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THE HUNDRED OF TEYNHAM
(for ease of reading, I have replaced “f” with “s” where appropriate - spellings otherwise remain as found)
Having described the whole of the Island of Shepey, and its appendages of Emley and Harty, I return to the main land of the county of Kent, where the next hundred adjoining to that of Milton, eastward, is the hundred of Teynham, which was so called in the 7th year of king Edward I. the archbishop of Canterbury being then lord of it.
THIS HUNDRED CONTAINS WITHIN ITS BOUNDS THE PARISHES OF
- TENHAM
- LINSTED
- DODDINGTON [Not in this Parish today, so not recorded on this website]
TENHAM
TENHAM, called in Saxon, Teynham, and now frequently written so, is the next parish south-eastward from Bapchild, and gives its name to the hundred in which is is situated.
THE MANOR, which comprehends the hundred of Tenham, was given by Cenulph, king of Mercia, at the request of archbishop Athelard, by the description of twelve ploughlands, lying at Tenham, to the metropolitan church of our Saviour at Canterbury; and he made this gift chiefly on account of the archbishop’s having given him in recompense, twelve ploughlands lying at Cregesemeline, which king Offa formerly gave to one of his earls, named Uffa; and the king granted this land to the church of Christ, free from all secular service, except the repairing of bridges and the building of castles.
The above place, called Creges Emeline, has been understood to mean the fleet, or pool of water between the islands of Emley and Harty, in Shepey, now and long since called Crogs-depe, which water parts the royalty of the Swale between Tenham and Faversham, and is likewise the bounds of the hundreds of Middleton and Faversham.
This manor continued part of the possessions of the church of Canterbury when archbishop Lanfranc came to the see in the year 1070, being the 5th of the Conqueror’s reign: and on the division which he soon afterwards made of the revenues of his church, between himself and his convent, Teynham was allotted to the archbishop and his successors, for their provision and maintenance.
After which the succeeding archbishops so far improved the buildings of this manor-house, as to make it fit for their frequent residence.
Archbishop Hubert Walter, a most magnificent prelate, the expense of whole housekeeping was esteemed nearly equal to that of the king, resided much at Tenham, where he died in the year 1205, and was carried from thence and buried in his own cathedral at Canterbury.
Archbishop Boniface, anno 44 Henry III. 1259, obtained both a market and fair for his manor of Tenham, the former on a Tuesday weekly, and the latter to continue for three days yearly at the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Archbishop Walter Reynolds was resident here in the beginning of the winter of the year 1325, one of his instruments being dated from hence. Archbishop John Stratford, who filled the see in the reign of Edward III. entertained that prince here in the month of February, onno 1345, being the 19th of his reign, several of his letters patent bearing date from Tenham in that time.
The manor of Tenham remained part of the see of Canterbury, so far as I have learned, till the reign of queen Elizabeth (1), when it was exchanged with the crown for other premises, where it lay till James I. in his 5th year, granted it to John Roper, esq. of the adjoining Parish of Linsted, whom he afterwards, in the 14th year of his reign, knighted and created lord Teynham, in whose successors, lords Teynham, the property of this manor has continued down to the Right Hon. Henry Roper, the twelfth lord Teynham, who is the present possessor of it. A court baron is held for this manor.
There are several different customs of the tenants of this manor, principally in the Weald, mentioned in Somner’s Gavelkind.
