore-Court in this Parish in Times of elder Derivation was the Seat of a Family whose Sirname was At-Gore and sometimes in ancient Court-rolls written De la Gore called so from their Habitation which was situated near some publick way Gare Gate and Gore importting no more in the Saxon Dialect then some common passage But to proceed Henry At-Gore held Gore-Court when he deceased which was in the thirty first year of Edward the third and for several Generations was the Inheritance knit to his Name till the common Fatalitie of Time brought it to expire in Alice Gore the Heir General of this place and of Iohn Gore the last of the Male-line who enjoyed it and she disposed of her Concernment in it to Will. Croyden in which Family after the possession had resided it was alienated to Wood descended from the Woods of Muston in Hollingbourne in whom the right of Gore-Court continues still invested Tunbridge gives Name to that
Earls of Gloucester In the first year of Edward the first there was a Summons issued forth by Hugh de Bigod Earl of Norfolk and Governour of the Hundred of Hoo to injoyn Richard de Clare Earl of Gloucester to appear before him to assoil himself from such Accusations as should be objected against him which principally had an Aspect upon the War waged by him and Simon Montfort against Henry the third To which he alleadged in his Defence that he ought not to answer but before the Kings Justices of Eyre upon which a Commission was issued out in the third year of Edward the first to heare and decide the Controversie and Sir Stephen de Penchester and John de Rigate were the two Justices appointed by the King for the final determination of it and they upon a serious winnowing of the whole Matter in Debate did absolve the said Richard from the Crimes with which he had been unjustly bespattered and the rather because as to the principal part of them they had been before entombed in the pacification of Killingworth made in the fiftieth year of Henry the third After this I cannot find by that ancient Manuscript they style the Chronicle of Tunbridge that there was any signal Action commenced at this place because the Castle with all its perquisites not long after by the Heir of Audley coming into the possession of Stafford they planted themselves at Stafford-castle their principal residence and so this Fortress being neglected and deserted languished away insensibly into decay and ruine only in the reign of Edward the first I find that upon an Inquisition or Survey of the Priviledges of the Earls of Gloucester as they were Lords of Tunbridge it was concluded that the Arch-bishop of Canterbury had nothing to do within the Lowy or League That the Earl had Return of Writs Creation of certain Officers an especial Sessions in Eyre all which by Intermission are shrunk long since into disuse In the year 1264. to allay all emergent Controversie for the future Boniface the Arch-bishop of Canterbury and Richard Earl of Glocester decreed that there should be a Perambulation made concerning their respective Bounds and it was not long after likewise concluded between the patties abovesaid that Earl Richard should hold his Mannor of Tunbridge and other Lands of the Arch-bishop by the Service of four Knights Fees and to be high Steward and high Butler which Office was likewise to be transmitted to his Successors at the Feast of the Arch-bishops Inthronization taking for their Service in the Stewardship seven competent Robes of Scarlet thirty Gallons of Wine thirty pound of Wax for his Lights Livery of Hay and Oats to feed fourscore Horse for two Nights the Dishes and Salt which should stand before the Arch-bishop in that Feast and at their departure the Diet of three Dayes at the Sole Expence of the Arch-bishop at four of their Mannors in any of the four Quarters of Kent wheresoever they pleased to fix ad minuendum sanguinem so they repaired thither with fifty Horses only To his Office of chief Butlership was allotted seven Robes like the former twenty Gallons of Wine fifty pound of Wax for furnishing out of Lights Livery for sixty Horse for two Nights the Cup wherewith the Arch-bishop should be served all the empty Hogsheads of Beer and for six Tun of Wine so many as should be drunk under the Bar also The Articles of which Composition in Times subsequent to this Compact were punctually performed between the Successors of either Party First in the year 1295. between Gilbert Earl of Gloucester and Robert Winchelsey next between the said Earl and Arch-bishop Reynolds then between Hugh Audley the Earl of Gloucester and the Arch-bishop John Stratford after that between Hugh Stafford Earl of Stafford to whom the Castle and Mannor of Tunbridge did devolve in right of the Heir General of Audley and Simon Sudbury and lastly between William Warham the Arch-bishop and Edward Stafford the last Duke of Buckingham of that Name in whose untimely Sepulcher these two great Offices found their final Enterment and he executed the Stewardship in his own person and the Butlership by his deputed Delegate Sir Thomas Bourchier Knight The Priory of Tunbridge was founded by Richard de Clare in the year of Grace 1191. and stored with Canons Regular or Canons of St. Augustins and dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen which upon the Petition of the Founder was confirmed by Pope Celestin in the same year it was erected In the year 1353. an unhappy Fire seised upon it which almost reduced the whole Structure into Ashes to ballance which Dysaster the Church of Leigh was appropriated to this Covent that by this additional support this Cloister thus defaced with Flame might again recover its former not only Bulk but Splendor likewise Somerhill is now an eminent Seat in this Parish and was certainly in elder Times allotted as a Mansion or place of Residence by the Earls of Gloucester to those Gentlemen who were Bailiffs of their great Chase called South-Frith one of whom was Richard de Philpot of Philpots in Leigh not far distant who flourished here in the reign of Henry the third and is written in an old Deed Balivus Forestae de Tunbridge sub Ricardo Comite de Clare After him I find one Nicholas Charles exercised this Office and flourished in it in the reign of Edward the second and when he went out divers of the Family of Colepeper and Vane who were Lords of much Land here about Tunbridge were successively invested in it whose Names it would be too tedious and impertinent to enumerate But to return That this Seat was anciently destined and devoted to the Uses above recited is very probable because it is situated on the Verge and exterior Margent of the Forrest and so by its commodious position had a peculiar Aspect upon those Affairs wherein this Chase and its Jurisdiction was concerned In fine after it had been subservient and ministerial for many hundred years to the successive Signory of the several Families of Clare Audley and Stafford it was in the thirteenth year of Henry the eighth by that infortunate person Edward Stafford Duke of Buckingham who was crushed into an heap of Ruines by those dark and black Engins which Cardinal Wolsey that subtle Artificer of Mischief had raised upon him was with much other Land forfeited to the Crown and Queen Elizabeth about the middle of her reign by Royal Concession made it the Demeasne of her faithful Servant Sir Francis Walsingham principal Secretary of Estate who dying without Issue-male left it to his Daughter and Heir Frances who was first matched to the Invaluable Sir Philip Sidney secondly to Robert Earl of Essex and thirdly to Richard Burgh Earl of Clanrickard created Earl of St. Albans August the twenty third in the year 1628. to whose Son Vlike Burgh lately Earl of St. Albans and Clanrickard she bequeathed this Mannor of Somerhill Hilden is another
