Dartford 1660 to c. 1720

DARTFORD 1660 TO c. 1720 K.M. ROOME About 1697, Celia Fiennes wrote: 'I went to Dartford, much on the hills and all in sight of the Thames and see the shipps sail along to Dartfford 6 mile, a little neate town.'1 The Hearth Tax Assessment of 1664 shows Dartford as having 303 houses, mostly with three or four hearths. The town was concentrated chiefly in the Highstreet, Overy Liberty, Spital Street (sometimes Upstreet) and Lowfield. The Constable, Henry Draper, had three hearths, William Huish at the Cocke Inn thirteen and John Twisleton, presumably at Horsman's Place, Lowfield, nine. The Compton Census 1676 shows Dartford as 472 Conformists, no Papists and 28 Non-Conformists and this would imply a population of between 1,000 and 1,200, including children. There is nothing to suggest in the parish registers any substantial change in this estimate during the period under review. Illegitimacy was uncommon. For some years after 1702 the practice was to note the deceased's trade or occupation in the burial register and these entries, coupled with the Rochester wills and invento ries are the main sources of the following table, resulting in a general picture of the townspeople, say, about 1700 and just earlier. ABBREVIATIONS Ac: Churchwardens' Accounts B: Burial Register B & S: Bargain & Sale C: Christenings Register PI: Probate Inventory R: Church Rate Book WRF: Will of Richard Feilder WRG: Will of Robert Glover WTP: Will of Thomas Pearcy 1 Journeys of Celia Fien11es, Cresset Press, 1947. 113 K.M.ROOME NAME TRADE DATE SOURCE Richard Richards Ale seller 1709 B Mary Stansted Apple seller 1710 B Henry Loaft Baker 1698 R William Blackwell Baker 1700 Ac William Cleare Baker 1700 Ac Robert Pead2 Bel:man 1707 Ac Samuel Packer Bellman 1708 Ac Thomas Pain Blacksmith 1706 B John Clare Blacksmith 1709 B John Clare Blacksmith 1712 B Thomas Lemon Blacksmith 1712 B Richard Goldsmith Blacksmith 1712 B Daniel Ward Blacksmith 1689 WRG Thomas Strete Blacksmith 1697 Ac John Dickson Borsholder 1670 Ac William Smith Bricklayer 1706 B Nicholas Dixon Bricklayer 1706 B Thomas Stephens Bricklayer 1710 B John Sharpe Bricklayer 1712 B Phillip Needle Bricklayer 1705 B Henry Hastings Butcher 1706 B Solomon Pauley Butcher 1718 B Nathaniel Brandon Carpenter 1706 B William FranckwelJ3 Carpenter 1699 Will Thomas Miller Carpenter 1698 Deed Robert Pean Chimney sweeper 1706 B Henry Eldred Chirugion 1702 B George Eldred Chirugion 1706 B Jeremiah Edwards Clerk 1710 B Thomas Pearcy4 Collar Maker 1694 Will William Covell Collar Maker 1694 PI Abraham Hill Cordwainer 1714 PI William Hills Cordwainer 1696 B&S John Row Coachman 1706 B Stephen Weller Crier 1706 B William Constabul Docktar 1669 C Abraham Peeterss Dog whiper 1662 Ac William Stephen Dog whiper 1708 B William Blazbe Farmer 1705 B Colin Burr Farmer 1706 B William Hazelwood6 Farmer 1687 PI Samuel Hazelwood Farmer 1698 Deed John South Gardiner 1683 WRF William Stanley Gardiner 1710 B 2 The parish provided a bell and six(e) hour(e) glass(e) and a new coat periodically. 3 K.M. Roome, 'Some Dartfordians of the Late Seventeenth Century', Dartford H. & A. Soc., Newsletter no. 26. 4 Newsletter no. 26, supra. s Paid for whiping the dog(g)s out of the church 1662/4. 6 He had five horses harnis [harness] and chaise for hire. Newsletter no. 26, supra. 114 DARTFORD 1660 TO c. 1720 NAME TRADE DATE SOURCE Henry Whitehead Gardiner 1712 B William Fawcett Gent 1696 C Henry Elwood Gent 1699 C John Browne Glazier 1716 PI William Clare (Cleare) Glazier 1699 Ac John Blackwell Grocer 1706 B James Mappin Gunsmith 1710 B Simon Alder Hatter 1706 B Edward Duffen Hoyman 1711 B Phillip Ellery Hoyman 1712 B John Ward Hoyman 1684 WTP William Cotterell Husbandman 1679 B William Painter Jun Husbandman 1706 B George Swift Inn holder 1711 B Abram Hill (of the Swan) Inn holder 1718 B William Huish Cocke Inn Inn holder 1693 WTF Francis Eldred Inn holder 1690 PI Wid. Eldred Inn holder 1690 PI William Johnson7 Inn holder 1700 PI Thomas Combe Labourer/Labor 1705 B James Mohun Labourer/Labor 1706 B Richard Streate Labourer/Labor 1708 B John Williams Labourer/Labor 1709 B John Wheeler Labourer/Labor 1709 B John Birt Labourer/Labor 1710 B John Brazier Labourer/Labor 1710 B Thomas Peach Labourer/Labor 1711 B Henry Percy Labourer/Labor 1711 B Mis Tulie Landlady at the Paper Mills 1686 Ac William Baker Locksmith 1708 PI Richard Shott Maltster/Baker 1675 Will Samuel Hazelwood Sen. Maltster/Baker 1698 Deed Robert Huckford Maltster/Baker 1688 Ac Ralfe Blackwill Maltster/Baker 1685 Ac Wido Rockford Maltster/Baker 1689 Ac William Durtnell Maltster/Baker 1692 Ac Thomas Dean Maltster/Baker 1693 Ac William Mullender Mariner 1704 B William Pettett Merchant 1710 B Henry Franckwell3 Millwright 1699 Will William Hills Musicianer 1696 B&S -Spence Officer of Excise 1716 B Ambrose Wood Papermaker 1709 B Thomas ffarnell Papermaker 1710 B George Blackwell Papermaker 1710 B James Matthew Papermaker 1712 B William Woods Papermaker c. 1700 Deed William Hinton Pentioner 1706 B 7 He was connected with several inns. Newsletter no. 26, supra. 