A Corner of Kent; or, some account of the parish of Ash-next-Sandwich, its historical sites and existing antiquities

Front matter

A CORNER OF KENT. View of Ash Street 17 Waller, Lith 18Hn.tf.on Garden. A CORNER OF KENT; OR, SOME ACCOUNT OF THE PARISH OF ASH-NEXT-SANDWICH, ITS HISTORICAL SITES AND EXISTING ANTIQUITIES. BY J. R. PLANCHE, ROTTGK CROTX PURSUIVANT. Seal of Sobers de Septvans, temp. King John. LONDON: EOBEET HAEDWICKE, 192, PICCADILLY. 1864. TO THE MOST REVEEEND CHARLES THOMAS LONGLEY, D.D. ARCHBISHOP OE CANTERBURY, AND PRIMATE OF ALL ENGLAND, ■Cfjtst Contributions tohmrbs % Iptstorg of a f)ari*5{jt THE PRINCIPAL PORTION OF WHICH, FROM THE TIME OF THE CONQUEST, FORMED FOR SEVERAL CENTURIES PART OF THE POSSESSIONS OF THE SEE OF CANTERBURY, ARE (JKEttfj -^n-mission) RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED EY HIS GRACE'S MOST OBEDIENT AND VERY FAITHFUL SERVANT, J. E. PLANCHE.

Preface

. r AM not the first person by many who has found, -*- long before he finished his work, that he was writing a book he had no idea of writing when he began it. Having a "vested interest" in the parish of Ash, in the shape of a daughter married to the incumbent of it, and mother of sundry urchins born in it, I one day, in an unguarded moment, took it in my head that a sort of digest of the account of the said parish, which I had read in the third volume of Mr. Hasted's " History of Kent," brought clown to the present clay, with a few notes respecting costume and heraldry as illustrated by the fine series of monumental effigies and brasses in the church, a pretty woodcut or two, and possibly an attractive plate by way of frontispiece, might be acceptable to the inhabitants and useful to the visitors of this out-of-the-way corner of the county ; and, as a shilling hand-book, if it did not quite repay the cost of publication, would not inflict any very ruinous pecuniary penalty on the compiler.

In this com placent state of mind I commenced my self-imposed task, as an agreeable occupation of my leisure hours during the following three or four months, and I am A CORNER OF KENT. now about to terminate it with a mortifying sense of its many deficiencies, after it has reached the extent of a goodly-sized octavo volume, and absorbed every moment of the time I could give to it, not for three months, but as many years. Whether I have made a mistake or not remains to be seen. If the public — I mean that small portion of it who take an interest in local and family history — do not lay down the book till they have finished it, they will not be surprised that I was unable sooner to lay clown my pen. I do it now with regret, as I feel there are many important genealogical questions which have still to be satisfactorily answered ; but I have at least pointed them out for the examination of abler antiquaries with more leisure at their disposal, and shall of course bear them myself in mind while occupied in similar researches professionally.

It but remains for me now to perform the agreeable duty of returning my sincere thanks to the kind friends by whom I have been materially assisted in the progress of my work. To Mrs. Streatfield, of Chart's Edge, and family, for the liberality with which they threw open the doors of that cabinet containing the countless treasures collected with such care and at such expense by the indefatigable and enthusiastic antiquary, the late Mr. Thomas Streatfield, for his contemplated nistory of Kent, of which, alas ! the prospectus alone has been given to the public ; a specimen which only deepens our regret at the non fulfilment of its splendid promise.

PREFACE.

. IX To Mr. Thomas Godfrey Paussett, the descendant of another most able and zealous Kentish antiquary, for the inspection of the MS. church notes of his great grandfather, the Rev. Bryan Paussett, of Hepping ton, whose extensive collection of Anglo-Saxon antiquities, chiefly discovered by him in the parish of Ash, now forms part of the museum of Mr. Meyer, of Liverpool. My obligations to my friend and "co-secretary of the British Archæological Association, Mr. Edward Roberts, I have acknowledged in the chapter devoted specially to the church, respecting the architectural details of which he has furnished me with much valuable information ; but I cannot thank him • too often, and this catalogue of benefactors would not be complete without his name. To another architect and archæologist whose friend ship I have still longer enjoyed, and whose reputation is too well and too widely established to require a word beyond the mention of his name, Mr. Arthur Ashpitel, I am indebted for several important sug gestions, for the drawings of the recently-discovered stone coffin and the plan of the church.