Mannor in Tunbridge and was as high as I can track any Record the possession of the Noble Family of Vane who are written in very old Deeds A Vane and was certainly their ancient Seat before by matching with the Heir of Stidolfe they became possessors of Badsell Henry A Vane makes his Will in the year 1456. He was the Son of John A Vane who flourished at this place in the reign of Edward the third but his Predecessors enjoyed it as appears by Original Evidences many years before From Henry Vane it came over to John a Vane whose Son John Vane in the tenth year of Henry the seventh conveyed it by Sale to Dixon descended originally from the Dixons of Scotland Gentlemen of no despicable Account in that Nation and in their possession hath it ever since the first purchase been constantly setled Dachurst aliàs Hilden-borough had the same Possessors still with Tunbridge and being forfeited in the thirteenth year of Henry the eighth by Edw. Stafford Duke of Buckingham its Demeasne was in the fourteenth year of that Prince granced to William Skeffington Esquire in whose Descendant the propriety is yet resident but the Mannor it self rested in the Crown until not many years since it was conveyed by the State to Colonel Robert Gibbons of Hole in Rolvenden Bardens and Hadloe are two little Mannors in Tunbridge both which had Owners of that Sirname John de Barden held the first as the Book of Aide informs us and paid respective Aide for it at making the Black Prince Knight in the twentieth year of Edward the third and the dateless Evidences relating to Hadloe do assure us both of the Antiquity and Truth of the second And in the Tenure of the first did Bardens remain until the reign of Henry the fourth and then changed its Owner and came entirely to be possest by Hadloe but remained not long in his Name for John Hadlow dying without Issue Alice his Sister married to John Woodward became his Heir and she in her Widowhood about the latter end of Henry the sixth passed away Bardens to John Hopdey and he in the thirty eighth of Henry the sixth alienated his Right to William Hextall but Hadloe devolved to John Woodward Son of John Woodward abovesaid and he in the thirty seventh of Henry the sixth demises all his Interess in Hadloe to William and Henry Hextall and he the same year by Deed releases all his Right in Hadloe to William which William not many years after dying without Issue-male Margaret his Sole Daughter and Heir brought these two Mannors to be the Inheritance of her Husband William Wherenhall Esquire whose Son William Whetenhall Esquire about the middle of Henry the eighth passed away Bardens to Andrew Judde Esquire who erected the Alms-houses here at Tunbridge and Hadloe to William Waller Esquire Judde died without Issue-male and left his Estate to Alice his Sole Heir matched to Thomas Smith Esquire vulgarly called Customer Smith and he upon his Decease gave Bardens to his second Son Sir Thomas Smith of London in whose Descendants the Title yet is resident but Hadloe descended to Richard Waller Son to William abovesaid who about the forty second year of Elizabeth alienated it to George Stacy and he about the beginning of King James demised it again to Bing whose Successor Mr. John Bing in our Remembrance passed it away to Mr. David Polhill Esquire whose Grand-child Mr. David Polhill upon the late Decease of that his Grand-father is now entituled to the possession of it Hollenden is the last place in Tunbridge to be taken notice of which spreads its appendant Demeasne into the Parish of Leigh and was in Ages of a very high Gradation parcel of the Patrimony of the ancient Family of Fremingham for in the fifty fifth year of Henry the third I find that Ralph de Fremingham obtained a Charter of Free-warren to several of his Mannors in Kent in the Register of which was Hollenden In Times of a more modern Aspect that is about the reign of Henry the fourth I find it by some old Court-rols to be the Cheyneys and there are several parcels of Land that relate to this Mannor which are adopted into their Name and are called Cheyneys Fields and in this Family did the Mannor continue until the latter end of Henry the eighth and then it was alienated to Waller to whose Inheritance it continued united until that Age which fell within the Circle of our Fathers Cognisance and then it was passed away to Crittenden which Family at this instant is entituled to the Signory of it But part of the Demeasne which is spread into Leigh was about the beginning of Henry the seventh conveyed to Stacy whose Successor almost in our Remembrance alienated it to Turner and he not many years since demised it to James Pelset Tuydley anciently written Twidley lies in the Hundreds of Wachlingstone and Twyford and was not worth the Consideration were it not for Badsell where a Family who extracted their Sirname from hence had long since their Habitation from whom by a Daughter and Co-heir the Inheritance went into Stidulph from whom the Stidulphs or Stidolfes of Surrey are originally branched out a Noble Family certainly and of eminent Genealogy there being frequent mention in that Book which they call the Survey of the Lowey of Tunbridge taken in the fourteenth year of Edward the fourth of this Name and Family but when the successive mutation of Time had crumbled the Name of Stidolfe at this place into a Daughter and Heir called Agnes upon her espousals with John Vane Badsell became incorporated into the Interest and Concernment of that Family and by a Communicative Right issuing out from this Alliance does Milmay Fane now Earl of Westmerland entitle himself to the instant proprietie and possession of Tuydley and Badsell Kippings Crosse in Tuydley hath been as appears by several old Dateless Evidences and other Monuments for many hundred years the Seat and Inheritance of Kippings who bore for their Coat Armour as it appears exemplified and confirmed to Robert Kipping of Brenchley Gentleman the fifth of September in the thirty seventh year of Henry the eighth Loringeè Or and Azure upon a chief Gules A Lion passant Or langued and armed Azure But this Family after such a vast continuance here and at Brenchley not many yeart since determined in two Daughters and Co-heirs Dorothy the eldest was married to Edward Darrell Esquire second Son to Sir Robert Darrell of Calchill and Mr. James Darrell fourth Son of Sir Robert above mentioned and now secondly to Thomas Henshaw of Kensington Esquire descended from the ancient Family of Henshaw of Henshaw in Cheshire V. V. V. V. ULcomb in the Hundred of Eyhorne was the patrimony of St. Legers writen in Latin Records de Sancto Leodegario Sir Robert de Sancto Leodegario entred into England with Will the Conquerour and was of that high repute that according to the received Tradition of this Family he