8 Occupied a mansion house and three mills. 115 KM.ROO ME NAME TRADE DATE SOURCE John Eve Pentioner 1712 B William Jefferies Pipe maker 1710 B William Clare Plumer 1697 Ac Henry Hopkins Plumer 1697 Ac Simon Beadle Sawyer 1709 B Henry Marsh Sawyer 1687 Ac T homas Walston9 Scavelman 1713 PI Mrs Johnson Semstris 1690 R Edward Darke Servant 1693 WRF T homas Shaw Shoemaker 1709 B T homas Carries Shoemaker 1710 B William Pierce Shopkeeper 1706 B Andrew Shelley Soldier 1697 C John Coleman Soldier 1688 B Edward Hutchison Soldier 1706 B T homas Shorin Smith 1702 B Daniel ffrankwell Tanner 1706 B Charles Lunt Tanner 1709 B Sampson Wood Tanner 1696 B&S John Wood Tanner 1678 B&S Adam Pye Tapster 1709 B Thomas Gurrey Taylor 1709 B William James Taylor 1710 B Thomas Cross Taylor 1696 PI Robert T hompson Taylor 1696 Dunkin p. 394 Robert Swift Victualler 1706 B Robert Glover, the elder10 VictuallerNintner 1689 WRG William Baker Watchmaker 1708 B John Holdenl l Waterman 1688 PI James Goldsmith Wheeler 1708 B Richard Feilderl2 Yeoman 1693 WRF Being on Watling Street, a main highway, a day's journey from London and the last port of call from the Channel ports, Dartford suffered badly from the plague of 1665/6. The mortality rate began to rise in the autumn of 1665 and, in June and July of 1666, there were funerals almost daily, sometimes two or three in one day. 13 A tenth of the population perished. A child of Henry Lawrence was buried on the 2nd of September 1665,. his wife and another child on the 4th of September, a maid on the 7th of September and three children on the 24th, 25th and 26th of October. Mr Lawrence was presumably a person of some consequence, his house having seven hearths. Many well- 9 A scavelman was employed to scour waterways. 10 K.M. Roome, 'Robert Glover Vintner of Dartford', Newsletter no. 24. 11 Newsletter no. 26, supra. 12 K.M. Roome, 'The Goods of Richard Feilder', Newsletter no. 22. 13 Vide Newsletter no. 22, and John Dunkin, History and Antiquities of Dartford, 1844, 383,386. 116 DARTFORD 1660 TO c. I 720 known families were bereaved, e.g. ffeilder, Lurchin, Careless, Glover, Pearcey, ffrye, Ellery, etc. There was a peste house, a new Buckett, a Roape and Irons to the well there being paid for in July 1666. A sharp increase in mortality occurs in the registers in 1719/20 when the more or less average of fifty a year rose to 93 and 73. The highest was between late July and mid-September 1719. This indicates an epidemic of some kind. As authorised by the laws first intended as a protection for grain, the Churchwardens paid for the heads of creatures specified as vermin.14 Of the many designated animals, foxes, badgers and hedgehogs were exterminated in Dartford. Hedgehogs were the most common, sometimes ten or more a year. The statutory rate for a badger or fox of ls. was paid, but 4d. for a hedgehog instead of the official 2d. From 1696, polecats were included (without any apparent reason why not before) but ls. was paid instead of the statutory ld. Once in 1676, 4d. was given for Bould Finches heads and Tom Tits heads. Bullfinches 'or other Byrde that devoureth the blowth of Fruite' were classified as vermin by the Act of 1566 (8 Eliz. 1 c. 15) as extended. An unusual entry in 1665 reads 'pd. Wid0 Welland's man for three hedgehogs and waiting for one'. ls. 4d. was paid, i.e. for four. A vast number of people were given poor relief, the standard rate being 2d. a head. It is not always clear from the Churchwardens' accounts (which appear sometimes to have been written retrospectively and possibly duplicated in some entries) on what dates money was paid and descriptions of poor(e) man, and p o o r traveller m a y be synonymous. However, many soldiers and seamen passed through the town and the record of them is somewhat clearer. Distinguishing between civilian and service categories, four poor(e) men were described in 1667 as burnt out by