While my brother officers at the College of Arms have one and all cordially encouraged and assisted me in my researches, the congenial taste and great experience of William Courthope, Somerset-Herald and Registrar, have proved invaluable to me. His intimate knowledge, not only of all the stores of curious unedited documents in the College itself, but b X A CORNER OF KENT. of our national records generally, guided me in the pursuit of information, and his own elaborate MS. pedigrees and genealogical collections illustrated many important points misrepresented or totally overlooked by previous writers of great authority. Lastly, but not less gratefully, I have to return my thanks to Miss Adelaide Godfrey, of Brooke House, Ash, for the spirited little drawings, the originals of the woodcuts which adorn the heads of the four first chapters; and to the Hon. George C. O. Bridgeman, for the reduction of the map of the parish. J. R, PLANCHE. College of Arms, July mil, 1804. CONTENTS. Introduction . XXI.

Chapter I. Before The Conquest

The Rutupine shore alluded to by Lucan, 1. Rutupis, or Rutupinuin, now Richborough, 2. Etymological conjectures re specting its name, ib. Description of the castle, 3. " St. Augustine's Cross," 6. The amphitheatre, 9. Site of the Roman town, 10. Notices of Rutupiæ by the Roman poets and historians, from the second to the fifth century, 14. Summary of the meagre materials for the history of Richborough, from the first invasion by Julius Cæsar to the final departure of the Romans, 15. Celebrated personages who must have seen it in its glory, 16. The genei-al features it probably presented at that period, 18. Arrival of the Jutes, 19. Uncer tainty of all Anglo-Saxon history, 21. Reptacæaster and Ricsburg, Saxon names for Rutupis, 22. Eric or Esc, supposed son of Hengist, etymology of his name, 23.

Probable derivation of the name of the parish of Ash, ib. Battle of Ebbsfleet, 24. Reigns of Eric, Octa, and Hermenric, ib. Guilton, or Guiltontown, celebrated pagan Saxon cemetery at, 25. Speculations concerning its name, ib. Local tradition of a golden idol there, 27. State of Ash in the sixth century, 28. Arrival of St. Augustine in the port of Richborough, ib. His reception by King Ethelbert, 30. Bertha, queen of Ethelbert ; a stone in the walls of Richborough castle called Queen Bertha's Head, 31. Restoration of paganism in Kent by Eadbald, son and successor of Ethelbert, A.D. 616, ib. Pious fraud of Lauren tius, the successor of Augustine, ib. Destruction of heathen temples and idols throughout Kent by order of the Christian king, Ercombert, 32. Wasting of Kent by Cadwalla, King of the West Saxons, and ter mination of its existence as a separate kingdom, A.D. 823, 33. b A CORNER OF KENT.

Inroads and devastations of the Danes, ib. Utter destruction of Richborough by the Danes, A.D. 990-994, 34. Subsidence of the sea and accumulation of sand in the port of Richborough during the seventh and eighth centuries, and consequent increase of the im portance of Sandwich, ib. The river Wantsum, 35. State of the parish at the commencement of the eleventh century, 36. Bernholt, a supposed landholder in Ash in the reign of Edward the Confessor, ib.

Chapter II. Descent Of The Manors

Ash next Sandwich, supposed by Hasted to be the Ece in Eastry Hundred mentioned iu Domesday, 37. Osbert Fitz-Letard a tenant there under Odo, Bishop of Baieux, temp. William the Conqueror, ib. Enumeration of the manors, 39. Fleet, granted by Archbishop Lanfranc to Osborne, 1084, 40. A portion held by William D'Arques, ib. Errors and confusion in the accounts of him and his family, 41. Legal document of the eighth of Richard I., illustrating the state of Richborough at that period, with the names of the landholders in 1197, 42. Tenure of that portion of the manor known as Gurson Fleet, by the De Veres, Earls of Oxford, under the family of Sandwich, 48. The other moiety called Butler's Fleet, 49. Descent of Gurson Fleet to the reign of Henry VII., 50. Description of Richborough Castle, temp.