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FROGENHALL, Usually called Frognall, is a manor situated near the marshes, in the western part of this parish, about half a mile northward of the great London road. It is frequently written in antient records and deeds, Frogenhall Valence, by which name Leland likewise distinguishes it in his Itinerary, stiling it in the margin, Frogenhale Valaunce, and says, “The maner of Frogenhale, communely callid Frogenolle, yoinith to the quarteres of Thong castelle, in Kent, by Sidingburne, and is of XLV. rent by yere: of this very auncient house was a knight that did great feates in France, and is written of - Frogenhalle, that is now, was sunne to one of the Saint John of Bedforde of Northamptonshire, had VI or VII dougters, that after were very welle maried.” By this addition it should seem once to have belonged to the respectable family of Valence, or De Valentia, two (sic) whom were successively earls of Pembroke, from the reign of king Henry III. to that of king Edward III. it was come into the possession of a family, to which it gave both name and residence; for Richard de Frogenhall resided here, and died possessed of it in the 33d year of that reign. In whose descendants residents here, who bore arms, Argent, three bars, sable, as they are still remaining in the windows of the Frognal chancel, in this church, and are carved in stone on the roof of Canterbury cloysters, it continued down to Thomas Frogenhall, who leaving no male issue by Joane his wife; daughter and heir of William de Apulderfield, his daughter and heir Anne carried this manor in marriage to Thomas Quadring, of London, who bore for his arms, Ermine, a sess engrailed, gules, and he in like manner leaving one sole daughter Joane, his heir, she entitled her husband, Richard Driland, of Cooksditch, in Faversham, to the possession of it. By her, who was by his first wife, for by his second he seems to have left issues likewise, he had only one daughter Katherine, who become heir to her mother’s inheritance, and marrying with Reginald Norton, esq. of Lees court, in Sheldwich, he in her right became possessed of it, at the latter end of the reign of king Henry VII [attested pedigree in manuscript of Norton]. His son, Sir John Norton, of Northwood, seems to have sold this manor to Sir Thomas Wyatt, who in the 33d year of king Henry VIII. passed away the manor of Froggynhale Valence, among other premises, to the king (who seems to have been in the possession of it two years before) in exchange for other manors and lands, pursuant to an act passed for that purpose the year before.
It continued but a small time in the hands of the crown; for the king, in his 37th year, granted it to Thomas Green, to hold in capite by knight’s service. He was usually stiled Thomas Norton, alias Green, being the natural son of Sir John Norton before-mentioned, the former possessor of this manor. He died in the 6th year of king Edward VI. leaving two sons, Norton Green, who left an only daughter and heir, married to Sir Mark Ive, of Essex, and Robert Green, gent. who was of Bobbing, whose descendants settled in Rieland; on his death this manor descended to his eldest son Norton Green, and again by the marriage of his only daughter and heir to Sir Mark Ive, who was owner of it in the reign of king James I. Soon after which it was alienated to Ralph Clerke, esq. who resided at Frognall, where he died in 1619, and was buried in this church. His son, Ralph Clerke, esq. likewise resided here at the latter end of king Charles I’s reign, being firmly attached to the king’s interest, for which he suffered much, his estates in 1652 being declared by parliament to be forfeited for treason against the state. However, at the reformation, he became again possessed of them, and this manor continued in his descendants until the 9th year of queen Anne’s reign, when Geo.Clerke, esq. the possessor of it, having obtained an act for that purpose, sold it to Mr Joseph Taylor, merchant, of London, who by his will devised it to his nephew Joseph Taylor, esq. of Sandford, near Great Tew, in Oxfordshire, who had been sheriff of that country, and he died possessed of it in 1733, having by his will given it to his brother William Taylor, esq. whose eldest son, James Taylor, esq. of Sandford, is the present owner of it. He bears for his arms, Quarterly, argent and sable, a cross flory counterchanged, in the first quarter, a ducal coronet, gules. There is no court held for this manor.
Archbishop Hubert Walter, who sat in the see of Canterbury at the latter end of king Richard I, and the beginning of king John’s reign, in his general confirmation of the possessions of St. Gregory’s priory at Canterbury, confirmed to it the tenth of wine at Tenham, a kind of donation which appears by others of the like kind to other religious houses, to have been esteemed at that time of no small value.
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TENHAM OUTLANDS, alias NEW-GARDENS, is an estate in this parish adjoining to the north side of the London road at Greenstreet, which was part of the demesne lands of the manor of Tenham, and part of the possessions of the Ropers, lords Teynham, but in 1714 it had been alienated from that family, and was become the property of Sir Robert Furnese, bart. of Waldershare. After which it descended in like manner as his other estates in this country, as may be seen hereafter more at large under Waldershare, to his daughter (by his second wife) Catherine, countess of Rockingham, who afterwards remarried with Francis North, early of Guidlford, by whom she had no issue, and dying in 1766, gave by her will this, among the rest of her estates, to him and his grandson, the right honourable George Augustus, early of Guidlford, the present possessor of it.