the fire in London and women with children from Ireland were assisted at various times. One woman, with two children, en route for Canterbury was burnt out in Ireland and landed at Haven in Cumberland. To and from London and Dover and other Kent ports, Deal and Sandwich, were regular destinations. So was Flanders. Also mentioned are Northampton, Summerzet [Somerset], Sheere, Kinstone [Kingston], Waymouth [Weymouth], Scotland, Calgrave in Leicestershire, Eddingeborough [Edin burgh], Dunkirk, Ostend and Ghent. From farther afield, were three 'Polonia' men, four poor(e) men that were slaves in Turkey, and a family from the West Indies. Entries from the 1670s onwards seem to reflect the Dutch and French 14 Vide generally F.D. Johns and K.M. Roome, 'Payment for Vermin in Churchwardens' Accounts', Journal of Kent Local History, no. 16. 117 K.M.ROOME wars. Seamen who had lost their ships (sometimes by fire) came followed increasingly by a procession of soldiers and seamen singly, in pairs or groups of a dozen or so. Mostly they came back from France or Flanders via Dover, Deal and Sandidge [Sandwich]. Some were sick, lame or wounded. Sailors came through en route for other ports, Yarmouth, Hull, Leaverpool [Liverpool] and Portsmouth. In June 1679, there was a poor soldier from Tangiere [Tangiers]. From 1708/9, presumably following the successful campaigns of the Dukes of Marlborough and Ormond, parties of French prisoners were given assistance, about 200 in all. Another traveller, James Brome, visited Dartford at the end of his tour, and wrote: 'But on the 21th of September the Festival of St Matthew, our Journey began to draw near to an end for our last Stage being by Gravesend (a town notorious as well for its Block-Houses opposite each other, as the great conveniency of a passage in Wherries every Tide up and down the River Thames) to Dartford, a market town of no small account for all sort of Grain, by reason of its Vicinity to the Grand Emporium of this Nation, we departed thence to the City, and arrived again in London in great Health and Safety, after some months Circuit about the Maritime Coasts of Great Britain' 15 There was a market house at the Church end of the Highstreet, (with the Grammar School in the room above). Prices for wheat are quoted in Rider's Almanack in 1676,16 i.e. 1676 5 Quarters of Wheat sold at Dartford £7 10s. 1676 6 Quarters of Wheat sold at Dartford £8 lls. 1677 Sold 6 Quarters of Wheat £9 Disappointingly little detailed evidence of local agriculture appears to be available. Wheat, misling, rye, oats, barley, pease and hops were grown on Richard Feilder's farm at Stanham,17 four acres of the parish land in the saltmarsh were under hay which was mown and sold regularly and bean(e)s were sold from other parish land.18 There was a cherry orchard in Overy Liberty.1 9 The Twisleton Estate Map 1707 in Dartford Central Library shows hop gardens almost bordering the Highstreet and cherry orchards at Wilmington where there is documentation of hops, oats, barley, wheat, flax and turnips being grown.20 Doubtless there were similar crops in other villages in the Darent Valley. Madder was introduced in 1660.21 1sJames Brome, Travels Over England Scotland and Wales, London, 1700, 287 (Courtesy British Library). 16 Dunkin, 251-2. 11 Newsletter no. 22 supra. 1s Churchwardens' accounts. 19 Church Rate Book 1701. 20 I.E. Morris and K.M. Roome 'Seventeenth Century Wilmington', 1984. 21 Dunkin, 388. 118 DARTFORD 1660 TO c. 1720 There was a fish market understood to be in Lowfield more or less on what is now One Bell Corner.22 Also, there was a butter market, site uncertain. In 1682, Goodi Holden paid 4s. to the Churchwardens for 'stand in the butter house', and there are several references to repairs to it in their accounts. The market tolls were leased out to different people from time to time and the leaseholder was assessed for poor rate on them, the usual assessment being £2Q.23 In Stuart times the papermills at Bignores founded by Sir John Spilman, and believed to be the first commercial mills in England, were still working. There was also a brazen mill (formerly a cornmill) up the Creek by the millpond.24 Dartford had four wharves or quays, and the Creek is navigable on the tide. There were watermen and hoymen living in the town. There is evidence in the Churchwardens' accounts of building materials for church repairs being brought up and carried from the Waterside, e.g. deales, sheet lead, sand and paving-tiles. By inference and no particular proof, corn and other market produce could have been carried by water from Dartford up to London. A strange entry in the Churchwardens' accounts in 1664 reads: 'pd. a Waterman for bringing the Turnepick in the Chyd which was flung down the Creake ... 