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
Solley who not many years after transmitted it by Sale to Mr. Jo. Ward of London whose Widow Mrs. Katharin Ward now holds it in Right of Dower Goldstanton in this Parish is a second place of Note and was as high as the Beam of any Evidence will guide me to discover the Patrimony of Leybourn Roger de Leybourn who was in the Register of those Kentish Gentlemen who were pardoned by the Pacification called Dictum de Kenelworth for seeking to support with seditious Arms the Cause and Quarrell of Simon de Montfort held it in the fiftieth year of Henry the third and from him did it descend to his great Grandchild Juliana de Leybourn who dying without Issue or Alliance in the forty third year of Edward the third this with Overland escheated to the Crown but was granted out again by Richard the second to Sir Simon de Burley who being attainted and convicted of high Treason in the tenth year of his Reign that Prince link'd it by a new Donation to the Abby of Childrens Langley But yet I find that in the Reign of Henry the fourth Richard Cliderow who was Sheriff of Kent in the fourth year and most part of the fith year of that Prince and then again in the sixth year of Hen. the fifth held it I suppose only as a Lessee and kept his Shrivealty at this Place a Man he was of no contemptible Account in those Times as I shall discover more amply at little Betshanger which was his capital Seat But to return after this Mannor had made its aboad in the Demeasne of the above mentioned Covent untill the Dissollution in the Reign of Henry the eighth it was then torn off and granted to Tho. Lord Cromwell Earl of Essex upon whose Attaint in the thirty second year of the above said Prince it escheated back to the Crown and then it was granted in the thirty fourth year of Henry the eighth to Vincent Engham Esquire whose Descendant Sir Tho. Engham some few years transplanted his Concernment in it by Sale into Mr. ......... Courcelis of London Nevills Fleet in this Parish was more anciently called Butlers Fleet as being parcell of the Revenue of that Family and the Book of Aid in the Exchequer which makes an enumeration of the ancient Owners mentions one Richard de Boteler to have been its ancient Possessor but in the twentienth year of Edward the third when that Book was taken William Lord Latimer of Corbie Knight of the Garter and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports held it and in the thirty eighth obtained by the Charter of that Prince a Market to be held at Ark on the Thursday and a three days Fair at our Lady Day and from him as in divers Records it is evident did it acquire the Name of Latimers Fleet but stayed not long under that Title for he determined in Eleanor his Daughter and Heir matched to John Lord Nevill who in her Right became Lord of this Mannor and from him did it contract the Title of Nevils Fleet and lay couched in the Patrimony of this Name untill the Beginning of Edward the fourth and then it was alienated to Cromer and James Cromer in the eleventh year of Henry the seventh alienated it to John Isaac from whom not long after it was brought over by Purchase to Kendall and in that Name it fixed untill the Beginninig of Henry the eighth and then it was alienated to Sir John Fogge and he before the end of that Prince conveyed it to Ralph in which Name it was resident untill the Beginning of Queen Elizabeth and then it was demised to Spracklin and Sir Adam Spracklin almost in Times under our Fathers Cognisance passed it away to Harfleet in which Family you may at this instant find it Molands in this Parish gave Seat and Sirname to a Family so called who before the end of Edward the second were worn out and then it became the possession of Harfleet aliás Septuans who much improved the House with additional Buildings where the Arms of this Family do stand yet in Panes of very old coloured Glasse with this Motto annexed Dissipabo inimicos Regis mei ut paleam alluding either to their Coat which was three Fans such as they fan and winnow Corn with or else to William de Septuans who dyed in the year 14011. and warred as the Records of this Family inform me under Edward the third in France and by his Will registred in the Prerogative Office at Canterbury which I mention for the Novelty of it he gives Manumission or Freedome to diverse of his Slaves or Natives and Sir William Septuans was his Son who lyes buryed in Christ Church in Canterbury and as his Epitaph on his Tomb instructs me dyed in the year 1448. and from him did the Title stream in this Name untill the Reign of Henry the eighth and then I find this Seat in the possession of Robert Read but it was not long out of the Name for about the Beginning of Queen Elizabeth I find it reinvested again in Harfleet and remains an eminent Mansion of this Family at present Many of this Sirname lye buryed in Ash Church for those three Altar Tombs in the Church yard and those on each side the North Dore were the Repositories or Exchequers that treasured up the Remains of divers of this Family all which had their Figures and Arms insculp'd in Brasse annexed to their Sepulchers which by the impression of Times and the Assaults of Sacrilegious Hands are quite dismantled and torn off Wingham Barton is another eminent Mannor in this Parish which belonged to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and when John Peckham founded his Colledge at Wingham in the year 1282. there was an Exhibition setled on that Seminary or Brotherhood issuing out of this Manuor from whence it is supposed by some it contracted the Name of Wingham Barton though I rather conjecture it was called so from its Situation in opposition to another of that Name called Firmins Barton lying by Canterbury But to proceed this continued Archiepiscopal untill the twenty ninth year of Henry the eighth and then it was exchanged by Thomas Arch-Bishop of Canterbury with the Crown and rested there untill Q. Elizabeth granted it to Sir Roger Manwood whose son Sir Peter Manwood passed it away by his Trustees not many years since to Sir William Curteen of London and he gave it in Dower with his daughter matched to Henry late Earle of Kent who upon his decease ordered it to be sold to discharge some Debts and was accordingly not long since by his Countess conveyed by Sale to Mr. James Thurbarne of Sandwich one of the Cinque Ports Son of James Thurbarne Esquire a Justice of Peace in this County in the Reign of K. James whose Ancestors from 1331 have continued very eminent in the Cinque Ports especially in Hasting and Romney as also in Romney Mersh as appears by divers ancient Records But the ancient Mannor-House was in the
Villare Cantianum OR KENT SURVEYED and ILLUSTRATED Being an exact DESCRIPTION of all the Parishes Burroughs Villages and other respective Mannors Included in the County of KENT And the Original and Intermedial Possessors of them even until these Times Drawn out of Charters Escheat-Rolls Fines and other Publick Evidences but especially out of Gentlemens Private Deeds and Muniments By THOMAS PHILIPOTT Esq formerly of Clare-Hall in Cambridge TO WHICH IS ADDED An Historical Catalogue of the High-Sheriffs of KENT Collected by JOHN PHILIPOTT Esq Father to the Authour LONDON Printed by William Godbid and are to be sold at his House over against the Anchor Inne in Little Brittain M.DC.LIX To the Nobility and Gentry of KENT My Lords and Gentlemen I Have at last demolishd those difficulties which intercepted this Work in that progress it endevoured to make to offer it self up both to yours and the publick view Yet I do not deny in a Peice made rugged with so many knots several Mistakes and Omissions must through Inadvertency and Mis-information have slip'd in some of which had their first extraction from the Presse and some their birth from my Pen All which I have collected into a Table of Addenda which is immediately subsequent to the Preface whither the Reader may retire to disperse all scruples Secondly I have not added any Numerical Alphabet to direct the Reader since the Book is so Alphabetically digested that the Work is a Directory Beam or Ray to it self To which I have annex'd as an Appendage a particular Description of all the circumambient Kentish Islands Thirdly I have not so tyed my self up to those severer Discourses which I have extracted from either publick or private Record but that I have embroider'd this Peice with Discourses of a softer complexion as at Bilsington I have unfolded the Causes of the Depravation of the ancient Clergy both in Doctrine and Manners at Birling I have discovered the nature of that Tenure Antiquity call'd Tenure per Baroniam at Ewell I have unravell'd the first Institution of the Knights Templers and the probable causes of their total extirpation at Newington Lucies I have discours'd largely of Vrne Enterment at Rodmersham no less of the Institution of the Knights Hospitallers at Werth I have treated of the Antiquity of Seals at Wymings Would of the Ancient Dignity of the Pileus and have at several other places enterlac'd this Work with collateral Discourses of the same tincture Whatsoever this Peice may appear in the whole Frame and Bulk of it I do assure you it was not born without your Influence it is ready to die at your Command and cannot live but by your Acceptance But I know you have both Art and Candor and as I cannot but hope but that a merciful Interpretation will be emergent from the first so I cannot doubt but the last will give so noble an Allay to your Justice that if it cannot totally absolve yet it may at least excuse My Lords and Gentlemen The humblest of your Servants THOMAS PHILIPOTT A Table of ADDENDA or OMISSIONS Courteous Reader I Here represent to thy View those Mistakes and Omissions I mean the most material ones which I promised to rectifie in my Epistle those which follow are to be pardoned by thy Charity or at least supplied by thy Candor And first Page 7. Line 36. for Beanors read Beacons p. 8. l. 9. add had l. 10. for this r. these l. 11. expunge to it In the List of the Lieutenants of Dover Castle p. 14. after Sir Henry Heyman add Col. Algernon Sidney p. 18. l. 42. for in Hundredo r. in isto Hundredo p. 20. l. 19. add of l. 44 46. for Robert VValler r. Robert VValleran p. 21. l. 5. for Smerdlin r. Swerdlin p. 39. l. 44. for required r. repaired In Tottington and Eccless at Alresford p. 47. l. 27. for of his Heir r. by his Heir l. 29. for Ancestors r. Successors In Nevills Fleet at Ash p. 51. l. 23. for Ark r. Ash In Fleet at Ash p. 53. l. 16. add whom Following an old Pedigree of Poynings I have at Easthall in Aynsford p. 45. at Tottington in Alresford p. 47. Northcrey p. 108. Horsmonden 190. printed that Tho. de Poynings matched with Joan Sole Heir of Sir Richard de Rokesley upon perusal of the Pipe-roll of the seventeenth of Edward the second I find that this Sir Richard died and left two Daughters his Co-heirs Agnes the eldest was wedded to Tho. de Poynings and Joan the youngest was matched to Hugh de Pateshul In Badelesmer p. 56. l. 33. acknowledge r. acknowledgement l. 37. his only Son r. his onely Brother In Digges Court p. 60. l. 7. an Appendage to it r. an Appendage to this Name In the Description of Hartanger p. 60. l. 31. this must be all added passed it away to Richard Merywether in whose Descendant Line the Title flowed with so even and undisordered a Chanel that it is still wrapped up in this Name and Family In Brabourne p. 69. l. 26. following an old Glossary of Sidrach Petits I have rendered 40 Ambras Brasii forty Plates of Brass upon a second Review I find that Ambras in old Record is the contracted word for Amphoras and Brasium signifies Malt so it must be rendered forty Measures of Malt. In my desciption of Brabourne I likewise have omitted the Mannor of Combe of which I now give this Account Combe was anciently the Habitation of Gentlemen of that Sirname of considerable repute in this Track for Rich. de Cumbe and Simon de Cumbe his Son were assistants to Sir Jo. de Northwood when he was Sheriff of Kent the twentieth of Edward the first the last of this Name was Will. de Cumbe who dying without Issue Male in the reign of Rich. the second his Sole Inheritrix brought it to be possest by her Husband John Scot of Scots Hall from whom it is now devolved to Edward Scot Esquire In Beausfield p. 67. l. 1. for Henry the ninth r. Henry the eighth l. 2. for Henry the fourth r. Edw. the third and then add this and then it came to be enjoyed by Malmains and was resident in this Family until Tho. Malmains dying without Issue Male his onely Female Heir brought it to swell the Patrimony of John Monins Esquire In my Description of Bireholt in Brabourne p. 70. l. 3. and an old Arbor Radicalis r. and as it appears by an old Arbor Radicalis In my Description of Bokingfold in Brenchley p. 73. l. 46 47. for but he being infortunately attainted in the fourth year of the abovesaid Prince as being one of the Partisans of the Duke of Somerset r. but he being infortunately attainted in the first year of Q. Mary as being one of the Partisans of Jo. Dudley Duke of Northumberland and the same Mistake is to be rectified in my Description of Bokenfold at Goudherst where p. 173. l. 26 27. for John Seymour Duke of Somerset r. Jo. Dudley Duke