Henry VIII., 51. Aliena tion of the manor to Hammond, temp. Elizabeth, 55 ; and descent to the present day, ib. Butler's Fleet passed from the family of Pincerna to that of Latimer of Corbie, 56. Name changed to Latimer's Fleet, 57. Again to Nevil's Fleet, 58. Descent to present day, 59. Goshall. Given by Archbishop Lanfranc to Arnoldus, temp. William the Conqueror, 60. Ranulf and Walter de Goshall holders of one and a half knight's fee there, temp. Henry III. 61. Sir John Maunsel a tenant about the same period, ib. Re markable notices of him in the Chronicle of Matthew Paris and contemporary records, 62. Descent of Goshall in the family of that CONTENTS. XIII name from the reign of Edward I. to that of Richard II., 65. Passed by a female heir to that of St. Nicholas, 67 ; and from them to Dynely, ib.

Descent from 1484 to the present day, ib. Goldston granted -with Goshall to Arnoldus by Archbishop Lanfranc, 68. William Fitz- Arnold a sub-tenant to Robert de Goldstanton, fourth of John, A.D. 1202, ib. In the possession of the family of Goshall, temp. Edward I., Edward II., and Edward III., 69. Elmes, or Nell, an appendage to Goldston, held by the family of Leyghe, ib. Sir Roger de Leybourne Lord of the Manor in 1206, 70. Passed with his grandaughter, Juliana, to William de Clinton, Earl of Hunting don, ib. Descent from Clinton to Clitherow and Norris, sold to John Lord Clinton, forfeited to the Crown by the attainder of Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex ; granted by Henry VIII. to Vincent Engham, Esq. ; descent to the present day, 72. Overland. No record of, previous to the reign of Henry III., 74.

Held then by the family of Criol under the Archbishop of Canterbury by grant of Henry III. to Bertram de Criol, ib. Passed to the family of Leybourne, temp. Edward I., ib. Juliana de Leybourne, the Infanta of Kent ; correction of errors concerning her, 75. Overland forfeited to the Crown by attainder of Sir Simon de Burley, K.G, 1387, and granted to the Priory of Canons alias Chiltern Langley, 77. Descent from the reign of Henry VIII. to the present day, ib. Molland. Held by a family of that name, temp. Henry III., 78. Passed to that of Sandwich before the reign of Edward III., 79. Carried by Anne, daughter and heir of Nicholas de Sandwich, to her husband, John Septvans, ib. Passed by a female heir of Septvans alias Har fleet to John St. Ledger of Doneraile, Esq., 82. Descent from 1710 to present day, ib.

Chilton, a manor in a borough of the same name, 83. A Roger de Chilton living fourteenth Henry III., ib. William de Chilton died seized of the manor thirty-first of Edward I., 85 ; and William de Baude, fourth of Edward III., ib. Passed to Thomas de Walton, and from him to Sir William de Septvans, 86. Sold by John St. Ledger to Dr. George Thorpe, Prebendary of Can terbury, 1675, ib. Bequeathed by him in 1716 to the Master and Fellows of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, the present possessors, ib. Names of fields at Chilton in 1286, ib. Chequer, anciently Estche quer, probably to called from the Essex family De Scaccario, or Exchequer, ib. Connection of that family with those of Peyforer A CORNER OF KENT. XIV and Sandwich, 87. Manor carried by Anne de Sandwich to the family of Septvans, alias Harflete, alias Atchequer, ib.

In the families of Alday and Monins, temp. Henry VII. — Edward VI., 88. Repurchased by Harfleet, ib. Sold in 1095 by John St. Ledger to the Rev. George Thorpe, Prebend of Canterbury, and bequeathed by him to Emmanuel College, together with the manor of Chilton, 1710, 89. Hills Court, from the family of Helles, or Hills, of Darent, county Kent, ib. Descent of that family from Agnes, sister of St. Thomas a Becket, ib. Passed through the families of Wroth and Slaughter to Harfleet, 91. Sold by Henry Harfleet to Edward Peke, of Sandwich, temp. Charles I., ib. Sometimes called "the Manor of Hills Church Gate," ib. Descent from 1701 to present day, 92. Twitham Hills. Identity of the families of Hills and Twitham, ib. Inquisitions respecting the lands of Alan, son of Theobald de Twitham, and discrepancies in Philipot and his followers respecting Maud de Twitham, 93.