6d.'. Floods were not uncommon when the Darent overflowed into the centre of the town by the Church. In 1688, King James II returning from Faversham to London via Dartford 'finds the waters out' and was carried by men to the corner of Bullace Lane (across the river by the Church on the London side) when the women spread their aprons for him to walk thereon.2s In 1698, the Churchwardens' accounts relate 'to several poor distressed persons that were undone by the waters drowneing and overflowing the houses'. The Vicar, Vavassor Powell, from 1644 to 1646 was a strong Puritan whose influence may have remained for some time. In 1643, a powder magazine was constructed in the Church thought generally to have been in the North chancel, and gunpowder was brought from London.26 During the Commonwealth the Church was neglected but after the Restoration things changed. Soon after 1660, a new Royal Arms was set up; scaffolding and 22 Dunkin, 251. 23 Newsletter no. 24 re Robert Glover and Dunkin, generally. 24 K.M. Roome, 'A New Look at the Dartford Iron Mills', Newsletter no. 19. 25 Dunkin, 396. 26 Dunkin, 382. 119 K.M.ROOME horse hyre [hire] to fetch the painter were paid for. In 1668, there was a new sundial. The Visitation of 1663 called for repair of windows and glazing particularly on the north side, the font to be leaded, the Lord's Prayer and Ten Commandments to be set up, gudging of the bells and repairs to the Vicarage. The 1670 Visitation specifies the need for total repair of the windows, the Communion table to be set up in the east window of the chancel and to be railed in as at Rochester Cathedral, repair of pews and chancel roof. Mr Powle, the vicar, was to be given notice not to fodder cattle any more in the churchyard.21 From the Churchwardens' accounts it would seem that most, if not all, of the work was done. The Lord's Prayer and the Creed were set up in 1664, Mr Rogers being paid in 1665 'for righting the sentences in the Church', and in the same year John Needle was paid for whiting and colouring the Church. There appears to have been considerable repair work to the pews and roof of the North Aisle. The glazing was a continual problem. In 1667, Edward Noakes was granted a fifteen year contract for its maintenance and periodical renewal.28 In 1688, the contract was granted to George Swift for seven years, and later William Cleare was paid regularly for glazing work. It should perhaps be mentioned that these difficulties with the glazing were there well before the local gunpowder mills existed. One Visitation dinner at least took place at the Cocke Inn in 1694. The bells of Holy Trinity were rung to mark the passage through the town of people of note. Returning from exile, Charles II came through on 29th of May 1660 en route for London and was presented with an address by the several regiments of horse stationed on Dartford Heath under General Monk.29 He passed in 1660 again with the Queen and in 1673 with his brother, then Duke of York. King William came through regularly about once a year to Flanders or return, and once from Ireland. Other passengers for whom the bells rang were Admiral Rosel, the Duke of Marlborough and the Duke of Ormond. Events too were marked by ringing, e.g. Gunpowder Plot, every year; Proclamation of Charles the Second and his Coronation Day;30 Victory Against the Dutch; The Glorious Revolution; Proclamation of King William and Queen Mary; Birth of the Duke of Gloucester; When Namur town was taken and Namur 'Carsell' was taken; Upon the Peace 21 K.A.S. Records (New Series), 1991. 2s Dunkin, 392. 29 Dunkin, 387. 30 Per Christening Register. 23 April 1661 Charles son of John Mocke that day King Charles the sec(k)ond was crowned. 120 DARTFORD 1660TOc.1720 being signed in 1687; Victory of the D u k e of Marlborough (Blenheim?); arrival of the fleet under Sir Cloudesley Shovel; the taking of Bruges, Brussells and Ghent; Prince Eugin's Victory in Italy; for the Duke of Marlborough two days (Ramillies?); Victory at Lille; the taking of 'Monce'; the Quene's sucksection to the Crowne (Anne); 'when we entered Dunkirk'. The ringers usual fee was 10s., but for a visit by the bishop the ringers received the princely sum of half a crown(e). 121