assaults his Rear with that Courage that he forced that Duke to a Disorderly Retteat leaving his Canon and Carriages behind him as the Reward of his Valour and Fortune In the twenty seventh year of Henry the sixth he was sent over into France with fifteen hundred men as a fresh supply to buoy up the sincking Affairs of the English in that Nation with which he recovered many pieces of strength but overlaid with Multitude in an Encounter at Formigney by the Earl of Clermont and the Constable of France after he had with unparallel'd Testimonies of personal Courage endeavoured to preserve the Fortune of the Day he received a Defeat the Enemy buying his Victory at so dear a rate that it almost undid the Purchaser Lastly his Fate cast him into that Civil Contest which broke out between the two Houses of York and Lancaster and being satisfied with the Justice of those principles upon which the first had engaged in Arms became an eager Assertor of its Claim to the Diadem and having enbarked himself with Richard Earl of Warwick then the Atlas of that Faction in defence of it at the second Battle of St. Albans perished in the Ruines of that Field and by an unstained though a Calamitous Fidelity became the great Example of Loyalty to the House of York And he dying without Issue-male one of his Daughters and Co-heirs by matching with John Fogge of Repton Esquire brought this Mannor upon the partition of the Estate between Fogge and Bourchier who wedded the other to be annexed to the Demeasn of that Family and upon his Decease it descended to his Son Thomas Fogge Serjeant Porter of Callis who dying without Issue-male Anne Fogge who was one of his two Daughters and Co-heirs Aregrim a Saxon held the Mannor of Minshull in Cheshire as Dooms-day Book testifies in the Time of the Conquerour ut liber homo first matching with William Scot and afterwards to Henry Isham brought this to be parcel of the Inheritance of her second Husband but his Son Edward Isham about the latter end of Q. Elizabeth concluding in Mary Isham his onely Inheritrix she by espousing Sir George Perkins united it to his Patrimony and he setled the Reversion of it after his Wives decease upon Mary his Daughter married to Sir Richard Minshull of Cheshire created Baron of Minshull 1642 descended from that eminent Souldier Michael de Minshul who for his glorious service performed in the Quarrel of Richard the first at the Siege of Acon had the assignment for ever of the Crescent and Star for the Coat-Armour of this Family And he and the Lady Mary Perkins concurring in a joynt Sale passed it away in the second of King Charles to James Hugison of Lingsted whose Son John Hugison Esquire by descendant right is entituled to the Possession of it Waltham in the Hundreds of Bredge Petham and Stowting was anciently a Member of that Revenue which acknowledged the Interess of the Knights Templers as appears by a Survey taken of this Mannor in the year of Grace one thousand one hundred and eighty and registred in the Book styled de Terris Templariorum which is preserved in the Remembrancers Office in the Exchequer and in that Survey there is mention made of Ivo de Haut who held Lands at that Time of Temple Waltham lying at Petham not far distant which justifies the Antiquity of that Name in this Track Upon the total suppression and extinction of this Order here in England on pretence of some prodigious Crimes stuck upon it which whether they were imaginary or real must be discussed in that Critical Day when the secrets of all Hearts and the Bottome of all Secrets shall be opened this Mannor of Waltham was in the seventeenth year of Edward the second by Grant invested in the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem commonly called the Knights Hospitalers and here in this Order it rested until the reign of Henry the eighth and then being dissolved by that impetuous Tempest which like a Hurricano fell upon this and all other Conventual Orders in this Nation it was swallowed up in the Revenue of the Crown and there lay couched till the latter part of Queen Elizabeth and then it was in the forty second year of her swaying the English Scepter granted to John Manwaring Esquire from whom by Hope Manwaring his Daughter and Heir the Interess went to Humphrey Hamond upon whose Decease she was re-married to Sir Robert Stapylton a Person who hath erected his own everlasting Tomb and Epitaph in those exquisite Translations of his of Pliny's Panegyrick to Trajan Juvenal's Satyrs and lastly Strada's History of the Wars and other Transactions of the Low Countries who by purchase from his Son in Law Mr. Manwaring Hamond holds the instant Fee-simple of it Eshmerfeild is another eminent Mannor in Waltham and cals for some Respective Account because in Ages of a higher pedigree it confessed it self in the Revenual of the signal Family of Crioll for Bertram de Crioll possest it at his Death which was in the twenty third year of Edward the first and though he expired in a Daughter and Heir yet it continued still in the Tenure of a younger House until Bennet Daughter and Co-heir of Sir Thomas Crioll who was slain at the second Battle of St. Albans brought it to her Husband John Fogge Esquire whose Son Thomas Fogge about the beginning of Henry the seventh alienated his Right and Concernment in it to Sir Thomas Kempe in which Family the Inheritance remained until the latter end of Queen Elizabeth and then it was passed by Sir Thomas Kempe this mans Grandchild to Roger Twisden Esquire whose Grandchild Sir Roger Twisden Knight and Baronet conveyed it to Sir John Ashburnham to whose Widow the Lady Ashburnham it accrued upon his Decease as having been before by speciall Compact made part of her Dower so that she at this instant hath the Use of the emergent profits and income of it Whetacre is another small Mannor that lies within the Circle of this Parish not worth the memorial were it not for a Family which extracted its Sirname from hence for I find Nigellus de Whetacre mentioned in the Book of Aide to have held Lands here in the twentieth of Edward the third In Times of a lower Date that is about the reign of Henry the sixth I find the Family of Hels or Hils descended from the Hels of Hels-court in Woditon to be planted in the possession and in this Name was the Interest of it constant until the beginning of Edward the sixth and then it was alienated to Prude whose Successor couveyed it to Alderman Cockain of London from whom the same Stream of Vicissitude carried it into Beacon Watringbury in the Hundred of Twiford was in Ages of a very high Gradation the Patrimony of a Family which enjoyed that Sirname and held not only the Mannor of Watringbury it self but Chart and Fowls which lie within the Precincts of this Parish