to them not as they were subservient to the Earl but as they administered justice when he was either dead or absent 'T is true if we dissect the word Earldom we shall discover the last syllable Dome is deduc'd from Dominion and implies that the Marshal and Civil Government being anciently subordinate to Counts and Earls there was some Analogy and resemblance in the Official Dignity of an Earl and a Sheriff and certainly the word Sheriff imports no lesse a word contracted from the Saxon word Schyregereve or Schyregrave The word is best interpreted by the Laws intituled the Confessors where we read thus Sicut modo vocantur Greves qui super alios Praefecturas habent ita apud Anglos antiquitûs vocabantur EALDORMEN quasi seniores non propter Senectutem cum quidem adolescentes essent sed propter sapientiam they were call'd anciently EALDORMEN say those Laws not in respect of years but wisdome And we find Henry the 3 d. made his Son Prince Edward the five last years of his Reign Sheriff of Bedford and Buckingham The black Prince was often Sheriff of Cornwall under Edward the 3 d. And Prince Henry in the life of his Father Henry the 4 th is found to have been Sheriff of Cornwall and it was done by these Sagacious Princes with this intent that their Sons when they should ascend the Throne might be more dexterous in the Course and Conduct of the revenue of the Crown And as these Princes were invested with this Office so we find both Arch-Bishops Bishops Abbots Earls and Barons held this Dignity nay sometimes Queens and Countesses Dowagers too with an allowance of a Shire-Clerk which after resolv'd into him we call the under-Sheriff And it was usual long since as the Statute-Law now likewise asserts it that the Census or Possession of some Demeasne in the County admits a capacity to hold the office and answer the King the Profits of the County otherwise they are illegal and lyable to exception and in this respect sometime the King committed four Counties to one man if he were possest of Lands in them all as Hubert de Burgo was at one time Sheriff of Kent Norfolk Suffolk and Lincoln and was allow'd a meet person to be his Substitute or Shire-Clerk in the ninth of Henry the third If any shall demand how long there have been Sheriffs under this quallified Notion as I have before represented and pourtray'd them I must remit them to King Alfred the Founder of Englands peace and the divider of it into Shires and Provinces not to Gervas of Tilbury whose definition of the Name is very deficient making the office meerly suppletory to the Count or Earl nor to Polidore Virgil who being by birth an Alien would obtrude a false opinion upon us that the offices of the Chancellors and Sheriffs were instituted since the Norman Conquest For evidence to the confutation of him we may read the Testimonies remembred by the most learned Selden in the subscription of King Edreds Charter to the Abby of Crowland there after Abbots Dukes and Counts follow Ego Afor vice Comes audivi ✚ And in another Saxon Charter to the same Abby there is this clause inserted Ego Livingus Clericus istud Chirographum manu meâ subscripsi Domino meo Theroldo tradidi which Records do indisputably I think subvert his Assertion The next Annotation upon our proconsulary Officer is the continuation of those that in elder time held it many years together as for example the Cornhills did in Kent whereby their own Sirname was discontinued and the officiary Name le Sheriff le Viscount swallowed up the other and the relict of Reginald de Cornhill le Viscount in a Concession of Land to the Chappel of Lukedale in Littlebourn is styl'd in the Latine Instrument Vice Comitissa Cantii and a Mannor of his in Minster in the Isle of Thanet has from this Sirname obtain'd the Title of the Sheriffs Court But when it was found inconvenient for one man to hold the place any long time in regard of his Account and other enormities emergent provision was made by Statute that none should serve two years together but should be two years at least devested of the Office ere he served again in the same County Touching the Sheriffs Letters of attendance injoyning all Arch-Bishops Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts Bishops Barons c. to assist him it shews in Lankskip and Perspective afar off the Latitude anciently of his authority but since the institution of Lords-Lieutenants the Beams of his power have shone forth with a more dim and contracted light So much shall suffice for the explication of its Name as it is Officiary Now a word or two how it became Honorary because as from the Consul or Count Time and Royal Authority hath extracted the Princely Dignity of Earl which being for the most part enstated in elder times on the Kings kindred hath caused the use of that addition ever since to all of that rank So likewise the State and Degree of a Vicount hath a participation of that Attribute and are call'd Cousen by the Soveraign and in the Scrutiny made by the Chancellor of the Order of the Garter at every Feast of St. George during the time of Vespers if there were any stall void A Viscount is admitted as the lowest degree of Princes The first that under this Title had Parliamentary Dignity and Precedency of all Barons with us was John de Beaumont created Viscount-Beaumont in the 18 th year of Henry the sixth without any relation to the Office The Circle or Coronet of this Degree being by its figure distinguish'd from an Earls as a Marquesses is from a Dukes They that would take an exact survey of the official part of this ancient Minister in all its Dimensions and Appendages let them consult Dalton who has very exactly and usefully discovered to the world all the Ingredients which make up this Office I shall before I proceed to draw out the Catalogue of the Kentish Sheriffs represent to the world a summary List of Arch-Bishops Earls Bishops and others of high eminence which manag'd this Office either personally or virtually as well in other Counties as in Kent And first Queen Isabel had the Sheriffwick of Cornwall divers years before her Husband Edward the 2 d. was thrust out of the world by an unnatural death and some years under the Reign of her Son King Edward the 3 d. Margaret Widow of Edward Earl of Cornwall held this Office in the County of Rutland the five last years of Edward the first and as many years in the beginning of King Edward the 2 d. And after the next three years Margaret the wife of Peirce Gaveston Earl of Cornwall answer'd King Edward the 2 d. the Profits of that County Elizabeth Countesse of Salisbury had the County of Wilts committed to her Anno. 1216. the 21 of Henry the third and John Dacus was her substitute William Earl of Salisbury was Sheriff
de Ifield Pat. 6. Edwar. 3. Par. prima Memb. 22. in Dorso William de Clinton Tres vel duo eorum John de Cobham John de Segrave Thomas Feversham Par. 6. Edwar. 3. Par. prima Memb. 11. in Dorso Willielmus de Clinton Quinque quatuor tres duo eorum John de Cobham Galfridus de Say John de Segrave Otho de Grandison Thomas de Feversham Pat. 9. Edwar. 3. Par. 2. Memb. 24. in Dorso Johannes de Cobham De Confirmatione Pacis ac Statuti Northampton cujusdam Ordinationis ne qui alicubi incedant armati ad terrorum Populi Thomas de Aldon John de Segrave Par. 10. Edwar. 3. Par. 2. Memb. 18. in Dorso Willielmus de Clinton De Feloniis Malefactoribus notorie suspectis insequendis de audiendo terminando Felonia Transgressiones Excessus Radulphus Savage Thomas de Aldon Quatuor vel Tres eorum Johannes de Hampton Willielmus de Reiculuar Pat. 12. Edwar. 3. Momb 16. in Dorso Johannes de Cobham Tres vel duo eorum Thomas de Aldon Jo. de Warrenâ Com. de Surrey Thomas de Brockhull Willielmo de Clinton Com. de Huntingdon Quos c. Willielmus de Orlanston Pat. 18. Edwar. 3. Par. 2. Memb. 35. in Dorso Johannes de Cobham Tres vel duo eorum in Com. Kantii Thomas de Brockhull Otho de Grandison Willielmus de Morant Stat. 18. Edwar. 3. Cap. 2. In this year the Statute was made that ordained that their should be two or three Wardens of the Peace in every County Pat. 29. Edwar. 3. Par. prima Memb. 29. in Dorso Galfridus de Say  Willielmus de Thorpe Otho de Grandison Arnaldus de Savage Stephen de Valoigns Willielmus de Norton Pat. 31. Edwar. 3. Par. prima Memb. 17. in Dorso Galfridus de Say Willielmus de Norton Willielmus de Thorpe Thomas de Lodelow Pat. 31. Edwar. 3. Par. 2. Memb. 11. in Dorso Rogerus de Mortuomari Comes de March Constabularius Castri Dovoriae Custos quinque Portuum Will. de Thorpe a Judge Radulphus de Spigurnel Will. de Norton a Judge Stephanus de Valoigns Thomas de Lodelow Willielmus Warner In this year it being found by Experience that the former Number of the Wardens of the Peace setled by the Statute of the eighteenth of Edw. the third before mentioned was not sufficient for the good Governance of this County It was further provided by an Act made in the thirty fourth year of Edward the third Cap. 2. Ordaining that their should be in every Shire one Lord and with him three or four of the best in the County and three or four learned in the Laws assigned for keeping of the Peace and to restrain Offenders In the next Commission awarded after this Act these eighth Persons are recited for the abovesaid Purpose Viz. Sir Robert Herle then Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Constable of Dover Castle Iohn de Cobham of Cobham Roger de Northwood of Northwood Ralph de Fremingham of Fremingham or Farningham Thomas de Lodelow Robert Vinter of Vinters in Boxley Iohn Barrie of Sevington Thomas Hartredge of Hartredge in Cranebroke But this Restriction was not so permanent but that in short space the Number was very much augmented as by the subsequent Series in the first year of Richard the second may very well be observed Pat. primo Rich. secundi Pars prima Memb. 20. in Dorso De Justiciariis ad Pacem conservandam assignatis Justiciarii ad pacem conservandam assignati Edmundus Comes Cantabrigiensis Constabularius Castri Dovoriae Johannes de Cohham Robertus Belknap A Judge Stephanus de Valoigns Henry de Astry or Astie A Judge Willielmus Horne Thomas de Shardelow A Judge