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ON THE SOUTHERN SIDE OF LONDON ROAD, and at the south-east boundary of this parish, adjoining to Norton, is a small hamlet of houses, called LEWSON-STREET, in which there is a capital messuage called Lewson house, which was formerly the estate and residence of a branch of the family of Adye, and several coats of arms of them and their marriages, in painted glass, were remaining in the windows of it till within these few years. Nicholas Adye, esq. resided there in the reign of king James I. on whose death it became the property of his three daughters, by Jane his wife, daughter of Thomas Sare, esq. of Provender, Sarah, wife of John Kennet, and Anne and Martha Adye, who in 1638, alienated this estate, by a joint conveyance, to Mr. James Tong, from which name it passed by sale, in 1676m to Sir James Bunce, bart. of Kemsing, whose eldest surviving son Sir James Bunce, of Kemsing, alienate it in 1714, to Mr. Joseph Hasted, gent. of Chatham, whose grandson, Edward Hasted, esq. of Canterbury, sold it in 1787, to Henry Prat, esq. of Harbeldown. He died in 1794, leaving one daughter Mary, ( who afterwards married John Scott, esq. of Newry, in the kingdom of Ireland) and his widow surviving; he by will devised it to his widow for life, and afterwards to his said daughter, and they have lately sold the same to Mr. Walker, of Sittingbourn, who is the present possessor of it.
THE LOWER SIDE of the hamlet of Greenstreet, at the 43d milestone on the high London road, is within this parish, the whole of which, (excepting a small part at the south-east corner, which stretches up to Norton, as has been already mentioned before) lies on the northern side of the road, where about a mile northward of Greenstreet, on a small rise, is the church, and a little further below it the village of Tenham, not far from which are the marshes, which reach to the waters of the Swale, and are the boundaries of this parish on that side. On a small creek in these marshes is Conyers key, much used for the shipping of corn and goods from this part of the county, near which there is an oil mill established, lately belonging to the Best’s. The air of this place is very unhealthy, for lying so low, and near so large a tract of marshes, it is much subject to unwholesome air arising from them, so that the inhabitants are almost always subject to agues and intermittents, and are, in general, but very short lived. This has been the occasion of that well-known proverb in this part of the county,
He that will not live long,
Let him dwell at Murston, Tenham or Tong
It is situated in a fine level country, the fields of which are large, and the land exceedingly rich and fertile, like that in the neighbouring parishes in this extensive vale, most of it is being what is called in these parts round tilt land, such as has already been described in the adjoining parishes of Bapchild and Tong. It was formerly noted for large plantations of fruit trees; but these are mostly displanted, many of them to make way for hops, of which there are several kindly plantations in different parts of it.
Lambarde says, that this parish, with thirty others lying on each side of the great road from Rainham to Blean-wood, was in his time the cherry-garden and apple-orchard of Kent, and such it undoubtedly continued till within memory. Tenham, he says, was the parent from whence the other plantations issued: for Richard Haynes, fruiterer to king Henry VIII. having observed that those plants, which had been brought over by our Norman ancestors, had lost their native excellence by length of time, and that we were served from foreign parts with these gruits on that account, which he saw no reason for, as neither the soil nor climate here were unequal to the brining of them to perfection, determined to try a plantation of them here; for which purpose, having, in 1533, obtained one hundred and five acres of rich lang, then called the Brennet, and having, with great care, good choice, and no small labour and cost, brought plants from beyond the seas, he furnished this ground with them in rows, in the most beautiful order. These fruits consisted of the sweet cherry; the temperate pippin, hence for the like reason called the Kentish pipin, and the golden renate; which sorts, especially the first and last, have been long propagated from these in great quantities, throughout the southern parts of this kingdom; but the Kentish pipin is now hardly to be met with, even in this county. Pliny, in his Natural History, book xv. chap. 25, says cherries were not in Italy before L. Lucullus’s victory over Mithridatus, king of Pontus; after which, in the year of Rome, 689, he first brought them out of Pontus thither, one hundred and twenty years after which they were transported into Britain.
In the year 1771 a commission of sewers passed the great seal, for the levels of Tenham, Tong, and Luddenham, which has since, in the usual course of such commissions, been again renewed.
Near the high London road on the left hand, about a quarter of a mile eastward from Greenstreet, there is a field called Sandown, which is encompassed with a bank, from which it rises to an hill, on the summit of which is a small coppice of wood, in which there is a tumulus or barrow, which, by the hollowness at the top of it, seems to have been plundered of its contents. Dr. Plot was of opinion, that this work was thrown up by the Romans. At a small distance westward is a green and hamlet of houses, called Barrow-green, most probably from this circumstance.