to Clerke and so in all their Deeds subsequent to this Match have written Clerke alià s Woodchurch ever since But as all Families have their Descent and Period as well as Gradation and Ascent so had this for after this Mannor had for so many hundred years continued in this Family which had been productive of Men which had been planted in places of the greatest Eminence by which they were obliged to perform Service to their Country it came down at last to Humfrey Clerk Esquire who about the year 1594 passed it away by Sale to Walter Harlackenden Esquire by whose Daughter and Heir called Deborah Harlackenden it was united to the Revenue of Sir Edward Hales Knight and Baronet upon whose late Decease it is now descended to his Grand-child Sir Edward Hales Baronet who is entitled to the instant Signory of it Pleurinden in this Parish is a Branch of that Estate which fell under the Signory of the ancient and Knightly Family of Engham very frequently in old Deeds and other Monuments written Edingham and sometimes Hengham In a Deed wherein there is mention of a Match between ....... one of the Co-heirs of Sir Stephen de Penchester and Henry de Cobham and wherein some Land is conveyed over to Cobham there are these Persons recorded to be Testes to it William de Savage William de Oure Otho de Grandison and Roger de Hengham The Deed is very ancient and though not confined to any strict or precise Date yet commences from the reign of Edward the first and from this Roger did Vincent Engham Esquire lineally descend who in the ....... year of Q. Elizabeth passed it away by Sale to Roger Twisden Esquire Grand-father to Sir Roger Twisden Baronet in whom is fixed the instant Propriety of it Tounland is another Mannor in Woodchurch which had anciently Owners of that Sirname Rafe de la Thun died seised of this Mannor and other Lands in Woodchurch the forty third year of Hen. the third After him I find Richard de Tunland possest of it in the reign of Henry the third and Edward the first and had Issue Thomas de Tunlâ—nd who died seised of it in the fifth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 13. and left it to his Son and Heir John de Tunland who was an eminent Benefactor to the priory of Leeds to which Covent he added this Mannor to improve their Revenue at the time of his Decease which was in the forty seventh year of Edward the third and here it remained until the Dissolution and then it was granted by Henry the eighth to Thomas Lord Cromwell and after his Attaint in the thirty second year of his reign being escheated it was in the thirty fifth of Henry the eighth regranted to Sir Thomas Moile Chancellor of the Court of Augmentation and he in the thirty sixth year of Henry the eighth passed it away by Sale to William Goodwin and Tho. Ancos and they not long after alienated their Right in it to Lucas in which Family it continued but until the Beginning of Q. Elizabeth and then it was conveyed by Sale to Thomas Godfrey whose Son James Godfrey in the tenth year of Q. Elizabeth transferred it by the like Devolution to Mary Guldford and she again in the eleventh year of that Princess demised it to Richard Guldford and he not long after sold it away to Shelley of Michelgrove and John Shelley as I find by a Court Roll relating to this place held it in the eighteenth of Q. Elizabeth and in the Descendant of this Name and Family is the Inheritance of it if I be not misinformed at this instant placed Henherst is the last place considerable in Woodchurch which was the possession of a Family of that Denomination of whom I have spoken at Stapleherst where they enjoyed another Mannor of this Name and of which Family this here was but a Cadet or younger Slip and was written sometimes Henherst and as often in old Deeds Engherst and continued Owners of this place until the reign of Henry the seventh and then it devolved to Sir Thomas Hengherst who was the last of that Name which held this place for he dying without Issue Male Humfrey Wise who had matched with his Daughter and Heir in her right was invested in the Inheritance of it but he deceasing likewise without Issue Male his sole Inheritrix united it by marriage to the Revenue of her Husband Mr. Robert Masters Great Grand-father to Mr. Edward Masters of Canterbury in whom the propriety of this place is at this prefent continued Henden likewise is an Appendage to Woodchurch from whence certainly the Name of Henden originally streamed out though it be brought down to our Times in so crooked and perplexed a Chanel that we cannot discover it in all the wandrings and Digressions of it though the Family was made more conspicuous by Sir Edward Henden one of the Barons of the Exchequer to the late King Charles who for his clear speculation and insight into the deepest and most mysterious Intrigues of the Municipal Law of England was commonly called the Picklock of it But this is a Diversion The ancient Proprietaries of Henden represented to us by the eldest Records were the Lords Burwash very frequently written Burghherst and Bartholomew Lord Burwash had a Charter of Free Warren granted to Henden in the eighteenth year of Edward the third And when this Family had deserted the Possession of this place the next which successively held it were the Capells of Capells Court in Ivie-Church and Richard Capell died seised of it in the fifteenth year of Richard the second and here after it had been for some Generations fixed the Name resolved into a Daughter and Heir who was matched unto Harlackenden and so it became twisted into the Revenue of that Family and so remained till Deborah Harlackenden the Heir General of Walter Harlackenden a Branch of this Stock by being wedded to Sir Edward Hales Knight and Baronet Grand-father to Sir Edward Hales now of Tunstall Baronet wound it up in the Demeasn and Interest of that Honourable Family The Borough of Harlackenden is situated in this Parish and has been for many hundred of years the Patrimonial Demeasn of that Name and Family as appears by a Tomb in the Church of Woodchurch whose Inscription signifies that one of them lies enterr'd there a little after the Conquest and though the Character be in the proportion and Shape of it very much like that which was in use in the reign of Hen. the fourth and Henry the fifth and so makes the Truth of it disputable yet to this 't is answered that there was an old Tombstone there before with the same Inscription upon it insculped peradventure in a Saxon Character or such an one as was proportionate to that time in which that person died who lies there entombed which being decayed his Successors to perpetuate and inforce the Memory of so ancient a Predecessor fixed this