Willielmus Topcliff Thomas Garwenton de Well Nicholaus Hering Willielmus Tiltombe In Lastis de Sheringhope Shepwey St. Augustines Septem Hundredis in Com. Kantii Willielmus Makenade Teste Rege apud Westmon primo Die Aprilis Johannes Francis Thomas Hatredge John Bird de Smeth Justiciarii ad pacem conservandam assignati Idem Edmundus Comes supradictus Johannes Cobham Robertus Belknap Thomas Colepeper Henricus Astie Johannes Fremingham In Lastis de Alresford Sutton Leucata de Tunbridge in Com. Kantii Jacobus de Peckham Thomas de Shardelow Teste Rege ut supra Willielmus Topclive Nocholaus Hering Willielmus Makenade After by the Statute of the twelfth year of Richard the second Cap. 10. and the fourteenth year of the same Prince Cap. 11. it was prohibited that there should be any more than six Justices of the Peace in any Commission besides the two Justices of Assise and certain Lords who were assigned in the Parliament it self But in Times subsequent to these when the Womb of Vice like the Mudde of Nile was more fertile in the production of Crimes and the Seeds of Contention began to be sown more plentifully in every furrow of this Nation which sprang up again in a numberless Variety of Discord and Animosity these Restrictions were broke and the Catalogue of Justices was improved to that Volume to which it is swoln at present Before I descend to a particular Description of the Parishes of this County I should take cognisance of all those Towns and Villages which by the indulgence of former Princes were invested with the Charter of Market and Faire But this hath been so exactly performed lately by Mr. Kilbourn that I shall at present decline this Task Indeed all of them had this Passage inserted in the Original Grant Quantum in Nobis est so that many of them when they came to be discussed before the Judges Itinerent at the general Assises Quo Warranto they were held that is to say what Authority they had to support them were if they were found convenient and necessary ratified confirmed and continued but if again they were deemed needless and superfluous they were at these publick Conventions by the power of the Law then planted in the Judges vacated and discarded This may likewise be added that many of them were granted with this Intention of their first Institution only to inforce and Aggrandize the Signorie of those Mannors which were parcel of the Demeasn of those eminent Persons to whom those above mentioned Royal Charters and Concessions were indulged as Sutton Valence Court at Sreet Shinglewell and others and when the Title and Possession of those Places was either by Purchase or Marriage cast into the Tenure of other Proprietaries the Virtue of these Grants began to be dis-spirited and the Custome of Keeping up Markets and Fairs at these Mannors and Parishes began insensibly to shrink into disuse and intermission It is farther observable that at diverse Places which were endowed with these above mentioned Priviledges as at Brenchly Charlton by Greenwich and other Parishes the Market and Fair was observed and held in the Church-yard and on the Sunday it being the great Design of the Romish Clergie of those cloudy Times to
alienated to Godfrey of Lidde where after it had some small Time been setled a Mutation like the former united it to the Propriety of Wood and he about the Beginning of King James demised it by Sale to Mr. John Fagge Grandfather to Mr. John Fagge Esquire one of the Justices of the Peace for the County of Sussex who is the instant Lord of the Fee Brook in the Hundred of Chart and Longbridge was given to the Priory of Christ Church by Charlemanus a Priest which Donation was first ratified by the Charter of Henry the first and secondly confirmed by that of Henry the second In the Conquerours time you will find it thus represented Rodbertus de Romeney tenet 1 Manerium de Brock ad firmam de Cibo Monachorum pro 1 Sulling defendebat se nunc pro Dimidio valet 4 l. This upon the Surrender of the abovesaid Cloister and its Revenue into the Hands of Henry the eighth was enstated on the newly erected Dean and Chapter of Christ Church and there was lodged untill this Age of Discomposure and Distraction and now it is rent off Bromley gives Name to the whole Hundred where it is situated and hath been many Ages part of the Demeasne of the Church since it was given as appears by the Records of the Church of Rochester by John Later a Goldsmith of London to the Bishop of that Sea in the year of our Lord 1300. There are two Seats within this Parish which were alwaies of temporall Interest and pretend to a deep Antiquity The first is Sundridge which formerly was the Patrimony of a noble Family called Blund Peter le Blund was Constable of the Tower of London the thirty fourth of Henry the third and Ralph le Blund his Grandchild paid respective Aid for his Lands at Bromley which he there held by a whole Knights Fee of the Bishop of Rochester in the twentieth of Edward the third and when this Name was entombed in a Female Heir this Seat went with her to the Willoughbies from whom the Earl of Lindsey is descended and when some years it had rested in this Family by the Circumstance of Purchase it became the Patrimony of Booth when this Name was likewise wound up in an Heir Generall the Betenhams of Pluckley by matching with her became Lords of this Manfion and and continue still Proprietaries of it Simpsons is the second Seat of Account though in Ages of a later Inscription it contracted that Name yet anciently it was the Demeasne of Bankewell a Family of Signall Repute in this Track John de Bankewell had a Charter of Free Warren to his Lands in Bromley in which this was involved in the thirty first of Edward the first and Thomas de Bankewell dyed seised of it in the thirty fifth year of Edward the third and when this Family was shrunk at this Place into a finall extinction the next who were eminent in the Possession of it were the Clarks and one William Clark that flourished here in the Reign of Henry the fifth that he might not be obnoxious to the Statute of Kernellation obtained Licence to erect a strong little Pile of â—ime and Stone with an embattell'd Wall encircled with a deep Moat which is supplyed and nourished with a living Spring but this mans posterity did not long enjoy it for about the latter end of Henry the sixth John Simpson dwelt here by right of Purchase and he having much improved the ancient Fabrick setled his Name upon it and indeed that is all that 's left to Evidence they were once Owners of it for in an Age or two after this it was conveyed to Mr. John Stiles of Bekenham Esquire from whom descends Sir Humphrey Stiles Knight and Baronet Cupbearer to the late K. Charles and him does Simpsons confesse for its instant Owner There is a Well in the Bishops Park called St. Blases Well which anciently had an Oratory annexed to it dedicated to St. Blasius which was much frequented at Whitsontide because Lucas who was Legat for Sixtus the fourth here in England granted an indulgent remission of forty Days injoyned Pennance to all those who should visit this Chappell and offer up their Orizons there in the three Holy-days at Pentecost Boughton Montchensey is placed in the Hundred of Twyford and hath that Addition annexed to it to signifie to us that it was once the Possession of the Family of Montchensey whose principall Seat was at Swanscamp where I shall treat more largely of them but though originally they held this Place yet it was not long a Branch of their Demeasne for about the Beginning of Henry the third they had deserted the Possession and surrendred it up to Hougham of Hougham by Dover and Robert de Hougham dyed possest of it in the forty first year of Henry the third and had Issue Robert de Hougham after whose Death the Spindle prevailed against the Spear for he concluding in Daughters and Coheirs Bennet one of them was matched to John de Shelving and he by a Right derived from her was invested in the Possession and dyed seised of it in the fourth year of Edward the third and so did his Widow in the twenty second year of that Prince and with them the Name of Shelving expired in a Daughter and Heir called Helen who was affianced to John de Bourn and so he in her Right became entituled to the Signory of this Mannor but before the end of Richard the second this Family found likewise its Tomb in a Female Inheritrix who was married to Haut of Hauts Place in Petham and Edward Haut held this Mannor in the eighth year of Henry the fourth as appears by the Pipe Roll relating to that Time but after this it was not long united to their Inheritance for about the latter end of Henry the sixth by an old Court Roll I find it in the Tenure of Reginald Peckham Esquire and Katharine Peckham Widow of James Peckham his Son held it at her Death which was in the seventh year of Henry the seventh and after her Thomas Peckham Esquire her Descendant enjoyed it at his Decease which was in the twelfth year of Henry the eighth and left it to his Son Reginald Peckham Esquire who about the latter end of the above mentioned Prince passed it away to Sir Thomas Wiat and he not long after alienated it to Robert Rudston Esquire who having been entangled in the unsuccesful Design of that Knight forfeited it to the Crown but was reinvested again in it by a new Concession in the second year of Queen Mary and much improved the ancient Structure with the increase of Building in the years 1567 and 1576 and left it to his Son and Heir Belknap Rudston Esquire who by his last Will and Testament setled it on his Kinsman Sir Francis Barnham in the year 1613 from whom it is now descended to that worthy person Mr. Robert Barnham Esquire his Son and Heir Wierton House is a
Richard upon the Death of her Brother John de Crioll without Issue entituled her Husband to that large Patrimony which called her Father Proprietary but he dying without Issue Male Joan his Sole Heir wedded to Thomas de Poynings knit together the Demeasn of Crioll and Rokesley and cast it into his Possession and here it made its abode untill the eleventh year of Richard the second and then the Title of these Mannors came by Eleanor the general Inheritrix of Poynings to submit to the Dominion of Henry Earl of Northumberland and his Successor Henry Earl of the same place alienated them in the twenty third of Henry the eighth to Sir Thomas Cheyney William Walsingham and William Fitz Williams and they conveyed them to Sir Christopher Hales and his Son Sir James sold them to Sir Thomas Moile by whose Coheir they devolved to Sir Thomas Finch Buckwell in Boughton Alulph was the Seat of a Family called Bekewell as appears by an Inquisition taken after the Death of Henry de Bekewell in the tenth year of Edward the third Rot. Esc Num. 72. by which he is found to have been then possest of it and so was his Successor Henry Bekewell by a subsequent Inquisition taken in the seventeenth year of Richard the second Rot. Esc Num. 97. After this Family was worn out the Possession of this Place was united to the Inheritance of Wode and here it remained fastned untill the thirty fourth year of Henry the sixth and then Robert Wode passed it away by Sale to Mr. Walter Moile Father to John Moile Esq who was Justice of the Peace for this County in the Reign of Edward the fourth and Henry the seventh and from whom Mr. Robert Moile is lineally branched out who now enjoys this Mansion And so much for the Seat it self The Mannor which is now entwined with it was for the principal part of it the Inheritance of Burgherst or Burwash Robert de Burgherst possest it at his Death which was in the thirty third year of Edward the first Rot. Esc Num. 41. From whom it devolved to his Successor Bartholomew Lord