In the family of Septvans temp. Richard II. — Edward IV., 94. Descent through Wroth, Slaughter, and Harfleet to the present day, ib. Levericks. Uncertainty as to the origin of the name, ib. Notices of the family of Leverick, of Sandwich, from 1281 to 1510, 95. Purchased by Peke, of Sandwich, temp. Henry VII., 97. Descent to the present day, ib. AVedding ton. First fouud in the possession of the family of Hougham, in the thirteenth century ; supposed collateral descendants of the Avranches, Lords of Folkestone, 99. Match with Sanders of Norborne, 100. Doubts respecting the arms supposed to be of Sanders, 101. Curious MS. memorandum of Francis Hougham in 1717, 102. Wingham Barton. Part of the ancient possessions of the see of Canterbury, 103. Tithe of the manor given to the College of Wingham by Archbishop Peckham in 1280 ] whence the name, ib.

Family of Barton or Berton, ancestors of Finneux and Diggs, ib. Property passed from the see of Canterbury to the Crown, temp. Henry VIII., — the manor house given by Edward VI. to Sir Anthony St. Ledger ; the manor itself granted by Queen Elizabeth to Sir Roger Manwood, 104. Descent from Sir Peter Manwood, temp. James I., to present day, ib. CONTENTS. XV

Chapter III. Perambulation Of The Parish

Extent, boundary, and divisions of the parish, 100. Church of Ash, formerly Chapel of Ease to Wingham, 107. Made a parish church and given to Wingham College by Archbishop Peckham in 1286, 108. Rectory and advowson in the King's hands, temp. Edward VI., ib. A separate vicarage as early as 1286 ; esteemed a perpetual curacy at the time of the suppression, and the advowson granted by Queen Mary to the Archbishop of Canterbury aud his successors, 109. Passed into the hands of the Ecclesiastical Com missioners, 1830, ib. Present lessees of the great tithes, ib. Ped ding, 110. Carved panelling commemorating the family of Solly, A.D. 1002, 112. View from the hill above Pedding, 113. Guilton town and Guilton Parsonage, ib. The School Farm, Guilton Farm, and Mill, 115. Site of the celebrated Anglo-Saxon Cemetery, ib.

Excava tions there by the Rev. Bryan Faussett, the Rev. James Douglas, Mr. Rolfe, Mr. Ingram Godfrey, and the Rev. H. S. Mackarness, 110. Chequer Lane — Manor-houses of Molland and Chequer Court, 117. Arms of the Harfleets in the windows at Molland, 1 1 8. Nell, anciently Elmes ; perhaps so called from the forest of elms formerly existing there, 121. The village of Ash or Ash Street, 122. The Chequer Inn, 123. The Vicarage, ib. The Infant School, ib. The Lion Inn, 124. The Ship Inn, 125. Ash Mill, ib. The Cartwright Schools, 120. The Moat Farm, ib. Notices of the families of Stoughton and Proude, ib. John Proude's bequest of a house, 127. Mount Ephraim and " Lovekey Street," 129. New Street, ib. Road to Sandwich ; old workhouse, now a brewery, ib. Ash-den, Hill's Court, Levericks, Collarmaker's Hole, 130.

"The Causeway," 131. Associations connected with it, 131-134. Modern alterations, 134. East Street, Goshall Fleet, Goshall, 135. Brooke House, 136. John Godfrey, Esq, J.P., "the poor man's friend," 137. Twitham Hill, Lowton, Cooper Street, Fleet, ib. Sham fight at Stonor before Queen Elizabeth, September 1st, 1572, 138. Richborough Castle aud Farm, 139. Gustou, ib. Providence Cottage, Potts Farm, Sparrow Castle, Sandhills, Upper and Lower Goldstone, Cop Street, A CORNER OF KENT. 140. Crackstakes, ib., note. Warehorn, Paramour Street, 141. Ware, Bereling Street, 142. Westmarsh, Houghton, Wingham Barton, Housden or Uphousen, Sherewater, 143. Hoden, 144. Overland, Nash, 145. Review of the general features of the parish and value of the land, celebrity of its market-gardens, its climate, and salubrity, 147.

Disappearance of ancient edifices, 148. Singular proximity of the old manor houses, 150. -Ash apparently undisturbed by the civil wars and popular tumults of the fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, 151. Notices of the Cess Books and other parish accounts, 152. Verbatim copy of the Churchwardens' accounts for 1634, 153. Extracts from the accounts for various years from 1635 to 1765, 161-172. Notices of the registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials, commencing first of Elizabeth, 1558, 172. Alphabetical list of the principal remarkable names in them, 173. License for a market and annual fair at Ash granted to William Lord Latimer by Edward III. ; the curfew and five o'clock bell ; number of communicants in 1588-1640 ; increase of births from 1620 to 1820 ; population from 1801 to the last census, 1861, 174.