Stone upon his Grave and to make the Memorial more obvious did cause the Epitaph to be engraven in such a Letter as was Customary to the Time of that Prince in whose reign it was laid upon the Ashes beneath In Greys Inne Hall by particular Inspection I have observed the Arms of this Family viz. Azure A fesse Ermin between three Lions Heads erased Or to be painted in an upper Window which appears to be of very venerable Antiquity and this justifies those fair Attributes of Noble Ancient and Illustrious which may with very good Reason be entituled to this Family of which is Thomas Harlackenden Esquire who by inherent right transmitted to him by a never-ebbing stream of so many multiplied Descents is the instant proprietary of this Borough Edingham vulgarly called Engham is the last place of Account within the Verge of Woodchurch and was in Times of elder date before they transplanted themselves to Singleton in Great Chart the Mansion of the Enghams who as they placed here their Seat extracted from hence to their Sirname a Family doubtless of profound Antiquity and no less Reputation as may appear by those large Possessions which they were interessed in in several parts of Romney Mersh written in old Records sometimes Edingham and by Contraction Engham and very frequently Hengham And it is very probable from the Identity of the Name that Rafe de Hengham the eminent Lord Chief Justice in the reign of Edward the first was of this Family * Pat. de Anno secundo Ed. tertii Parte secunda Memb. 23. Sir Audomer or Aymer de Engham was Justice of Chester in the second year of Edward the third and was issued out originally from this Family and it is possible Audomar or Odmer de Hengham who lies buried in Christ-Church at Canterbury in the year 1411 was his Son and what much enhaunses the Honour of this Family he is written in the Latin Inscription affix'd to his Tomb Audomarus Hengham Armiger and in this Name was the Inheritance of this place conducted along through many Generations of the Enghams even till our Grand-fathers Memory and then it was by sale alienated to Baker who is now the Possessor of that Seat which formerly made the Name of Engham so conspicuous in this County Wolwich has been in elder Times written Wolnewich is in the Hundred of Lesnes and was the propriety of Gilbert de Marisco who stands first in the Inventory of those who were its former possessors and he held it about the Beginning of Edward the first and assumed this Name de Marisco from that Estate which he enjoyed in the Mersh beneath this Town and it seems his Fortune was of no narrow Dimension for he held this Mannor under the Notion of half a Knights Fee in the above mentioned Prince's reign of Warren de Montchensie Baron of Swanscampe After him Sabina de Windlesor possest it about the seventeenth year of Edward the second by the fourth part of a Knights Fee also of the Barony of Montchensie at Swanscampe And then next successively to her did John de Pultney hold it in the twentieth year of Edward the third as this Lady had held it before by the fourth part of a Knights Fee and of the Honour of Montchensie in like manner from whom it passed away to William Chichley a Kinsman of that eminent Prelates Henry Chichley Arch-Bishop of Canterbury And this man had Issue John Chichley who deceased without Issue Male and left onely Agnes his Heir matched with John Tatersal who flourished here in her right much of the Rule of Henry the sixth and some of that of Edward the fourth and then alienated the Interest of this place to Boughton in which Family the Interest of it remained til by sale it was divided from it and united to the patrimony of Heywood where it seems the Title was supported with no constant possession for shortly after almost in less then our Fathers Memory the right of it was by the former Fatality translated into Sir Nicholas Gilbourne Father to Henry Gilbourne Esquire to whom this Mannor gives up the right of its present possession It appears that the Commissions of Sewers which are now yearly issued for to make a diligent Inspection into those Banks and the Defects of them which protect and secure the adjacent Mershes from the encroachments and eruptions of the Thames was of authentick and ancient use for a Commission went out as is manifest by Pat. 17. Edwardi secundi for repairing a very great Breach the waters by an Inundation had made into the Mershes which lie extended between Wolwich and Greenewich Wrotham gives Name to the whole Hundred where it is seated and is registred in the List of those Mannors which formerly encreased the revenue and supported the Dignity of the Arch-Bishops of Canterbury and if you will see how it was rated in the Time of the Conquerour consult Dooms-day Book and that speaks thus Wrotham est Manerium Archiepiscopi T. E. R. defendebat se pro VIII Sullings est appretiatum 24 lb. and continued treasured in their patrimony until the twenty ninth year of Henry the eighth and then it was exchanged by Thomas Cranmer Arch-Bishop of Canterbury with the Crown and lay clasped up in the Kingly revenue until the sixth year of Edw. the sixth and then it was granted to Sir William Mason who partly passed it away by sale and partly gave it in Dower with his Daughter matched to Robert Bing Esquire whose Successor Mr. John Bing hath lately passed away his entire Interest in it to * Se more of this Family at Eigtham where I have rendered an Account how they alter'd the Name of Haestrecht to James William James of Eigtham Esq descended from an ancient Family called Haestrecht near Vtrecht to which Family Will. Camden Clarenceux King of Arms through mistake and inadvertency assigned Argent a Cheveron between three Mill Rinds Sables as the paternal Coat of this Family whereas had he made a serious Review he would have discovered that the Original Coat of Haestrecht was Argent two Barrs Crenellee Gules three Pheons in chief Sables which mistake that I may the better rectifie I have represented both in Sculpture to the view of the Reader Wrotham had a Market procured to it by Walter Reynolds Arch-Bishop of Canterbury in the eighth year of Edward the second Wingfield is a second Mannor in Wrotham which in Times very ancient acknowledged the propriety of Quintin a Family though not of signal yet of no cheap Account in this Tract and was by Gilbert Quintin and Joan his Wife in the thirty first year of Henry the eighth passed away by Fine to James Peckham from whom by a Clew of several Generations it was conducted down to James Peckham Gentleman who about the beginning of K. James conveyed it to Nicholas Miller of Horsnells Crouch Esq who deceasing without Issue bequeathed it to his Nephew Sir Nicholas Miller upon whose