Burgherst Knight of the Garter who in the forty third year of Edward the third by a Deed of Feoffment invests it in Sir Walter de Paveley Knight likewise of the Garter from Pavely it came over by Purchase to be the Possession of Sir Robert Belknap one of the Judges under Richard the second who having disgusted the Duke of Glocester that Kings Uncle and others of the Nobility who were knit into a Junto for Protection of the Peoples Liberties against the Inroades of the Regal Prerogative which peradventure that infortunate Person had endevoured to extend beyond its just Confines was empeached of High Treason convicted and banished into Ireland in the tenth year of the above mentioned Prince and his Estate for the most part confiscated amongst which was his Land at Buckwell which King Richard the second in the twelfth year of his Rule granted to the Dean and Canons of St. Stephens in Westminster and I find one Semana de Tong to have held it in Lease of that Chapiter at her Death which was in the second year of Henry the fifth Rot. Esc Num. 29. and so did Kimberly afterwards in the third year of Henry the sixth Rot. Esc Num. 33. After this Family was disseised I find the Moiles to have held it as Lessees to that Covent untill the general Dissolution in the Reign of King Henry the eighth and then that Prince granted the Fee-Simple to John Moile Esquire Son of Robert Moile Esquire who as the Records of this Family restifie was Justice of the Peace of this County and one of the Esquires of the Body to that Prince and from this John Moile is the Title by Hereditary Succession streamed into Mr. Robert Moile who is the instant Lord of the Fee Barton is another Mannor which partly is situated in Wye and partly in Boughton Alulf and had Owners of that Sirname who were invested in the Possession until the twenty eighth year of Henry the sixth and then it was conveyed to Cardinal Kempe who setled it on his newly instituted Colledge of Wye in whose Revenue it lay folded up untill upon the suppression it was surrendred into the Hands of Henry the eighth in the twenty ninth year of his Government and was not long after conveyed by Grant to Sir Thomas Moile and he passed it away to his Brother Mr. Walter Moile from whom it is now descended to his Successor Mr. Robert Moile the Heir apparent of it Bocton under Bleane gives Name to the whole Hundred wherein it is placed It was one of those Mannors which anciently belonged to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury but by whom it was given because the Records of Christ Church in that particular are silent I must if you will look for its appraisment in the Time of the Conquerour Doomsday Book will inform you Bocton says that Record est Manerium Archiepiscopi in Tempore Edwardi Regis defendebat se pro V. Sullings dimidio nunc similiter fuit appretiatum in Tempore Edwardi Regis X lb. Et Archiepiscopus habet inde C s. XV s. III. Denarios de Gablo Nunc autem valet XX lb. Sed tamen reddit XX. V lb. de Firma Archiepiscopus habet suum Gablum ut supra Boughton or Bocton Court is the first place of secular Interest which claims our Notice it formerly though now shrunk into a Mansion of mean Concernment did contribute both Seat and Sirname to a Family so called and one John de Bocton as I discover by Deeds held it in the Reign of Edw. the second and Edward the third In times more modern it is in Sir Jo. Rowths Evidences called Swayford from the Swayfords who were next Possessors of the Fee those who succeeded the Inheritance were the Bingers now called Bengers from whom the Bengers of Hougham by Dover are issued out and after this Name had flourished here from the entrance into the Government of Henry the fifth till towards the Reign of Henry the seventh it expired and then the Hales were the successive Proprietaries from whom by Sale the Right was wafted over to Wood and from this Name did a Fatality resembling the former bring it down to Rowth in Relation to whom Sir John Rowth is now entituled to the Fee-Simple of it Brinley in this Patish does celebrate the Memory of Sir Laurence de Brinley who flourished here about the Reign of Edward the first and in this Family was it for a Series of some Descents resident till one of them sold it to John Roper a younger Branch of the Ropers of St. Dunstans in whose Posterity after the Title had been sometime planted it was by a Daughter and Heir made the Inheritance of Aires and when this Family after some abode here determined in a Daughter and Heir the same Female Right threw it into the Revenue of the Rowths descended from
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
of Edw. the second and Edw. the third whose great Grandchild Will. Garwinton dying without Issue Joan his Kinswoman matched to Richard Haut was in the ninth year of Henry the fourth found to be his Heir not only to this place but to much other Land in this Territory and she had Issue Richard Haut who concluded in a Female Heir whose Name was Margery who by matching with William Isaack linked this Mannor to his Revenue Thus farre this Manuscript Who were the Possessors since the Court-Rolls which do not ascend very high now in the Custody of Mr. Hugben discover The first Family which they recite is Hales and it remained in the Inheritance of that Name till towards the end of Queen Elizabeth and then it was by Sale transported over to Manwood who some few years after disposed of his Interest in it by the same Alienation to Sir Rob. Lewknor upon whose Decease it devolved to his Son Mr. Hamon Lewknor Esquire who hath upon his Death during the Minority of his Son left the Possession to be enjoyed by his Widow Bowick is a sixth place which must now come within the pale of this Discourse It was in Times of elder Inscription the Seat of the Lads who in diverse of their ancient Muniments and Evidences writ de Lad. Now if you will know where that place is seated I answer it is situated in Chart by Sutton where there is an ancient Farme which formerly had the Repute of a Mannor and is at this instant as it was in Ages of a higher Step known by the Name of Lads and was till almost our Grandfathers Memory in the Tenure of that Family after Lad was departed from the Possession of this Place the Nethersolls by Purchase were about the Beginning of Henry the seventh incorporated into the Possession and staid in it some few years and then alienated their Interest here to Aucher who about the latter end of Henry the eighth resigned the Title by Sale to Wroth in which Family it was resident until some few years since it was passed away to Elgar Oxroad is a seventh Mannor in Elham In a very old Court-Roll now in the hands of Mr. Shetterden of Eltham one John de Oxroad is represented to be the Possessor and in others of a more modern Complexion which bear date from Henry the fourth and so downwards untill the beginning of Henry the eighth the Hinckleys are discovered to us to be the Proprietaries of it and then this Name was extinguished in a Daughter and Heir for Isabell was the only Child of Thomas Hinckley who by espousing Joan Bene carried this place into the Possession of that Family where it was constantly fixed untill of late years the Title was by Sale transplanted into Mr. Daniell Shetterden of Eltham descended from the Shetterdens of Shetterden in great Chart which Land they have possest for diverse hundreds of years Ladwood is an eighth Mannor in this Parish written in old Evidences Ladswood from whence we may spin out a more then probable Conjecture that before the erecting the house by Rolfe it was a Wood belonging to Lad of Bowick but for some hundreds of years that is fince the latter end of Edward the third it hath constantly related to the Family of Rolfe a Name which Mr. Thinne conjectures in a Pedigree which he collected of this Family was contracted from the ancient German Name Rodolphus and Mr. Lambert in his Kentish Perambulation mentions one Rolph a Saxon who added much to the Castle of Rochester from whom it is not altogether improbable this Family which hath been so ancient at Elham might extract their first original Clavertie is the last place in this Parish which may exact our mention it did belong before the Suppression to the Knights Hospitallers and was one of those places in this Track which was a Commaundry to the more general Seminary of this Order planted at Edwell Upon the Dissolution of this Order here in England by Henry the eighth who condemned their Disorder and Luxury only to improve his own like the Lapwing who cries most when she is farthest off from her Nest this was added to the Demeasne of the Crown and King Edward the sixth granted it to Peter Heyman Esquire who was one of the Gentlemen off his Bedchamber and great Grandfather to Sir Henry Hamon Baronet who was the late Proprietarie of this Mannor of Claverty a person to whom if I should not affirm my self signally and extraordinarily engaged I deserved to be represented to Posterity under the darkest Complexion of Ingratitude Eightam Hamon de Crevequer held Eigtham in the Reign of K. John and then Sim. de Crioll in the Reign of Henry the third as appears by old Evidences vulgarly but corruptly and falsely called Ightam lies in the Hundred of Wrotham and hath that Denomination imposed upon it from the eight Hams or Boroughs which lie within the Verge of it The first is Eightham it self the second is Redwell the third is Ivie-Hatch the fourth is Barrow Green the fifth is St. Cleres the sixth is the Moat the seventh is Beaulies and the eighth and last is Oldborough which puts in its Claim to be of Roman originall for when Leland visited Kent which was about the beginning of Henry the eighth there was some Remains of an ancient Fortification and it is probable that this being the way which led to the great Roman Colonie at Noviomagum now called Woodcot in Surrey was at this place fortified upon all emergent occasions to secure their Retreat from any hostile Eruption The Mannor of Eightam it self was the Possession of William de Inge one of the Judges in the Reign of Edward the second this William de Inge was by his Country and Parentage of the County of Bedford and had Issue William de Inge who matched with Margery Daughter of Henry Grapenell and dyed seised in the fifteenth of Edward the second of this Mannor of Eightham his Daughter and Heir Joan was wedded to Eudo Lord Zouch of Harringworth and William le Zouch of Harringworth dyed possest of it in the fifteenth year of Richard the second Rot. Esc Num. 64. And in this Name was the Propriety of this place for sundry Generations successively resident untill the beginning of Henry the seventh and then it was alienated to Sir Robert Read Serjeant at Law and Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas who not long after going out in four Daughters and Coheirs Dorothy matched to Sir Edw. Wotton Margaret married to Sir John Harecourt of Elnall in the County of Stafford Katharine wedded to Sir Thomas Willoughbie Lord Chief Justice of the Common pleas and Eliz. espoused to Tho. Totihurst Esq they divided his Inheritance and this Mannor upon the Distinction of it into parcells this was added to the Revenue of Willoughby from which Family in our Grandfathers Remembrance it passed away by Sale to Jam. descended from Jacob van Hastrecht who was anciently seated in Cleve