THE PARISH of Tenham, or Teynham, gives title of baron to the right hon. Henry Roper, lord Teynham, whose ancestor Sir John Roper, was created lord Teynham, baron of Teynham, by patent, on July 9, in the 14th year of king James I. anno. 1616, of whom and his descendants, lords Teynham, a full account will be given in the description of their seat, at Lodge, in the adjoining parish of Linsted.
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CHARITIES
TEN SHILLINGS yearly, in lieu of corn reserved in the lease, are paid out of the great tithes to the poor of this parish, on St. Thomas’s day.
THOMAS BROOKE, by his will in 1669, devised to the poor of this parish, the sum of 40s. to be paid yearly on Christmas-day, out of a farm at Deerton street, in Tenham.
The poor constantly relieved are about thirty, casually about seventy.
TENHAM is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Ospringe.
The church, which is large, is dedicated to St. Mary. It is built in the form of a cross, and consists of three isles, a high chancel, and a north and south chancel, having a square tower at the west end, in which are four bells. In the south cross or chancel, called the Frognal chancel, from its belonging to that manor, lie buried several of that family; over John Frogenhall, who died in 1444, there still remains a brass on his gravestone, with his figure habited in armour; several of the Clerks, owners of this manor, lie buried likewise in it. The north chancel is called the Kinkley chancel, from a family of that name, one of who, John Hencliff, of Tenham, died in 1463, possessed of an estate in this parish, called Jonathan’s garden, which he devised to his two sons, on condition that they shoud glaze a long window on the north head of this church. In this chancel is a stone, with an inscription and figure of a man in brass, for William Wreke, obt. 1533; a memorial for John Sutton, vicar, 1468, and Robert Heyward, in 1509. Weever says, there was a memorial in this church for William Maries, and Joan his wife, but it has been long since obliterated. There are remains of good painted glass in the windows. Several of them have rich gothic canopies of beautiful coloured glass remaining in them, which had no doubt formerly figures of equal beauty, underneath. In the fourth window of the right chancel, is the protrait of a girl in blue, kneeling and pointed to a book, which is held by a man, who likewise points with his hand to it; at the bottom was an inscription, of which only remains, Sedis aplce pthonotarii. In the north chancel, in two windows near the vestry, is a figure in an episcopal habit, mitred, &c. with these arms, Ermine, three bars wavy, azure. In the window of the vestry room, a mitre and these arms, Per pale and fess, counterchange, azure, and argent.
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Archbishop Stephen Langton, in 1227, on account of the slender income of the archdeaconry of Canterbury, and the affection he bore towards his brother Simon Langton, then archdeacon, united to it the churches of Hackington, alias St. Stephen’s, and Tenham, with the chapelries of Doddington, Linsted, Stone and Iwade, then belonging to it, which churches were then of the archbishop’s patronage; and this was confirmed by the chapter of the priory of Christchurch directly afterwards; at which time this church was let to farm for one hundred marcs. In which situation this church has continued to this time, the archdeacon of Canterbury being the present patron and appropriator of it.
The chapels above-mentioned, which aer all belonging to the archeaconry, have long sixce, excepting the chapel of Stone, become independent parish churches, and as such not subject to any jurisdiction of the church of Tenham.
In the 8th year of Richard II. anno 1384, this church wa valued at 133l. 6s. 8d. It is now of the annual value of about two hundred pounds, the yearly rent to the archdeacon is thirty five pounds.
It is a vicarage, and valued in the king’s books at ten pounds, and the yearly tenths at one pound, and is now of the yearly certified value of 63l 13s.4d. In 1640 it was valued at sixty pounds. Communicants one hundred.
This vicarage was augmented ten pounds per annum, cy lease in 1672, between archdeacon Parker and Sir William Hugesson, of Linsted, lessee of the parsonage.
The family of Furnese were afterwards lesses of the parsonage; Henry Furnese, esq. sold it to Henry, late Lord Tenham, who, in 1754, alienated his interest in it to Mr. Kempe, the occupier fo it, in whose family it still continues.
There was a chantry in this chruch, which was suppressed, among other such endowments, by the acts of 37 Henry VIII. and I Edward VI. In the 2d year of the latter reign a survey was returned of it, by which it appears, that the land belonging to it lay in Frogenhall manor, then the property of Thomas Green, and that the total yearly value of it was only 182. 8d.