very lately by Sale conveyed theirs and so by Consequence the Sole Interest of this Island unto Sir Edward Hales of Tunstal Graine Island lies in the Hundred of Hoo and had still the same Owners with the Mannor of Malmains in Stoke not farre distant Nicholas Malmains held it at his Death which was in the twenty third year of Edward the third and from him did the Title stream in this Family until the beginning of Henry the fourth and then it went away by Sale to Iden of Ripley Court in Westwell and in this Family did the Possession dwell untill the beginning of Henry the eighth and then it was alienated to John Parks Gentleman and he not long after dying without Issue Male Elizabeth his Sole Inheritrix who was wedded to John Roper of Bedmaneore in Lingsted Esquire united it to his Patrimony and from him is it now descended to his Successor Christopher Roper the instant Baron of Tenham Hartie lies in the Hundred of Feversham and did anciently acknowledge the Dominion of the Abbot and Covent of Feversham until John Abbot of that place in the tenth year of Henry the eighth obtained a Licence from the Crown to alienate it to Thomas Colepeper Esquire but here its abode was of no long Moment for about the latter end of Henry the eighth it was transmitted by Sale to Sir Thomas Cheyney whose Son the Lord Henry Cheyney about the middle of Q. Elizabeth passed it away to Samuel Thornhill Esquire great Grand-father to Mr. ....... Thornhill the instant Owner of it Oxney Island is an Hundred within it self The first place of eminence which offers it self to a Survey is Witresham which anciently belonged to the Monks of Christ-church and was given to that Cloister in the year 132 by Edsin Bishop of St. Martins without Cant. but upon the Suppression of that Covent in the reign of Hen. the eighth this Mannor with all its appendant was Immunities granted to Hen. Crispe Esq whose Son Nicholas Crispe held it the sixth of Q. Eliz. and after him James Hales Esquire and he in the thirteenth of that Princess alienated it to Freak in which Family it remained untill the Beginning of King James and then it was conveyed by Sir Thomas Freak to Sir Thomas Bishop and he in the sixteenth year of the abovesaid Prince gave it in marriage with his Daughter Mrs. Jane Bishop to Edward Alford Esquire and she in right of that original Settlement does now hold this Mannor Palstre is another Mannor in Witresham which represents to us the memory of John de Palstre who was anciently Lord of the Fee but before the end of Edward the third this Family was vanished and then the Charles's a Family of generous rank at Addington were setled in the possession and Richard Charles held it in the fifth year of Richard the second and so did Nicholas Charles who dyed possest of it in the eleventh year of that Prince Rot. Esc Num. 16. And from this Family by Alice one of the Coheirs it devolved to William Snath and he concluding in a Daughter and Heir she by matching with Watton brought it to be united to the patrimony of this Family And here it made its Re dence untill the reign of Heury the sixth and then it was passed away to Robert Rudston Esquire who being embarked in the reign of Queen Mary in the Design of Sir Thomas Wiatt although he did not forfeit his Life yet he did that of his Estate which by the special Indulgence of that Princesse was granted back to him in the second year of her reign in which this was involved which remained with this Family untill allmost our Time and then it was passed away to Sir Edward Henden one of the Barons of the Exchequer who dying not long since without Issue gave it to his Nephew Sir John Henden Father to Edw. Henden Esq the instant Lord of the Fee Owlye is another Mannor in Witresham which anciently was written Ovely as having owners of that Sirname who stayed not here untill the Beginning of Richard the second but were extinguished and left the possession to Ao Odiarne a Family anciently of good Note After whom I cannot because the private Evidences are embezel'd discover what Families were successively planted in the possession Only I find it about the latter end of Henry the eighth in the possession of Mayney of Biddenden in whom the Interest continued untill some few years since it was alienated by Sir John Mayney of Linton Knight and Baronet to Peter Ricaut Esquire who hath lately alienated his right in it to Mr. Menell of London Ebeney was given to the Monks of Christchurch in Canterbury by K. Athulfus at the particular entreaty and instigation of Ceolnoth the Arch-bishop in the year 832 to the Reparation of their Cloister and Cathedral The words registred in the Latine Record are these Anno Domini 832 Rex Athulfus instinctu Ceolnothi Archiepiscopi dedit Ebeneyam ad opus Monachorum Libere sicut Adisham But when the Impieties of the Monks who had cloistered up Religion it self in a Lazy Cell grew so clamorous that they called for Vengeance upon their Seminaties that Storm arose in the reign of Henry the eighth which by the Dissolution of their Covents expiated their Irregularities this Mannor was surrendered to the Crown and the abovesaid Prince in the thirty second year of his Government granted it to Sir Walter Henley Serjeant at Law who dying without Issue-male his three Daughters namely Elizabeth married to William Waller Esquire Hellen first wedded to Thomas Colepeper of Bedgebury Esquire secondly to Sir George Somerset and thirdly to Thomas Vane of Burston Esquire and Anne matched to Richard Covert of Slaugham as his Coheirs entered upon his Inheritance and then this place upon the Division of his estate increased the Demeasn of Richard Covert Esquire from whom by the Devolution of a descendant right the title is now lodged in his Successor Mr ...... Covert VVoodrove in Ebeney acknowledged in elder Ages a Family for proprietaries known by the Name of Mocking who had a revenue likewise about Milton Stockbury Hartlip and Shepey of no despicable Bulk John Mocking Son of VVilliam Mocking flourished under the Scepter of Edward the first Edward the second and held this Mannor at his Decease which was in the eleventh year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 75. And in this Family did the possession fix untill the reign of Henry the fourth and then it began to ebbe away from this Name and flow by the conveyance of Sale into Guldford and in a very old Schedule which enumerates the Mannors which related to John Guldford who lived under the Government of Henry the fourth and Henry the fifth this is registred in the Catalogue and from him did it come down to Sir Edward Guldford whose Daughter and Heir Joan brought it to be the patrimony of John Dudley Duke of Northumberland and he gave this Mannor with no small