the twentieth year of Edward the third and when after some expiration of Time this Family began to find the common Sepulcher which wairs upon all Humane Glory Decay and Oblivion the Martins a Name of generous extraction in this Track stept in and by Purchase became Lords of the Fee and held it till the Name being contracted into Anne Sole Daughter and Heir of Jo. Martin by marriage with Roger Brent it was knit to the Patrimony of that Family and so for some years remained undissolved till the Union by Sale was broken and not long since passed over to Sir Thomas Bind where at present the Possession is wound up with the other Demeasne of that Family The Mannor of Beverley is a third place of Note in Harbledowne It was the Sear of the ancient Family of Beverley before they removed to Tancrey Island in Fordwich and having remained Proprietaries of it many Generations by Efflux and Descent it was guided down to William Beverley Esquite from whom the Title ebbed away and in whom the Name determined for he deceasing without Issue Male Beatrix was his only Daughter and Heir who was matched to Thomas Norton Esquire by which Alliance the Title of this place became inter-woven with his Inheritance and continued clasped up in it until the middle of the Raign of Queen Elizabeth and then it was conveyed to Merseday in which Family it had a setled Residence until some sew years since the Mutation of Sale brought it to one Mr. ....... Richardson for its Proprietary Lanfranck Arch-bishop of Canterbury in the year 1071. Founded an Hospital at Harbledowne for Lepers employed afterwards to the Use of aged people William Wittlesey Arch-bishop of Canterbury in the year 1371. founded a Chauntry here and dedicated it to the Honor of St. Nicholas which Foundation in the year 1402. Was by Arch-bishop Arundell fully ratified and confirmed Nether-Hardres in the Hundred of Bridge and Petham is eminent for two Places situated within the Precincts and Ambuts of it The first is Hepington which certainly was anciently the Chichs of the Dungeon in Canterbury for I have seen a Record wherein Nicolas Mesingham releases his Right in this and divers other Lands confining on Canterbury to Tho. Chich. But let it be granted it was theirs certainly the Title was very volatile and incertain for I find the Foggs when they expired to be next in Possession of it which was as high as the entrance into the Raign of Hen. the fourth And here for some Ages the Title fixt it self till at length the Fatality of Time passed it over by Sale to Hales one of whose Successors has lately sold the Mansion House to Sir Thomas Godfrey but still preserves the Propriety of the Mannor it self in his Name Lindeshore but vulgarly called Linsore is the second Place that Objects it self to a Consideration In the eighth of Edward the third an Original Fine represents it to be Thomas de Garwinton's and here many years the Possession was resident till Joan his Niece became by Reason her Nephew Thomas Garwinton Grand-child to this Thomas de Garwinton died without Issue the Heir General of this Family and she being married to Richard Haut a Cadet of the Hauts of Hautsborne alias Bishops-Bourne made this part of their Demeasne but this Name not long after concluding in Margery Haut Sole Daughter and Heir to Richard Haut she being made the wife of William Isaack of Blackmansbery in Bridge involved this in her Husbands Revenue to which after it had been some time united it was by Sale from this Family carried over to John Brent Esquire and this Name some narrow Distance of Time after resolving into a Daughter and Heir called Margaret who was married to John Dering this became part of his Estate and so continued till his Successor not long since sold it to Young of Canterbury Vpper or High Hardres call it which you please is placed in the Hundreds of Bridge Petham and Lovingborough and gave name to a Family which certainly was of Saxon-extraction being compounded of two Saxon words Erd which signifies Earth and Reys which signifies Rivulets or small Drils of water And more to establish this Opinion the Record of Doomes-day Book informs us that Rodbertus de Hardres held half a Sulling or Ploughed-land in Liminge in the twentieth year of William the Conqueror this man was Ancestor to Philip de Hardres who was one of the Recognitores magnae Assisae in the Raign of King John and his Son Philip de Hardres was a man of that Eminence under the Government of Henry the third that he matched with Grace Daughter and Heir of Stephen de Harengod and I have seen an old Deed which bears the form of a Latine Will wherein this Stephen settles his Mannor of Elmested and other Lands in this Track upon this Philip de Hardres which Deed though not dated certainly relates to the Time of his Decease which was in the one and fortieth of Henry the third Rot. Esc Num. 23. But though this Mannor gave Sirname to Hardres yet I find some others had an Interest in it or at least some part of it before it absolutely and solely came to confesse the Signory of this Name Oliver de Bohun obtained a Charter of Free-warren to his Lands at High Hardres in the first year of Edward the first which was renued to Nicolas de Hadlow or Hallow who had not long before purchased the Inheritance of the above said Family at this place in the one and twentieth year of the above mentioned Prince but about the latter end of Richard the second I find this Family quite dislodged from this place and the Sole Demeasne and Propriety wrapped up in the Family of Hardres one of whom by Name Henry Hardres was one of the Justices of the Peace for this County in the Time of Henry the fourth and Henry the fifth and from him is descended Sir Richard Hardres now Lord of this Mannor who by a Title riveted and incorporated into him by a Chain of many uninterrupted Descents does now claim the Signory of it Southcourt is another little Mannor in Upper Hardres which in elder Times was entituled to the Propriety of Garwinton a Family of signal Estimate and deep Root in this Track for in an old Pedigree of Isaac I discover that Thomas and William de Garwinton were in the List of those Kentish Gentlemen that accompanied Henry the third in his Expedition into Gascony in the thirty seventh year of his Raign which Design by the ill Conduct of his Affairs and worse Managery of his Arms was very ruinous and full of dysaster to that Prince But this Family about the eleventh year of Henry the sixth as I have shewed in Bekesbourne being extinguished without Issue the Heir General brought this Mannor to be possest by Haut from whom some two Descents after the same Fatality brought it to be enjoyed by Isaac in whom the Propriety was resident until
I find that in the seventh year of that King's Raign the said Lord Cobham sold the abovesaid Mannor to Sir Robert Reade then Serjeant at Law but after Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas who concluding in three Daughters and Coheirs Dorothy matched to Sir Edward Wotten of Boughton Malherbe Katharin wedded to Sir Thomas Willoughbie second Son of Christopher Willoughbie Lord Willoughbie of Eresbye and Margaret married to Sir Iohn Harcourt of Elnal in the County of Stafford this Mannor of St. Maries in her right descending to this Family the abovesaid Sir Iohn and the Lady Margaret his Wise did in the thirtieth year of Henry the eighth exchange the said Mannor of St. Mary Hall with Iohn Wiseman Gentleman for the Priory of Ronton in the County of Stafford since which Time the said Mannor hath continued in the Name of Wiseman and is at this instant in the Possession of Sir Thomas Wiseman of Riven Hall in the County of Essex Knight Newland is a Mannor Situated in St. Maries which was as high as can be traced by any Track of Evidence the Inheritance of Somer vulgarly now called Somers Richard le Somer made his Will as appears by the Records of Rochester in the year of Grace 1347 and died seised of this Place Lands in Halstow Higham Leigh and elsewhere and from him did it come down by the Channel of Descent to John Somer who was Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Raign of Henry the sixth who was a great Benefactor to the Priory of Christ-Church in whose Cloister the Armes of this Family remain insculped in Stone as a Memorial of his Beneficence the last of this Family who held this place was Sir William Somer who was thrice employed as publick Embassador to forraign States by Queen Elizabeth and he deceased without Issue Male so that his two Daughters matched to Sir Alexander Temple and Sir James Cromer became his Coheirs but this Mannor of Newland upon the Petition was united to the Demeasn of Temple whose Heir hath lately passed it away to the Treasurers of the Chest for sick and mained Seamen at Chetham Mershham in the Hundred of Chart and Longbridge was given by Siward and Mawde his Wife to the Monks of St. Augustins for support of their Diet which Concession of their's was afterwards confirmed as appears by the Book of Christ-Church by the Royal Authority of Edward the Confessor and so remained wrapped up in the Demeasn of the Church till the Dissolution of that Covent and then it fell into the Revenue of the Crown and King Henry the eighth in the thirty third year of his Raign settled it on the newly erected Dean and Chapter of Canterbury Quatherington in this Parish vulgarly called Quarington was the ancient Residence of the Blechendens till William Blechenden by marriage with Agnes Daughter and Coheir of ....... Godfrey of Aldington became in her Right Master of Simnells in that Parish and so left his Habitation at Mersham to enjoy his new Acquists at Aldington certainly they were very anciently Seated if not at this place yet in this Parish for I have seen the draught of a Pedigree knit together by Clarenceux Cooke wherein they are brought down from Nicholas de Blechenden who flourished here at Mersham in the Raign of Edward the first though I confesse the Evidences of Quarington reach no higher then Will. Blechenden who is made in the Pedigree to be Grandchild to the abovesaid Nicholas and who flourished in the Raign of Richard the second after the Blechendens the Cleggates of Canterbury became in our Grandfathers Memory to be Lords of the Fee but not long after alienated their Right in it to Eastday of Saltwood from whom the like Current of Succession wâ—fted it over to Knatchbull from whom the Right descended to Sir Norton Knatchbull a Person who for his Favour and Love to Learning and Antiquitie in Times when they are both fallen under such Cheapness and Contempt cannot be mentioned without an Epithete equivalent to so just a merit Mepeham in the Hundred of Totingtrough was given to the Monks of Canterbury for their supply of Dyet by Ediva the Queen Mother of the two Kings Edmund and Eadred as appears by the Book of Christ-Church in the year of Grace 861. Upon the suppression of that Fraternitie it increased by its Addition the Revenue of the Crown but it was suddenly after in the twenty ninth year of Henry the eighth restored to the Church and so continued till these infortunate Times chained it to the Patrimony of the See of Canterbury whose Arch-Bishops it seems had a speciall Regard to this place for William Courtney one of them re-builded the Church which by the Onsets of Time was shrunk into Dilapidation and Rubbish and erected likewise some Alms Houses here for the support and maintainance of the poor of this Parish The Mannor of Dodmore lies within the Circuit of Mepeham and was as high as the Beam of any Deed can discover to me the Possession of the noble and Knightly Family of Huntingfield Sir Peter Huntingfield by his Deed sans Date does demise it to his kinsman Walter Huntingfield and he by Deed likewise without any Date affixed to it passed it away to John Smith and he in the forty seventh year of Edward the third conveyed his Right in it by Sale to Richard Ideleigh from whom the Ideleighs of Easture in Chilham and Rollingin at Goodneston in East-Kent originally branched out But here the private Muniments of this place by whose Light I have walked break off so that I must make a Gap in my Intelligence and skip into the Raign of Henry the eighth In the ninth year of whose Government I find by the Court-Rolls of this place one Thomas Cavendish Esq to be possest of it from whom about the second year of Edward the sixth it went away to Henry Taylor afterwards within the Circuit of thirty years it was the Possession of John Giffard then of Walter Powre of Brenchley and after him of Henry Collins who in the year 1604. demised his Interest in it to Walter Kipping Gentleman of Kippings-Cross in Tuydley where they were resident before about five hundred year and now it is made by Dorothy Kipping his Daughter and Coheir part of the Patrimony of my Worthy and Ingenuous Friend Edward Darrell Esquire Dean-Court is likewise Seated within the Verge of Mepeham It was in elder times a Branch of that wide and opulent Estate which was marshal'd under the Signory of Twitham Alan de Twitham is enrolled in the Catalogue of those Kentish Gentlemen who were with Richard the first at the Seige of Acon Bethram de Twitham held it at his Death which was in the third year of Edward the third after Alanus de Twitham died seised of it in the twenty fifth year of the above-said Kings Raign and his Son Theobald de Twitham after him enjoyed it at his Death which was in the fourth year of Richard the second