CHURCH of TENHAM - List of Vicars from 1595 to 1797.
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LYNSTED
The next parish southward from Tenham is Linsted, which lies adjoining the high London road, at the 43d mile-stone at Green-street, the south side of which is within the bounds of it, hence the ground rises towards the south to the village, which, with the church, is situated near the centre of it. It is a situation more pleasant than it is health, especially in the lower part of it. The lands below the village are very fertile, much like those of Tenham described before, having several hop-grounds of a kindly growth, interspersed throughout them; but southward of the village, the land lying still higher, approaches the chalk and become stony and much less fertile, till it joins Doddington, its southern boundary, not far from which is Linsted-lodge, a fine old mansion of the time of king James I. situated not very pleasantly, in a low part of the park, which however has been for some years disparked, and most of it let out in farms. On the west side of it is a seat called Dadmans, formerly Dodmannys, so called from a family of that name. It was, in the reign of Henry VII. in the possession of William Apulderfield, of Faversham. The fee of it has for many years belonged to the Ropers, lords Teynham; is is occupied by the hon. Philip Roper, uncle to the present lord Teynham. A little below Dadmans is an estate, call Bumpit, belonging likewise to lord Teynham. On the opposige or north-west part of the parish, close to the south side of the high London Road, near Radfield, is an estaet called Claxfield, which was the residence of the family of Greenstreet, who were possessed of many good estates in this part of the county, for several generations. After which it became the property of Mr. George Smith, whose daughter Jane sold it to John Sawbridge, esq. of Ollantigh, and his son Samuel-Elias Sawbridge, esq. is the present owner of it.
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About half a mile from the London road, beyond Green-street, at the north-east corner of the parish, is a house called Nowdes, which was part of the possessions of the family of Greenstreet likewise, in which it continued till Peter Greenstreet, in 1703, alienated it to Mr. John Smith, gent. whose daughter having married Mr. T. Barling, gent. he resided here, and died in 1770, leaving two sons, John Smith, (to whom his grandfather, Mr. John Smith, bequeathed his seat) and philip, of London, surgeon, and one daughter Dorothy, married to Mr. Edward Dering, of Doddington. John Smith Barling, gent. of Faversham, the son, on his father;s death, took possession of this seat, in which he at times resided. He died in 1795, leaving one son and two daughters, (one of whom lately married Mr. Lushington Taylor, of Rodmersham,) and they are now jointly intitled to it.
At Greenstreet, on May 12, there is a fair annually for horses and cattle.
Bartholemew Fowle, alias Linsted, a native of this place, was the last prior of St. Mary Overie, London, being elected to that office anno 1513. He was a learned man, and wrote a book, De Ponte Londini.
About thirty years ago a large chestnut tree was felled in Lodge park, which was sawed off close to the ground: in the centre of it, where the saw crossed, was a cavity, of about two inches diameter, in which was a live toad, which filled the space entirely. The wood o fthe tree was, to all appearance, perfectly sound all round it, without any the smallest aperture whatever. The tree itself was six feet in circumference.
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THE MANOR of the hundred of Tenham claims over this parish, subordinate to which is the MANOR OF BADMANGORE, with the MANORS OF LODGE and NEWNHAM united, the former of which, thought is is but little known at present, either as to its name or situation, yet in early times was eminent, by having for its proprietors successively, the Cheneys and Apulderfields, families of no small repute in this county.
Sir Alexander de Cheney, of Patrixborne, the seat of this family, where they had been settled for some generations, was one of those Kentish gentlemen, who attended king Edward I. in his victorious expedition into Scotland, in the 28th year of his reign, and being present at the siege of Carlaverock, in that kingdom, was knighted by him there, with many other of the gentry of this county. His son William de Cheney died possessed of the manor of Badmangore, in the 8th eyar of Edward III. having married Margaret, daughter and heir of Sir Robert de Shurland, in shose right he bacame entitled to the seat of Shurland, with many ohter estates in this country. His son Sir Robert Cheney, sold it before the 27th year of that reign, to William de Apulderfield, who made it his chief residence, and kept his shrievalty here in the year above-mentioned, and in several years afterwards. He was descended from Henry de Apulderfield, of Apulderfield, in Cowdham, who, with his son Henry, were, with other Kentish gentlemen, with Richard I. at the siege of Acon, in Palestine, where, on account of their bravery, they had granted to them an augmentation to their arms, which they and their descendants continued afterwards to bear, viz Sable, a cross, or, voided of the field, their original arms being, Ermine, a fess vaire, or, and gules. His great-grandson Sir William de Apulderfield was a man of much note in the reigns of Henry VI. and Edward IV. He left an only daughter Elizabeth, who become his heir to this manor, among the rest of his estaets, which she carried in marriage to Sir John Fineux, chief justice of the king’s bench in the reigns of king Henry VII. and VIII. He died in the 17th year of the latter reign, anno 1525, leaving two daughters his coheirs, Jane, married to John Roper, esq. of Eltham, and Mildred, to James Digg, esq. of Barham.