William le Marshall Earl of Pembroke to whom her Father gave with her in Marriage Kemsing Sawters and much other Land in this County but this Mans Successor Anselme le Marshall Earl of Pembroke dying without Issue Robert Bigod Earl of Norfolk by Mawd his Mother the Heir Generall of the Family as being Sister to Gilbert Marshall Earl of Pembroke entered upon the Estate of that Family here at Kemsing and he passed it away to Otho Lord Grandison with the Advowson of the Church of Kemsing in the eleventh year of Edward the first And after this Family was worn out I find the Says to Step into the Inheritance and Geffrey de Say held it at his Death which was in the forty third year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 24. Parte secunda From whom the Propriety flowed down to his Successor Geffrey Lord Say and he concluded in two Daughters and Coheirs whereof Elizabeth one of them was affianced to Sir William Fiennes who in her Right was invested in Kemsing and from him was the Title by Descent transported over to William Lord Fiennes Son of James Lord Fiennes and he in the second year of Edward the fourth passed it away to Sir Geffrey Bolein Great Grand-father to George Viscount Rochford who was beheaded and left no Issue in the Raign of Henry the eighth so that this upon his Father Sir Thomas Boleyn Earl of Wilts departure without any other Issue-male in the thirtieth year of Henry the eighth devolved to that Prince who seised upon it in Right of his Wife the infortunate Anne Bullen who was eldest Sister to the unhappy Viscount And here in the Revenue of the Crown did it lie couched until Queen Elizabeth in the first year of her Raign passed it away by Grant to her Kinsman Henry Cary Lord Hunsdon Son of William Cary Esquire of the Body to Henry the eighth and of Mary his Wife Sister to Q. Anne Mother to the above said Princesse and his Grandchild Henry Earl of Dover alienated his Right in it to Richard Earl of Dorset and he not many years since passed it away to Mr. ...... Smith vulgarly called Dog-Smith who upon his Decease settled the Fee-simple for ever on the Hospital of St. Thomas in Southwarke There was an old Knightly Family which tooke their Sirname from this Parish and was styled Kemsing and their Coat was Argent a Fesse and Cheveron interlaced Sables now quatered by Mr. William Hart of Lullingston Esquire in Right of Peche who married the Heir General Kenardington in the Hundred of Blackborn is by Contraction called Kenarton and although it cannot much boast of the healthful situation thereof yet it hath had Lords and Owners of a very great Estimate Will. de Normannia held it in the Raign of K. John and part of the Raign of Henry the third as appears by the Pipe Rolls which relate to those Times and concern this County Rafe de Normanvill is registred in the list of those Kentish Gentlemen who were with Richard the first at the Seige of Acon in Palestine After him his Son Thomas de Normannia or Normanvill for so he is written in the ancient Rolls succeeded in the Possession of it but died in the eleventh year of Edward the first without Issue-male so that by his only Daughter and Heir it devolved to be the Possession of Sir William de Basing with the Mannor of Cockride likewise which was folded up in her Inheritance and was one of those Knights who accompanied King Edward the first in the twenty eighth year of his Raign in that succesful Expedition which he was ingaged in when he undertook the Conquest of Scotland After him William de Basing held it and was Sheriff of Kent in the eighth year of Edward the second and dying in his Shrievalty Margaret his Widdow accounted for the Profits of the County as the Records of the Pipe Office set forth Sir Thomas de Basing his Son died seised of it in the twenty third year of Edward the third and paid respective Aid for it under the Notion of a whole Knights Fee at making the Black Prince Knight and left it to John his Son a Child of eight years of Age who after was Knighted and died possest of it in the seventh year of Richard the second and left it to Thomas his Son and Heir then eleven years of Age and he had Issue Thomas likewise who dying without Issue John Basing his Uncle was found to be his Heir but was scarce planted in his new acquired Patrimony but he also in the twenty fourth year of Henry the sixth expired without Issue so that the Inheritance devolved to Alice his Sister matched to Thomas Mackworth as the Heir General of the Family And thus were the Basings at this Place extinguished who before they planted in Kent were registred amongst the prime Gentlemen of Middlesex Salomon de Basing was Sheriff of London the last year of King John Adam de Basing was Lord Mayor of London in the thirty sixth year of Henry the third and Robert de Basing succeeded in that Office in the seventh year of Edward the first and Basings-Hall ows both his Name and Foundation to this Family and John Stow in his Survey of London ascribes to them the Degree of Barons of the Realm But to return into that Path from whence this Discourse had diverted me After Mackworth which by Female Devolution was possest of this Mannor was worn out which was about the Beginning of Henry the seventh The Hornes of Hornes-place in this Parish were by Purchase settled in the Inheritance Gentlemen certainly they were of as eminent Account as any in this Territory and had been Proprietaries of this Seat for many Hundreds of years for one Ralph de Hurne of Kenardington was one of the Recognitores magnae Assisae in the Raign of King John Persons who before the Office of Justice of Peace was instituted did supply their Place and were much in Resemblance like the Grand Inquest at this Day being assistant both by their presence and concurrent Counsels to the Justices in Eyre in all the great Decisions which did relate to Causes Criminal emergent à tribus Forisfacturis or the three Forfeitures Murder Felony and Breach of the Peace But to proceed In this Family did the Propriety both of Hernes-place and Kenardington thus purchased of Mackworth lie rolled up together until the twelfth year of Queen Elizabeth and then Bennet Horne the Heir General of both these being matched to ...... Guldford a Romish Catholick he to decline the Oath of Supremacy fled beyond Sea with his Wife upon whose Recesse the Crown seised upon that Estate which had formerly accrewed to him in behalf of his Wife at this place as escheated upon the Statute of praemunire And the above said Princesse immediately after granted the Premises thus forfeited to Walter Moile of Buckwell Esquire Ancestor to Mr. Robert Moile who claims the present Signiory both of Kenardington