Partisans of the House of Lancaster but rather was driven into it by the Tempest of his ill Fortune Having represented the City in its Modern Face or Aspect I shall now draw the Curtain something wider and discover its Pourtracture in its calamitous Sufferings occasioned by the Invasions not only of an entaged Enemy but likewise which is worse by the Onsets of its own incensed Prince and these two mixing together have much disordered the Ancient Glory and Splendor of it In the year 680. Eldred King of Mercia harrassed Kent and by an impetuous Inroad laid it wast And as particular Lamentations are not distinguishable in universal Groans so in this publick Depopulation of the County then Kingdome the Tragedy and Devastation acted by that Prince at that Time upon this City was not resented with that Regret as so deplorable Ruine might seem to exact which had it been singly poured out upon this City it could not have been repeated or rehearsed without a bleeding Heart and a weeping Eye In the year 986. King Etheldred infested Rochester with a Siege having entertained some discontent or disgust against the Bishop and would not dissolve his Leaguer until the said Bishop had expiated his Offence with the Sacrifice of an hundred pounds a Sum of importance in those dry Times though inconsiderable in these profuser ones of ours where commonly the pecuniary Supply that is extracted from the Subject is steeped in his Tears In the year 999. the Danes invaded Canterbury and though by the vigorous Resistance and Magnanimity of the Defendants their Assaults were made null yet at length by the treacherous Combination of an insidious Party within it was rather betrayed then subdued and miserably depopulated by the Barbarous Adversary the Signatures of which Devastation are yet visible and though the wideness of the Orifice which that wound had made be something closed up with the Hand of Time yet there is a huge Scar left to represent to Posterity the Greatness of the former Ruine After they had thus harrassed and defaced that City they to improve â—heir Victory advanced to Rochester where the Inhabitants astonished with an Example of so much Terror after some faint Opposition against the Danish Impressions and Onsets gave themselves up to Flight and this City to a Calamitous Depopulation In the year 1130. Henry the first with the Arch-bishop of Canterbury were present at the Consecration of St. Andrews Church in Rochester which was then brought to perfection having been before much empaired by the Iron Teeth of Time But then the Fury of the Elements began to enter into a Corrivalship or Competition with the Fury of Enemies for by a casual Eruption of an Accidental Fire the whole City almost found an infortunate Sepulchre in its own Ashes But it seems like a Phaenix it rose again into new Beauty and Order out of these Ashes and Embers but did not long continue in this Condition for in the year of Grace 1177. which was in the Time of Henry the second it was again assaulted by the Outrage and Fury of this implacable Element the Impressions and remaining Signatures of which Conflagration are obvious to the Inspection of an Inquisitive Eye even until this Day In the year 1225. it was by the Indulgent Bounty of King Henry the third invested with a Wall and that this Fortification might be of more Concernment it was likewise secured or fenced with a Ditch In the year 1251. A Solemn Tornament was held at Rochester wherein the English entered the Lists against those Strangers or Forrainers who having in that Age a great Concernment in the Eare of Henry the third had likewise a strong Interest in his Heart and by consequence a powerful Impression or Influence upon the publick Affairs of those Times wherein they managed the Honor of this Nation with so much Courage and Gallantry that they forced them with Shame and Confusion to retire into the City and as if that were not a Shelter of sufficient Importance to seek for their Security in the Castle The Castle THat there was in the Age before the Norman Invasion the Rudiments or if I may so say the Embrio of a Castle represented to the World under imperfect Lineaments or Dimensions here at Rochester is most certain For the Records of the Cathedral inform us that Egbert King of Kent in the year 763. gave certain Lands to Eardulfe Bishop of Rochester situate within the Wals of the Castle of that City which argues that there was some Trench or Fortification even in those Times which was in Strength by the Analogy of Proportion equivalent to the Fortresses of that Age and so might merit by Resemblance the Name of a Castle though the Bulk and Grandeur of it was added in Times of a more Modern extraction For in the Time of the Conquest I find that the Bishop of Rochester received Land at Alresford for Land at Rochester proportionate to it to erect a Castle on which was in all probability onely to enlarge the Boundaries of the old one which peradventure was thought too contemptible in those active Times to secure so important a Pass as this of Rochester was without the Additional Supply of some new Strength And that these Augmentations did acknowledge if not for their Founder or Author yet at least for their eminent Benefactor Odo Bishop of Bajeux and Earl of Kent half Brother to the Conqueror is without Controversie a man who was afterwards dignified and adorned with the Office of Lord Chief Justice of England a place of the most eminent Trust in that Age and which was often managed by the Kings of England personally themselves and from the Marble Seat in Westminster-hall did deliver their Decisions and Determinations of Law from whence in Ancient Seals and other Sculptures they are often represented to us sitting in Judicature upon this Marble Seat and hence result those Customary Expressions in Original Writs and other Processes Coram Nobis and Teste Rege and sometimes me Ipso apud Westmon and some other Phrases and Tearms in our Ancient Law-books of the same Complexion as namely such a one Allocutus est Nobis sedentibus supra Sedem Marmoream which justifies that the Kings of England did sometimes personally sit and assist in Judicature in that Court we now call the Upper Bench where like a great Orb or Glob of Light they dispersed their Beams of Mercy and Justice into all the parts of our English Horizon and dispelled all those Crievances which like so many Fogs or Clouds exhaled from corrupred Nature seemed to eclipse the Serenity of this Nation But I wander too much I now return This Accumulation of Offices and Dignities could not so ingage this above-mentioned Odo to the Interest of William Rufus his Nephew but that he first enwrapped himself in a Combination with some of the discontented Nobility whose Endeavors were to ravish the Scepter out of the Hand of that Prince and place it in
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
it was by a Revolution of the same Nature and Semblance transplanted into Sonds from which purchase Sir George Soâ—â—s Knight of the Bath now derives his Right and Inheritance in the Mannor and Signory of Town-place VVilderton in Throuley was eminent formerly for being marshalled under the Revenue of Giles Lord Badelesmer Father to Bartholomew Lord Badelesmer who by his opposing of Edward the second at Leeds Castle forseited this and his Life together to the offended Justice of that Prince but when his Sons Barth and Giles Lord Badelesmer were by Edward the third restored to their former Dignity and likewise to a principal part of his Estate this was folded up in that Restitution for when these above-mentioned Brothers deceased without any lawfull Issue their Sisters were found to be their Coheirs and Margery one of them being married to William Lord Rosse brought this to a piece of his Revenue from whom by Sale it went into the possession of Lewknor of Bodshead in Challock And when this Family was devested of it the Inheritance was by purchase setled in Evering descended from the Everings of Everings-court in Alkham by Dover where after it had some years found a continued Residence the Name and Title dissolved together for Edward Evering left only Mary Evering his Sole Heir who matching with John Upton Gentleman that Alliance fixed Wilderton in the Possession of that Name and part of it was in some years subsequent to this Match sold away to Arnold Terrey of this Parish but the Residue is yet constant to the Interess of Mr. Vpton of Feversham a person in whom the Scholler and Gentleman are so evenly mixt as to a Composition of Perfection that it is yet a Question which of them is the most predominant There was a religious House in Throuley which was a Cell to St. Bertins at St. Omer in Flanders but when Henry the fifth perceived the ill Consequences of having Fraternities and other religious Cells and Covents in this Nation which had in a manner their dependances upon other States contrary peradventure in Interess and Affection to this he suppressed this and many other of the like Condition and out of their Ruines and Revenue he erected the magnificent Monastery at Shene whose first Foundation entitles it self to his Piety and Munificence Thurnham in the Hundred of Eyhorne was the Patrimony of an ancient and Knightly Family of that Sirname made more eminent by the production of Sir Robert de Thurnham a person of considerable Account in the reign of Richard the first which Prince he accompanied to the holy War having before his designing himself to that Quarrel disposed his Estate to pious Uses whereof this at Thurnham was setled on the Colledge of Lingfield in Surrey and having thus disroabed himself of his secular Inheritance he with much Vigor and Alacritie assumed the Crusado or Vow to rescue the Sepulcher of our Saviour out of the possession of Infidels which resolution he so nobly prosecuted that he offered up his Life as an Oblation to the Justice of that cause which he had before so generously asserted After his Decease this remained cloistered up in the patrimony of the Colledge of Lingfield untill the general suppression and then growing parcel of the royal Revenue it lay there until King Edward the sixth granted it to Sir Edward Wotton whose Anceftor Sir Nicholas Wotton was invested long before in some part of this Mannor which did acrue to him in the reign of Henry the fourth by Joan Sole Heir of Robert Corbie