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The origin of the family of Roper has been very fully treated of in the first volume of this history, p.472, under the description of Eltham, where the eldest branch of it remained till within memory, and the descent of it is there brought down to the above-mentioned John Roper, esq.
On the division of their inheritance, this manor, among other, was allotted to John Roper, in right of his wife. He was prothonotary of the king’s bench, and attorney-general to Henry VIII. and died in 1524, at his manor of Welhall, in Eltham, to which he had removed from St. Dunstan’s, the antient seat of the family. He left two sons, William Roper, es. clerk of the king’s bench, who succeeded him at Eltham, and Christopher, ancestor of the lords Teynham, and six daughters.
Christopher Roper, esq. the second son, succeeded his father in the manor of Badmangore, and its appendages, at the manor-house of which he resided; it stood on the east side of the park, but on the family’s removing their residence from it, it was suffered to decay and run to ruin. By Elizabeth his wife, daughter and coheir of Christopher Blore,esq. of Rianham, he had several children, of whom John Roper, esq. the eldest son, succeeded him in this manor. He was knighted in 1616, anno 14 James I. and on the same day created lord Teynham, baron of Teynham in this country, as a reward for his forward attachment to the king’s interest, having been the first man of note who proclaimed the king in this county. He built the present seat of Linsted lodge, and inclosed a park round it, and afterwards made it his residence. He died in 1618, and was buried in the vault which he had made in the south chancel of this church.
His descendants, lords Teynham, continued to reside at Linsted lodge, all of whom lie buried in this church, down to Christopher, lord Teynham, the fifth in succession, who in 1687 was constituted lord-lieutenant and custos rotulorum of this county. He died at Brussels nest year, having married Elizabeth, daughter of Francis Brown, viscount Montague, by whom he had several sons and duaghters, of the former, John, Christopher and Henry, became all three successively lords Teynahm, the latter succeeding to the title and estate on the daths of his two elder borthers unmarried, and become the eighth lord Teynham. He died in 1716, leaving by his first wife two sons, Philip and Henry, successively lords Teynham, and by his third wife the lady Anne, second daughter and coheir of Thomas Lennard, earl of Sussex, and widow of Richard Barret Lennard, lord Dacre, remarried thridly to the hon. Robert Moore, he likewise left issue, whose descendant become afterwards, in her right, intitled to the fee barony of Dacre. He was succeeded by his eldest son Philip, lord Teynham, who died unmarried in 1727, upon which the title and estate devolved to his next and only whole brotehr Henry, lord Teynham, who left by his first wife Catherine, daughter and coheir of Edward Powell, esq. of Sandford, in Oxfordshire, five sons and two daughters, of whom Henry the eldest son, on his death in 1781, succeeded him as lord Teynham, and married first Mary-Wilhelmina, eldest duaghter of Sir Francis Head, bart. (whose second daughter and coheir married John his next brother) who died s.p. and secondly Betsy, widown of John Mills, esq/ of the idland of St.Christopher, and duaghter of Mr. Webber, of Somersetshire, by whom he had two sons Henry and John, and two duaghters. He died in 1786, and was succeeded by his eldest son Henry, being the present right hon. lord Teynham, and the twelfth lord, in succession from the first grant of the title. He has never resided at the Lodge, which has been for some years occuped by different tenants, and the greatest part of the park converted into farms of arable land. He is at present unmarried, and still continues the properietor of these estates, with Colyers and Newnham farm, and others in this parish. He bears for his arms, Party per fess, azure, and or, a pale and three roebucks heads erased, countechanged; for his crest, On a wreath, a lion rampant, sable, holding a ducal coronet between his paws, or; and for his supporters, on the dexter side, a buck, or; on the sinister, a tiger reguardant, argent. And he has likewise a right to quarter with those of Roper, the several coats of Apledore, St. Laurence, Tattershal, Apulderfield, the same for service, Twite, Parke, and Hudgon, as appeared by a pedigree in the possession of Edward Roper, esq. of Welhall, in Eltham, attested and collected by John Philipott, Somerset herald in 1629.