Chapter IV. The Church And Its Monuments

Situation of the church, 175. Probability of au earlier church having existed on the same site, 176. No portion of the present anterior to the close of the twelfth century, ib. General form of the church, arrangement and details, 177. Discovery of a stone coffin in 1863, 181, note. Chantry of "John Stevyn;" of "the Upper Hall," and of " Our Blessed Lady," 183. Shields of arms and figures originally in the windows of Ash church, 186. Miss Friend's memorial window, 191. The high chancel thoroughly repaired by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, 1801, 192. The tower and belfry, 193. The font, 194. Extracts from the parish accounts of payments for the repairs of the church, bells, churchyard-gates, walls, &c, from 1035 to 1791, 195. Lists of benefactors, 198. The CONTENTS.

XVII nonuments : — Sir John de Goshall, 203 j effigy of a female of the thirteenth century, 204 ; Sir John Leverick, 205 ; brasses of Richard Clitherow and his wife, daughter of Sir John Oldcastle, 207 j brass of Jane Keriel, 208; presumed gravestone of Roger Clitherow, 210; mural tablets to the memory of Elizabeth and Jervas Cartwright, and of Eleanor and Anne Cartwright, 212 ; Latin epitaph of Gervase Cartwright, 213 ; mural tablet, — Henry and Susanna Roberts and their children, and Eleanor, sister of Henry, 214 ; Edward, Samuel, and Sarah Solly, 215 ; Thomas Coleman, ib. ; William and Frances Brett and family, ib. ; John Godfrey and his daughter Augusta, 216 ; Arthur William Godfrey, 217 ; Benjamin and Frances Longley, ib. ; Joseph Smith, 218; effigies of John Septvans and Katherine, his wife, ib. ; brass of Christopher Harfleet and Mercy his wife, 224 ; brass of Walter Harfleet and Jane his wife, 227 ; mural monument of Sir Thomas Harfleet and Bennet his wife, 229 ; mural monument of Christopher Toldervey and Jane his wife, 230 ; gravestone of Thomas Peke, 231 ; of Susanna Peke, 232 ; of Elizabeth Lady Peke, ib. ; of Thomas, son of Sir Edward Peke, 233 ; singular epitaph of John Brooke, ib. ; sculptured stone with crest, supposed of the family of Gimber, 234 ; Thomas Singleton, M.D., 236 ; Mrs. Margaret Masters, ib. ; John Masters, 237 ; mural tablet, Whittingham Wood, ib. ; mural tablet, Vincent St. Nicholas, 238 ; gravestone, Samuel St. Nicholas, ib. ; gravestone, Vincent St. Nicholas, 239 ; Thomas St. Nicholas, ib. ; . . . .

St. Nicholas, 240 ; mural monument, Richard Hougham, of Weddington, and family, 241 ; brass to Michael and Richard Hougham, 242 ; brass of Wyllm . . s and Anys his wife, 243 ; mural monument, Henry Lowman and Mary his wife ; Colonel Kien and Jane his wife, 244 ; inscriptions on their coffin plates, ib., note ; Evert George Cousemaker, ib. ; tablets to the family of Tomlin, 245 ; Dorothea St. Nicholas, 246 ; Lieutenant Henry Dawson, R.N, ib. ; Captain Westbeach, R.N., 247 ; John Fuller, of Molland, and family, ib. ; Richard Horsman Solly, ib. ; C. R. Streatfield Nixon, ib. Gravestones :— Mary Bax, 248 ; Mary Curling, Mary Ferrier, and Ann Roberts ; Martha Westbeach, Benjamin and Elizabeth Rowe, of Chequer, and family ; John Bushell, ib. Tombstones in the churchyard, 249. List of incumbents, 250-52. Notices of the chapels of Overland and Fleet, 253.