and from this Sir Edward above mentioned was it entirely transmitted to his great Grand-child Thomas Lord Wotton who having setled it in Marriage on his eldest Daughter Katherin Wotton matched to Henry Lord Stanhop she by Sale hath lately given up her right to Mr. ..... Godden of London Binbery is an eminent Mannor in this Parish which as high as the Testimony of any either publick or private Evidences can instruct me did own the Signory of Northwood Roger de Northwood held it at his Death which was in the thirty fifth year of Edward the third and so did his Successor Roger Northwood in the last year of Henry the fifth But after this I do not find it long constant to the Interest of this Family for about the beginning of Henry the sixth I find by some ancient Court-rolls that it was passed away to Iohn Thwaits and he in the eighth year of that Prince conveyed his right in it to William Gascoigne in which Family the Title continued until the beginning of Edward the fourth and then it was transplanted by Sale into Cut or Cuts and in this Name the Interest of this place was constantly lodged until the beginning of King James and then it was demised to Sir Samuel Lennard of West-Wickham whose Son Sir Stephen Lennard is at this instant by paternal Right invested in the possession of it There was a Dysastrous Accident happen'd here at Binbery and it was this as the Tragedy is represented to us out of the old Evidences of the Lord Wotton The Lady Northwood in the Time of Edward the third standing on the precipice or hanger of a Hill to see a Fox digged out which had earthed himself there the Foundation being loose and Sandy sunk under her and the hanging Hill shot down so much earth upon her that she was stifled to Death with the unequal pressure e're they could disengage her from that weight which crushed her into this early Ruine Upon the Brow of the Hill not far removed from this place are the Ruines of an ancient Fortress called Godward Castle which Mr. Darell in his Tract De Costellis Cantii conjectures might borrow its Name from Godar dus a Saxou whereas it is more probable it did extract its etymology from the goodness and eminence of its situation as those Intrenchments at Stowting derive their Denomination from their tenable force and fortitude and certainly this is adequate to reason and its own elevated position it being so setled that it did not onely secure the way which led from the Roman Colony at Newington by Rainham but it is possible was a speculatory station much in use amongst the Romans to survey the Approaches of enemies in the Valley below Aldington Septuans in Thurnhem was the Cradle of an ancient Family of that Sirname * Ex Rot. penes Ed. Dering Mil. Baronettum defunctum Robert de Septuans is inserted in the Register of those noted Kentish persons who were engaged with Richard the first at the Siege of Acon * See Rot. Pipe de Scutagio Wallia Rob. de Septuans his Son was embarqued with Henry the third in his expedition against the Welch in the forty second year of his Reign Sir Rob. de Septuans was his Son and Heir who was honoured with that Dignity by Edward the first for his exemplary Service performed at the Siege of Carlaverock in the twenty eighth year of that Prince and he
lies entombed under an Arch in the Southwall with his pourtraicture insculped in a Marble in Minster Church whose Tomb is become the Scene of much Falshood and popular errour the vulgar having digged out of his Vault many wild Legends and Romances as namely that he buryed a Priest alive that he swam on his horse two miles thorough the Sea to the King who was then neer this Island on Shipboard to purchase his pardon and having obtained it swam back to the Shore where being arrived he cut off the head of his said Horse because it was affirmed he had acted this by Magick and that riding on hunting a twelvemoneth after his horse stumbled and threw him on the Scull of his former Horse which blow so bruised him that from that Contusion he contracted an inward impostumation of which he dyed and in memory of which an Horse Head is placed at his Feet which fictitious Story is rent into the disunion of so many absurd circumstances that I shall represent to the Reader the Foundation on which this fabulous Natrative was formerly established which is no more but this Sir Robert de Shurland above-mentioned being Lord Warden of the Cinque-ports and a man of eminent Authority under Edward the first obtained Grant of priviledge by Charter to have wrack of Sea upon his Lands confining on the Sea Shore neere Shurland now the extent of this Royaltie is evermore esteemed to reach as far into the Water upon a low ebb as a man can ride in and touch any thing with the point of his Launce and so you have the explication of this marvel and the couching either of whole Creatures or part of them at the Feet of worthy personages is most frequent both now and in elder Times that these inanimate Representations might be the Symbols or Hieroglyphicks to intimate to posterity those Virtues which were resident in them when alive But to proceed the abovementioned Sir Robert de Shurland having improved his Reputation with many noble and worthy Actions left That only to perpetuate his Name to posterity having no Issue-male to continue it for he left only one Daughter and Heir matched to W. de Cheyney of Patricksbourn Cheyney who was son and heir to Sir Alexander de Cheyney who is in the Inventory or List of those Knights Bannerets who were ennobled with that Dignity by E. the first at the Siege of Carlaverock in the twenty eighth year of his reign and in Right of this Match dyed possest of it in the eighth year of E. the third Rot. Esc Num. 58. And from him did it come down to his great Grandchild Sir John Cheyney who was Knight of the Garter and frequently Knight of this Shire in sundry Parliaments under the Government of Henry the fourth in the first year of whose reign as our Chronicles inform us he was sent Embassador to several forreign Princes to represent to them the Reasons or Motives which induced him to assume the English Diadem and in the first and second year of that Prince he was chosen Speaker of Parliament Sir William Cheyney another of this Family of Shurland was first a Judge and secondly Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench in the reign of Henry the fifth but the greatest Honour this Mannor atchieved was when it came to be possest by Sir Thomas Cheyney who was Knight of the Garter Lord Warden of the Cinque-ports Constable of Quinborough Castle and one of the Privy Councel to Henry the eighth and he had Issue Sir Henry Cheyney created Henry Lord Cheyney of Tuddington by Queen Elizabeth who having exchanged this Mannor of Shurland with that Princesse it remained with the patrimony of the Crown untill the second year of King James and then it was by royal Concession from that Prince made the Inheritance of Philip Earl of Montgomery and after of Pembroke upon whose late decease it is now come to confesse the Signory of his second Son Mr. James Herbert Kingsborough is another Mannor in this Parish whose Name tacitly intimates to us that it was involved formerly in the Revenue of the Crown and was the place which the Inhabitants frequented not only for the holding of a Court for the choice and election of the Constables of the Island but likewise here assembled to nominate and appoint those Wardens or Bailiffs that were to take Cognisance or Charge of the passage called King ferry which divides the Island and the main Land of me County this Mannor after it had for many Generations layn folded up in the royal Demeasne was by Queen Elizabeth granted to Mr. Henry Cary who about the Beginning of K. James passed it away to Swaleman whose Descendant is still entituled to the propriety of it Leisdon next offers it selfe up to our view which was parcel of that estate which acknowledged the noble and ancient Family of Grey or Rotherfield in Sussex for its ancient Owners The first which made this Family eminent was John de Grey who was frequently summoned to sit in Parliament as Baron in the reign of Edward the third and dyed possest of this Mannor in the thirty third year of that Prince Rot. Esc Num. 38. And so did Robert Grey his Successor in the second year of Henry the fourth After his Exit I do not find it long constant to the Signory of this Name for about the Beginning of Henry the sixth it was alienated to Lovell and by virtue of this purchase Sir William Lovell held it at his Death which was in the twenty third year of Henry the sixth After this Family had abandoned the possession the Cheyneys of Shurland were by purchase planted in the Inheritance and remained setled in the Fee-simple of it untill Sir Henry Lord Cheyney exchanged it with Queen Elizabeth Nuts called so vulgarly but in the ancient Court-rolls named Notts as being the Inheritance of a Family called Nott is a little Mannor in Leisdon which after it had for many descents acknowledged no other proprietaries but this Family about the Beginning of Edward the fourth was rent from them by purchase and transplanted into Bartholomew a Family which were Owners anciently of much Land about Lingsted Throuley and other places in that Track and continued Masters of this Lordship untill the reign of Henry the eighth and then it was conveyed to Sir Thomas Cheyney whose Son Sir Henry Cheyney about the Beginning of Queen Elizabeth passed it away to Sampson a Family which had been possessors of Sampson-court not far distant many hundred years and were descended from William Sampson who was frequently summoned to sit in Parliament as Baron in the reign of Edward the first From Sampson it was again in our Fathers Memory carried off to Oâ—borne in the Descendants of which Family the right is still fixed Werdon is the last place of Account in this Island It was in times of an elder Inscription involved in the Inheritance of Savage of Bobbing and in the twenty third year of Edward