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SEWARDS, is a manor which had an antient seat in this parish, and in very early times was the residence of a family that name, in which it continued till about the reign of Henry V. when Richard Seward leaving an only daughter and heir Elizabeth, she carried it in marriage to John Finch, esq. second son of Vincent Herbert, alias Finch, of Netherfield, in Sussex, whose eldest son William Herbert, alieas Finch, was ancestor of the Finch’s, earls of Winchelsea and Nottingham, and others of that name at different times enobled, all of whom bore the same coat of arms.
John Finch, esq. died possessed of Sewards in 1442, anno 21 Henry VI. and was buried at Sevington. His grand son John Finch, esq. was of Sewards, and left two sons, Herbert, who was of Linsted, from whom descended the Finch's, of Linsted, Norton, Faversham, and Wye, and other younger branches of that name; and Thomas Finch, the second son, who was of Kingsdown, from whom descended those of that parish and of Stalisfield. *
Herbert Finch, the eldest son, became possessed of Sewards on his father's death, and from him it descended to William Finch, esq. who dying without issue male in the reign of queen Elizabeth, his only daughter and heir Catherine carried it in marriage to Sir Drue Drury, gentleman under of the privy chamber, the fifth son of Sir Robert Drury, of Edgerly, in Buckinghamshire, who bore for his arms, Argent on a chief vert, a Roman T between two mullets, or, and was descended lineally from John Drury, esq. of that place, son and heir of Drury, one of the Norman nobles, who came in with king William the Conqueror. He built a large and handsome seat in this parish, opposite to the church and resided in it: His son Sir Drue Drury, in the beginning of the reign of king Charles I. resided at the seat built by his father as before-mentioned, which he alienated to Mr. James Hugessen, merchant adventurer of Dover, who kept his shrievalty at it in the 17th year of Charles I. He was the son of James Hugessen, of Dover; merchant adventurer, who bore for his arms, Argent on a mount vert, an oak proper, between two boars erect, sable, armed or, as did his descendants afterwards. He died in 16465 and was buried in the chapel on the north side of the chancel of this church, which has continued the burial-place of his descendants to this time. He left six sons and one daughter, of whom William the eldest, succeeded him in this seat, and John the second son was a merchant adventurer of Dover, where a branch of this family remained many years afterwards in that line. After the restoration of king Charles II. William Hugessen, the eldest son, having removed his residence to Provender, in the adjoining parish of Norton, where he kept his shrievalty in 1671, in which year he was knighted, this house was pulled down, but the scite of it remained the property of his descendants, down to William Western Hugessen, esq. of Provender, whole two surviving daughters and coheirs, Mary, married to Edward Knatchbull, esq. who has since his father's death succeeded to the title of baronet, and Sarah, to Sir Joseph Banks, bart, since K. B. and privy counsellor, have entitled their respective husbands to the possession of it. There are Hill the garden walls, and tome other such remains of this mansion left.
BUT THE MANOR AND MANSION OF SEWARDS, which is a large building, was alienated by Sir Drue Drury's heirs, about the year 1670, to William Finch, esq. though whether he was a descendant of the former owners of this name I have not found, and he died possessed of it, as appears by the court-rolls of Tenham manor, in. 1672, whose heir in 1677, alienated it to Mr. John George, in which name it continued till by a female, heir, Jane George, it went in marriage to Vincent Underdowne, gent, of Dover who was a distributor of stamps; but he becoming greatly in arrears on that account, an extent was issued from the exchequer, and this estate continued till about the year 1773, in the hands of government, when all debts being satisfied, which were due to it, it was ordered by a decree of that court to be sold, to satisfy the costs and expenses, which had accrued by the proceedings on it, which it was accordingly soon afterwards to Mr. John Smith Barling, gent, of Faversham who died in 1795, leaving one son and two daughters, who are now entitled to it.