to Norden and not long after alienated his right in it to Francis Colepeper Esquire who not long after disposed of it again by Sale to Norden in which Family it rested until the same vicissitude brought it to be the Inheritance of Covert from which Family hath the Fate of Sale not many years since brought it to be the instant Patrimony of Sir William Merideth Leigh in the Lowey of Tunbridge is sometimes written West-Leigh and very often West-Leigh alias Pauls It was in Ages of a very high Gradation the Penchester's and in Dooms-day Book there is mention of * See more of this Family at Pencehurst Paul de Penchester who held Lands here and at Pencehurst and from this Man was it by a continued Series brought down to Sir Stephen de Penchester Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Constable of Dover Castle who exspired in two Daughters and Co-heirs whereof Joan the eldest was married to Henry Lord Cobham of Roundall in Shorn and Alice the other was married to John Lord Columbers as appears by an Inquisition taken in the third year of Edward the third and she had for her proportion assigned her the Mannors of West-Leigh and Pencehurst Sir Thomas de Columbers was Heir apparent to this John de Columbers and Alice his Mother and he by his Deed bearing Date from the eleventh year of Edward the third passed away all his Interest in this place to Sir John de Poultney Lord Maior of London and he died possest of it in the twenty third year of Edward the third immediately after I find Sir Nicholas Lovain Son of Guy Lovain interessed in the possession but whether it was by Marriage of Margaret Widow of Sir John Poultney or by purchase I cannot discover and he had Issue Nicholas Lovain who held it as Heir to his Father as appears by an Inquisition taken after his Deeease in the forty fourth year of Edward the third but this Nicholas dying without Issue Margaret Lovain his Sister became his Heir who brought it to her Husband Philip St. Clere of Aldham St. Clere Son of John St. Clere and they by joint Concurrence by their Deed of Sale bearing Date the tenth year of Henry the fourth passed it away to the Crown and that Prince bequeathed this Mannor of West-Leigh with several other Lands to John Duke of Bedford his third Son after Lord Regent in the minority of Henry the sixth but he deceasing and leaving no Issue it came to Humphrey Duke of Glocester his fourth Brother who being strangled by the procurement of William De la pole Duke of Suffolk in the Abbey of Bury and dying without any Posterity King Henry the sixth in the twenty fifth year of his Rule granted this Mannor being an Adjunct to Pencehurst to Humphrey Stafford Duke of Buckingham Ancestor to Edward Stafford who being attainted of high Treason in the thirteenth year of Henry the eighth lost both his Life Title and Estate and then it was granted by that Prince to Sir Rafe Vane who was made Banneret by that Prince for his remarkable Service in Scotland but he being unsuccessefully wound up in the Businesse of the Duke of Somerset in the fourth year of Edward the sixth was executed as guilty of Felony upon whose ruinous Catastrophe this Mannor by Escheat returning to the Crown it was in the seventh year of Edward the sixth granted to Sir William Sydney a person of deep Knowledge and unblemished Integrity great Grand-father to Robert now Earl of Leicester and Proprietary of West-Leigh There is another Mannor in this Parish called Philipotts which yielded a Sirname to a Family so styled and in a Deed which bears Date from the twenty eighth year of Edward the first whereby one John de Philipott does demise some parcels of Land to Robert Charles Bailiff of the Forest of Tunbridge he writes himself de Philipotts in Leigh but as all things have their Revolution which gives either their own Ruines or Oblivion to them for a Sepulchre so it was here For after this place had for some Hundreds of years been wrapt up in the Inheritance of this Family it at last came down to Thomas Philipott whose Daughter and Heir Alice was married to John Petley Esquire and so Philipotts fell under the Signiory of that Family but long it continued not there for this man determined in four Daughters and Coheirs one of whom matching with Children a Family so called interwove it with his Demeasne in which Name after it had for some years been fixed it was not long since by the Daughter and Heir of this Name brought to be the Inheritance of Polhill Lenham in the Hundred of Eyhorne is that place which Mr. Camden and Mr. Lambert conelude was Durolenum a City of the Romans mentioned by Antonius in his Itinerarium though others would have it to be about Newington by Sedingbourn But finding the consulary way went through this place and Roman Coine found many Times nere the Fosse and Surface of that way and that the high Road called Watling-street continued in the Line of the former till Rochester Bridge was built of stone and all that have written of that way do agree that it went through the middle of Kent I will not further dispute it but acquaint you that the Composition of the Name was from Dore Water in the British and Lenum which the Romans formed from some such sounding Name in the British Dialect and it is the more probable because from hence is a direct way to Limen the Romans Haven nere Hyth The Soile and Signiory were given to the Abby of St. Anstins by K. Kenwulf under the Notion of one and twenty Plough-lands in the year 804 and upon the Dissolution was united to the Crown till Queen Elizabeth passed it away by Grant to Tho. Wilford Esquire whose Son Sir Tho. Wilford conveyed it by Sale not many years since to Anthory Brown Viscount Montacute East-Lenham was long time since the Seat of the Husseys of whom I have spoken before in Boughton Malherbe Henry Hussey had a Charter of Free-warren to his Lands at East-Lenham Chilston and Stourmouth in the fifty fifth of Henry the third and from this Man did thethread of a continued Descent waft it along to Henry Hussey who about the twenty sixth year of Henry the eighth alienated the Possession to Mr. John Parkhurst descended from an ancient Family so called in Norfolke one of which Name was Bishop of Norwich in the year 1560 Ancestor to that ingenious Gentleman Sir William Parkhurst who has lately by Sale transmitted his Right in this Mansion to Mr. Wood of London Merchant Royton in this Parish had very good Gentlemen so styled who were no small space possessed of it and had a Free Chappel founded by Robert de Royton about the latter end of Henry the third from whence it borrowed the Name of Royton Chappel it being annexed to this mansion The Daughter and Heir of Royton was wedded to