Rokesley by whose Sole Inheritrix likewise called Joan it was linked to the Demeasn of Sir Thomas de Poynings from whom the Clew of Descent guided it down to Sir Edward Poynings who dying in the twelfth of Henry the eighth without any lawfull Issue or any visible kindred that could pretend a Title to the Estate it lapsed to the Crown and Henry the eighth granted it to Thomas Lord Cromwell upon whose attainder it being again escheated Queen Mary in the first year of her Rule granted it to Edward Lord Clinton who in the last year of that Princess passed it away to Mr. Henry Herdson whose grandchild Mr. Francis Herdson conveyed it by Sale to Mr. Henry Brockman in whose Grandchild Mr. James Brockman the instant Inheritance is fixed Blackose is another little Mannor in Newington which as Sadrach Petit's Inquest an Authentick Manuscript informs me was as high as the raign of Henry the third the Possession of Nicholas de Morehall a Family who were owners of much Land at Folkstone and elsewhere in this Track and in this Name did it continue untill the latter end of Richard the second and then it was transmitted by Sale to William Edwy who paid a proportionate Aid for it at the Marriage of Blanch Daughter of Henry the fourth in the fourth year of his raign from whence much of our Land in Kent which was rated at the same Time and upon the same Design hath assumed the Appellation of Blanch-Lands After Edwy went out which was in the raign of Edward the fourth it became the Possession of Wreake and Thomas Wreake as the abovesaid Sidrach Petit who lived in that Age instructs me exchanged it with Will. Warham Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and continued annexed to the Demeasn of that See until the great Exchange made by Tho. Cranmer in the twenty ninth of Henry the eighth with that Prince and then it was made the Demeasn of the Crown and after some brief abode there was granted away to John Honywood Esquire Newchurch in Romney Mersh gives Denomination to the whole Hundred wherein it is situated and dilates and spreads it self into several places which call for some Remembrance The first is Peckmanston which was as high as the Rayes or Light of any Evidence can direct to a Discovery the Inheritance of the Lords Leybourne and was annexed to that vast Revenue which they entituled themselves to in this County and so continued till Sir Roger de Leybourne left this with much other Land to his Sole Daughter and Heir Juliana married to William Lord Clinton Earl of Huntington who dyed in the twenty eighth year of Edward the third but without Issue by this Lady who deceasing likewise not long after the Crown upon a Serious and solemne Disquisition discovering none that upon the Stock of any collateral Alliance could pretend to her Estate seised upon it as an Escheat and King Richard the second in the eleventh year of his Government granted it to the Abbey of Childrens Langley amongst whose Revenue it rested till the Dissolution of that Covent and after that King Henry the eighth by royal Donation planted the Possession in the thirty fifth year of his Raign in Sir Thomas Moile a Gentleman in those Times of principal Estimate in this County and of the Privie Councel to that Prince from whom by Amy his Daughter and Coheir it came suddenly after to be the Inheritance of Sir Thomas Kempe who in the raign of Queen Elizabeth sold it to Thomas Smith Farmer of the Customes to that Princesse and he bequeathed it to his third Son Sir Rich. Smith by whose Daughter and Coheir the Title and Right of it at this instant is lodged in Mr. Barrow of Suffolke Est-Bridge in this Parish is a second place which exacts our Remembrance This with Honychild in St. Maryes Parish likewise in Romney Mersh did anciently belong partly to the Abby of Bradsole ailà s St. Radigunds in Dover and partly to the Knights of St. Jo. which upon the general Suppression in the twenty ninnth year of H. the eighth of all religious Cloisters and Seminaries were swallowed up in the Demeasne of the Crown and lay there till E. the sixth granted them in Lease to Cuthbert Vaughan Esq who afterwards in the fourth year of Queen Elizabeth purchased the Fee-simple of them of the Crown and upon his Decease which happened not long after disposed of Honychild to his Son in Law Roger Twisden Esquire and Est-Bridge Sir Will. Twisden â—old Honychild to Sir Will. Sydley Grandfather to Sir Charles Sydley the instant Owner to his Wives Son Richard Dering Esquire in Right of which original Donation Sir Edward Dering of Surrenden Dering in Pluckley Baronet great Grandchild of this Mr. Richard Dering is present Possessor of this Mannor of Est-Bridge Thirdly Silwell in this Parish is not to be omitted it was in elder Generations an Appendage or Limbe which made up the Body of that plentifull Income which appertained to the Abbey of Boxley in this County and upon the Dissolution was with much other of the Church Demeasn by Henry the eighth granted to Walter Henley Esquire after created Sir Walter Henley and one of the Privy Councell to Henry the eighth and Edward the sixth But as though there had been some fatall malediction which like original Sin did cleave to the Possesssion he left no Issue-male to enjoy that large Patrimony he had thus archieved but concluded in three Daughters and Coheirs Elizabeth matched to William Waller of Grome-Bridge Helen first married to Thomas Colepeper of Bedgebury Esquire Secondly to Sir George Somerset and Thirdly to Thomas Vane of Burston in Hunton Esq and then Anne wedded to Richard Covert of Slaugham in Sussex Esq who shared by these matches and alliances a considerable part of his Inheritance in which this Mannor of Sylwell was involved Newington in the Hundred of Milton has the Addition of Lucies prefixed before it to distinguish it from Newington in the Hundred of Street It was the Ancient Patrimony of the Noble Family of Lucy the first whom I find amongst Records of deep Antiquity was extracted out of Normandy within the Precincts of which Province or upon the Verge and Margent of it there is a Signory of that Name yet existent G. de Lucy so he is written in the most authentick Copies of the Battle Abby Roll entered England with William the Conqueror Fulbert de Lucy and in some old Registers written Sir Fulbert changed his Name of Lucy into that of Dover when he was by William the Conqueror made one of the Assistants to John de Fiennes in the Guard of Dover-Castle having fifteen Knights Fees assigned to him in that Track for the Support of his Dignity and Trust * See Seldens Titles of Honor pag. 644. William de Dover was one of the Magnates or Peers who was Teste to the Charter of Maud the Empresse whereby she creates Miles of Gloucester Earl of Hereford Hugh de Dover was Sheriff
of Kent the eighth ninth tenth eleventh twelfth thirteenth and fourteenth years of Henry the second Sir Richard de Lucy was Lord chief Justice and Protector of England in the Raign of the above mentioned Prince of whom I have more largely discoursed at Lesnes in Erith * Ex veteri Rot. penes Edo Dering Mil. Baonettum defunctum Aymer de Lucy was with Richard the first in Palestine at the Seige of Acon and in Memory of some Signal Service manifested there in that holy Quarrel added the Crosse Crosselets unto his Paternal Coat which was before only three Pisces Lucii that is Pike Fish Geffrey de Lucy was frequently summoned to sit in Parliament as Baron in the Raign of Edward the first as the Rols of Summons which relate to that King's Time now preserved in the Tower sufficiently inform us This Geffrey with his two Brothers Aymery and Thomas de Lucy were engaged with Edward the first at the Seige of Carlaverock in Scotland in the twenty eighth year of his Raign and there received the Order of Knighthood They were Sons to Geffrey de Lucy who was constituted High Admiral of England in the Time of Henry the third as appears Pat. 8. Hen. 3. Memb. 4. William and Anthony Lucy both of this Family were frequently summoned to sit in Parliament as Barons in the Raign of Edw. the third In the sixth year of Edward the third Geffrey de Lucy who held Lucy's at his Death which was in the twentieth year of that Monarch had a Charter of Free-warren to this Mannor which priviledge was renued and confirmed by Henry the sixth to Sir Walter Lucy in the 27. year of his Raign in which year he dyed and left his estate here to his Son Sir Jeffery Lucy who with his Sole Daughter and Heir Mawd Lucy transmitted this Mannor to her Husband Sir William Vaux of the County of North-Hampton whose Son Thomas Vaux alienated it about the twenty seventh year of the Raign of Henry the eighth to Sir Roger Cholmeley a younger Branch of the Cholmeleys of Cholmeley in Cheshire from which Family in our Grand-fathers Memory it was by Sale passed away to Sead and from Sead by as quick a vicissitude it came over by purchase to Osborne by whom not many years since it was sold to Pagitt of London Tracies is a second place in this Parish which comes within this List it was in elder Times the Inheritance of a Family of that Appellation John de Tracy was Teste to an old Deed of Richard de Lucy which I have seen wherein he demises some Land to William de Frogenhall the Deed is without Date but by the Antiquity of the Character seems to commence from the Raign of Henry the third Whether these Tracies were extracted from the Tracies of Devon and Gloucestershire or not I cannot positively determine because these of Kent bore a different Coat from the other as appears by all old Ordinaries Vid. Argent two Bends between nine Escollops Gules After the Tracies had left the possession of this place which was about the Beginning of Henry the fourth the Colepepers of Bedgebury were by purchase seised of the Fee-simple of it but staid not long in the Fruition of it for in the Raign of Henry the sixth the Cliffords of Bobbing Court not far distant from whom by Sale in the Raign of Henry the eighth it fell under the Signory of Thomas Linacre Priest Frogenhall in this Parish likewise was a Branch of that wide Demeasne which lay diffused in this Territory and did acknowledge it self to be of the possession of the Ancient Family of Frogenhall whose Seat was in Frogenhall in Tenham but whether this were the Land which I mentioned to be by Deed transmitted to William de Frogenhall in the time of Henry the third by Sir Richard de Lucy I cannot positively determine though it was probable it was and that afterwards as was usuall in those Times to perpetuate the Memory of the Possessor William de Frogenhall fixed his own Name upon it And in this Family did the Possession continue till Thomas Frogenhall concluded in three Co-heirs of which Elizabeth was one who matched with John Northwood of Milton and so linked it to the Inheritance of that Family where it had not long remained when a semblable Fatality brought this Family likewise to expire in Daughters and Co-heirs so that this place came by Joane one of them to be the Fee-simple of Sir John Norton but was not long resident in this Family for he about the Beginning of Henry the eighth conveyed it to Thomas Linacre Priest above mentioned who dying in the seventeenth year of the above-recited Prince gave both Tracies and Frogenhall for ever to augment the Revenue of All-souls Colledge in Oxford The Mannor of Newington it self belonged as an Ancient Manuscript now in my Custody informs me to a Nunnery which was erected here in this Parish but by whom it was founded or endowed is unknown only this Manuscript I mentioned before rehearses a direful Tragedy which it cites as is pretended out of Thorn the Chronicler of St. Augustins and other old Manuscripts It was this Divers of the Nuns being warped with a malitious Desire of Revenge took the advantage of the Night and strangled the Lady Abbesse who was the Object of their Fury and passionate Animosities in her Bed and after to conceal so execrable an Assassination threw her Body into a Pitt which afterwards contracted the traditional Appellation of Nun-pitt but this barbarous offence being not long after miraculously discovered the Manuscript does not intimate how King Henry the third in whose Time this Tragedy was acted seised this Mannor into his Hands and having by Consent of the Church transmitted the Nuns who were culpable to the secular power by Death to make expiation for this Crime he sent the Guiltless Nuns into Shepey and after filled their Cloister with seven secular Canons four of which not long after as if some secret Impiety had lurked in the Wals of the Covent murdered one of the Fraternity upon which the King seises this Mannor again into his Hands which he had before given back to the support of this new instituted Seminary two parts of which laying in the Hamlet of Thetham by the two guiltlesse Canons with the approbation of Henry the third were assigned to the Abby of St. Augustins though some Writings more Ancient affirm them to be given under the Notion of two Prebendaries to that Covent by William the Conqueror and the other five parts of this Mannor were by the abovesaid Henry the third granted to his Lord Chief Justice Sir Richard de Lucy whose Son Almericus de Lucy saies the Manuscript did in the year 1278. exchange them with the Monks of St. Augustins And thus was this Mannor fastned to the Patrimony of the Church and so continued till the General Dissolution in the Time of Henry the eighth disunited it and linked it