Henry Eve, D. D. vicar of this parish and of Tenham, died in 1685, possessed of a capital house, called Edwards, in Linsted, where he resided; the heirs of whose grandson of the same name, some years afterwards sold it to John Sympson, esq. of Canterbury, whose widow Mrs. Mary Sympson afterwards possessed it, on whole death it came to Mr. Baptist Sympson, whose heir is the present owner of it, but it is now in the state of a mean cottage.
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CHARITIES
JOHN WESTON, of this parish, by his will in 1482, ordered, that his feoffees should make an estate to twelve of the most sufficient men of the parish, in a tenement called Goddys-house, with a garden and land adjoining, in this parish; the profits to be applied by them to find an obit yearly for ever, on the day of his anniversary, and the residue to the repair of the church for ever. And he ordered, that his feoffees should yearly permit the parishioners to occupy one piece of land, in a field called Chirchefielde, to the making a place called a pleying-place, on holy-days, and other fit days, for ever, on condition that the parishioners should keep the fence of it, and the profits of the pasture of the piece of land to remain to his house, called Weston tenement, yearly for ever. — This is still called the Playstool being a meadow of between three and four acres, and is part of the estate of Mr. Baptist Sympson. It is situated opposite the vicarage-house. There is a house belonging to Mr. Tappenden, of London, situated at the end of the vicarage meadow, called the School house. The report of the parish is, that there was once a free school there, which by some means or other the parish has been deprived of.
TEN SHILLINGS, in lieu of corn, is yearly paid to the poor of this parish by the lessee of the parsonage, by covenant in his lease.
THERE were 20s. per annum paid to the poor of this parish, out of a farm called Theobalds, near Erriot-wood. It was paid in 1695, by Mr. Tong, of Sittingborne, as it has been several times since, though it does not appear by whom. This payment has been withheld for some years past.
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LINSTED is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Ospringe.
The church which stands on the south side of the village, is dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul. It is a handsome building, and consists of three isles and three chancels. The steeple, which is a spired shaft, covered with shingles, stands at the north west corner of it: in it is a ring of five bells. William Apulderfield, of Faversham, was a benefactor to it by his will anno 1487, in which he directed his wife to repair the buttresses of the wall of the church-yard, on the east side of it, and to new shingle the chapel of our Lady in the church. In the Hugessen chancel are several brass plates and monuments likewise for that family, one of them an elegant one for William-Western Hugessen, esq. obt. 1764, aet. 29, and for his widow, obt. 1774, aet. 39; against the south pillar a tablet and inscription for Rodulph Wecherlin, esq. of Champion-court, obt. 1667 ; in the vault underneath lies his widow, remarried to Gideon Delaune, esq. obt. 1719; a monument on the north side of the chancel for Catherine, wife of Sir Drue Drury, obt. 1601. In the Teynham chancel are monuments for John Rooper, first lord Teynham, obt. 1618, and for Christopher, lord Teynham, obt. 1622, and no others, or even gravestones for this family. In the high chancels, brass for John Aifcough, esq. justice of peace, temp. Elizabeth, obt. 1601; another for John Worley, gent, of Skuddington, in Tong, obt. 1621, and his wife; in the east window, in a pane of glass of a lozenge form, is the figure of a venerable old man bearded, clad in purple, sitting in a gilt chair, holding a book open on his right hand, from which he looks forward as speaking or exhorting.
The church of Linsted was antiently esteemed as a chapel to the church of Tenham, as appears by the black book of the archdeacon of Canterbury, and was given and appropriated, with that church and its appendages, in 1227, by archbishop Stephen Langton, to that archdeaconry. It has long been independent of the church of Tenham, and still continues appropriated to the archdeacon, who is likewise patron of it.
It is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at 81. 3s. 11½d. and is of the yearly certified value of 70l. 12s. 4d. the yearly tenths being 16s. 4¼d. In 1640 it was valued at one hundred pounds. Communicants two hundred and thirty-five.
Dr. Samuel Parker, archdeacon of Canterbury, at the instance of archbishop Sancroft, by lease, anno 27 Charles II. reserved the additional pension of ten pounds per annum to the vicar of Linsted and his successors. It pays no procurations to the archdeacon.
The vicars of Linsted Church between 1505 and 1793 are listed here....
Footnotes:
(1) It appears by the Rolls in the Augmentation-office, that queen Elizabeth granted several parcels of the manor lands to different persons (See Roll 1, No.2. -- Roll 3, No.29, 51, 53. and Roll 4, No.34
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