Chapter V. Notes And Queries, Genealogical And Heraldic

Prefatory observations, 254. Family of Arques, 256. Avranches, 260. Vere and Bolbec, 264. Crevecœur, 286. Auberville, 290. Criol, or Keriel, 291. Sandwich, 290. Septvans alias Harfleet, 307. Goshall, 350. St. Nicholas, 301. Leverick, 375. Paramour, 379. Hougham, 390. Solly, 401. Postscript, 407. ERRATA. Page 73, line 25, for " Nicholas Toke, of Goddington, Esq.," read " the Reverend Nicholas Toke of Godington." Page 78, line 22, jor "the forty-fifth," read " the fifty-fifth." Page 88, line 9, for •**•• Masters and Wardens," read " Masters and Fellows." DESCRIPTION OP ILLUSTRATIONS AND DIRECTIONS TO BINDER.

Plate 1. — View of Ash Street to face Title AVoodcut.— Seal of Sir Robert de Septvans, ante 9th of King John, attached to a deed whereby " Robertus de Sevanz, filius Roberti de Sevanz," grants to St. Gregory's Priory, Canterbury, for the sum of one mark, half an acre of land in Huggefeld (said in dorso to be Hothfield), from the " Evidences of Cumbewell Abbey," in the College of Arms on Title-page Woodcut. — Part of the Ruins of Richborough Castle Page 1 Plate 2. — Specimens of Anglo-Saxon Antiquities discovered at Guilton : — Fig. 1, Fibula ; fig. 2, Sword-hilt (reduced) ; fig. 3, Buckle ; fig. 4, Chain and portion of Horse's Bit, with Roman Coin attached to it to face Page 25 AVoodcut. — Coffer of the Fifteenth Century, in the Vestry of St. Nicholas Church, Ash Page 37 AA'oodcut. — View of Ash from Mount Ephraim Page 106 Plate 3. — Map of the Parish of Ash to face Page 110 Plate 4. — Ash Church from the South-west to face Page 175 Woodcut. — Piece of Carved Oak, a portion of the old Stalls, dug up in the Chancel in 1861 Page 175 Plate 5. — Plan of St. Nicholas Church, Ash to face Page 177 A. The Nave ; B. Chancel of Our Lady ; C. Central Tower ; D. North Transept, or St. Thomas's Chapel ; E. South Transept ; F. Probable Site of early English Tower, as evidenced by thicker walls, &c. ; G. St. Nicholas, or Molland Chancel ; H. Porch ; I. Stairs to Parvise, now a Vestry ; a, b. Respond piece in South AVall ; c. Column built into Wall, from which Arches spring right and left ; d, e. Probable length of Anglo-Norman Church ; f, g. Ragstone Column and Respond ; h, i. Foundation of old AVall.

No. 1. Effigy of Sir John Goshall ; 2. Effigy of a Lady ; 3. Effigy of Sir John Leverick ; 4. Effigies of John Septvans, Esq., and AVife ; 5. Brasses of Richard Clitherow and Lady ; 6. Brass of Jane Keriel ; 7. Brasses of Christopher Harfleet and Wife ; 8. Brasses of AValter Hai-fleet and AVife ; 9. Brass of WiUiam (Leus ?) and Anys his wife ; 10. Burial-place of the family of St. Nicholas ; 11. Spot where the Stone Coffin was found ; 12. Piscina ; 13. Aumbry. Plate 6. — View from South Transept, looking through the High Chancel into the Molland Chancel to face Page 185 Plate 7.— Fig. 1. Effigy of Sir John Goshall ; 2. Effigy of a Lady ; 3. Capital of Column in the Nave ; 4. Fragment of a Monumental Cross, dug up in Churchyard ; 5. Border of Fresco in North Transept ; 6. Lid of Stone Coffin discovered in North Transept in December, 1863 ; 7.

Portion of the Septvans' Seat, discovered 1864 ; 8. Capital of a Column dug up in Chancel - to face Page XX Plate 8.— Effigy of Sir John Leverick to face Page 206 Plate 9. — 1. Gravestone and Remains of Brass of Richard Clitherow and his Wife ; 2. Brass of Jane Keriel to face Page 207 Plate 10.— Effigies of John Septvans, Esq., temp. Henry VI., and his wife Katharine (?) to face Page 218 Plate 11. — 1. Brasses of Christopher Septvans, alias Harfleet, and Wife ; 2. Brasses of Walter Harfleet and Wife ; 3. Brass of William (Leus ?) and Anys his wife Plate 12. — 1. Monument of Sir Thomas Harfleet and Wife ; 2. Monument of Christopher Toldervy and Wife to face Page 229 Woodcut. — Crest of Sir William de Septvans, from a drawing by Philipot, in the College of Arms, from the brass formerly in Canterbury Cathedral, and Shield of Arms of St. Nicholas, from a MS. in the College of Arms, marked, Vincent, 141 Page 254 Plate 13. — Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4.

Personages represented in the old Windows of Ash Church, from drawings copied by Mr. Hasted from the " Church Notes " of Peter le Neve in 1613 (vide page 189) ; figs. 5, 6. John St. Nicholas and his wife, Margaret de Campania, formerly in a Window of Ash Church, from drawings by Philipot, College of Arms ; 7. Seal of William de Auberville • 8. Arms of Walter de Goshall, from the copy of a Roll of the time of Edward I., College of Arms — Vincent, 164 ; 9. Seal of Margret de Goshall, Harleian Charters, British Museum ............... to face Page

Introduction

. rpHE parish of Ash-next-Sandwich, notwithstand- -*- ing that it can boast but of one village of any importance, that to which it gives, or from which it takes its name, — has probably as great claims upon the respect and interest of Englishmen as any other in the kingdom. Within its boundaries the Gauls found their most commodious haven ; the Romans erected their most famous fortalice ; the pagan Jute established his dordinion ; the holy Augustine planted the cross. Many of the most celebrated names in the roll of our Norman ancestors are connected with its manorial records, and the greatest sovereigns of this country for many centuries made its now almost deserted road the highway to conquest, returned by it in triumph, or displayed on it the pageantry of a peaceful progress. These distinctions have frequently been claimed for the county in which it is situate ; but, while we freely accord to Kent all the honour that is fairly its due, as " the grand scene of the earliest recorded of the most important events in the annals of our country," we cannot allow the fact to be forgotten that it was within the boundaries of the present parish of Ash that the greater number actually occurred.

The stranger who may now ascend the venerable tower of its church and gaze on the wide and pleasant panorama presented to him from its summit, will see no remarkable object to excite his curiosity. The long grey crumbling walls of Richborough may easily escape his notice, as his eye strays over them to the white cliffs of Ramsgate, and blue waters of Pegwell Bay, and then, following to the right the straight line of marsh, rests upon the red roofs and dusky towers of the little old-fashioned town of Sandwich. No rock-throned Pharos tells from afar of Roman domination, — no frowning battlements of feudal power, — no ivy-mantled arch of monastic grandeur ; — all appears modern, peaceful, pastoral, and unro mantic. On the one hand, marsh and meadow clotted with sheep ; on the other, a smiling valley, bounded by a range of low wood-crowned hills, — here and there a distant spire, a cluster of farm-buildings, a mill, or an oasthouse.

Yet those meadows have swarmed with Cæsarean soldiery ; over what is now a marsh have sailed the Roman galleys and the Saxon keels. Those hills have witnessed the worship of Woden ; amongst the trees of one of them nestles a village still bearing his name ;— that mill marks the site of a vast pagan cemetery; those farms are the remains of manor houses, whose knightly owners lent lustre to the roll of English chivalry. The sculptured effigies of some

INTRODUCTION.

. XXIII yet moulder on their monuments in the chancel beneath. Puffs of white smoke point out the progress of the up-train from Sandwich rattling over a railway which sweeps by the amphitheatre and round the castrum of Rutupis ; an omnibus is rolling along the road by which Richard Cœur-de-Lion passed on foot to Canterbury, and Edward the Black Prince conducted a captive King of Prance to London.

Chapter I Before The Conquest

" Ant vaga cum Thetis Eutupinaque litora fervent, Unda Caledonios, fallit turbata Britannos." — Lucak. " So Northern Britons never hear the roar Of seas that break on the far Cantian shore." — Rowe. THE history of the parish of Ash may be said to commence with the above allusion byLucan, in his " Pharsalia," lib. vi., to the Rutupine shore : the coast of Kent, or at least that corner of it north east of Sandwich, having received that appellation apparently from the Portus Rutupensis, the name given by the Romans to the estuary Avhich then separated the Isle of Thanet from the mainland. p. At each end of this estuary was a fort which protected a haven, the one called Regulbium, now Reculver; and the other Rutupis or Rutupinum, now Richborough. Hence, it is presumed, the plural name Rutupiæ.* The etymology of this name is still a vexed question.