How mapping the Lowy of Tonbridge can further our understanding of its origin, nature and extent
HOW MAPPING THE LOWY OF T ONBRIDGE CA N FURTHER
OUR UNDERSTA NDING OF IT S ORIGIN, NATURE AND
EXTENT
DEBORAH COLE
A lowy was an area around a castle or sometimes a religious house, held for the
purposes of maintaining and supplying the establishment. The word is no longer
in general use but is thought to have come from an old Gallic word giving rise to
late Latin 'leuga' and Old English 'leowe'from which we have 'league', a measure
of distance. 1 This varied from place to place but was in the order of three to four
miles, from castle to boundary in all directions. The word was used more widely in
the middle ages but Tonbridge is unique in that the word was used to describe an
administrative unit around the town as late as the nineteenth century.
'The origin, nature and extent of the lowy of Tonbridge' is how W.V. Dumbreck
began his article in this journal in 1958.2 He dismissed the old story, that soon after
the battle of Hastings, Richard Fitzgilbert measured the land he was awarded at
Tonbridge with a rope so that it would match that of his old family seat in Brionne,
Normandy.
Dumbreck went on to say that the rope story may have had its origin in the
circular shape of the parishes grouped around Tonbridge. His main contribution
however, was to publish the jury's findings in the 1279 perambulation of the lowy
of Tonbridge from which he deduced that the lowy had no clear boundary but was
a scattering of holdings, some belonging to the castle and some to the Archbishop
of Canterbury, the Bishop of Rochester and others. The perambulations could do
no more than define an outer limit of very fragmented castle lands.
TI1is article draws on more recent research into Domesday Tonbridge and the
routes of the thirteenth-century perambulations to argue that when the Nonnans
came to Tonbridge, the intention was to measure out a clearly defined area around
the castle and as far as Richard and his successors were concerned, the resulting
block ofland rightfully belonged to them. The apparent circular shape of the group
of parishes, it will be argued, arose from their subsequent formation within the
very clearly defined boundary of the lowy. Richard Fitzgilbert may well have been
unfamiliar with the complexity of land ownership in the Weald and the fact that most
of the land around Tonbridge had belonged to the archbishop of Canterbury. His goal
of consolidating the lowy was to prove unachievable in the long run because of the
relentless efforts by successive archbishops to recover their lands and by kings to
limit the power of the nobles. The nineteenth-century lowy was a shnmken version
of that envisaged by the first inhabitants of Tonbridge Castle.
75
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DEBORAH COLE
In any discussion of the origins of the lowy it is important to set the scene as it
was in 1066. It is more likely than not that however small, there was a settlement
at Tonbridge before the Norman Conquest.3 It was on the north side of the river
Medway, on an old prehistoric route across the river which had become the most
direct route between London and Normandy via Pevensey. Tonbridge overlooked
five channels of the river, each of which had a bridge of sorts, but the settlement
was elevated enough to avoid the floods which frequently made the crossings
impassable. In the autwnn of 1066 when Harold and his army crossed here (or
close by), it was the time of year when the crossing was at its most congested with
drovers and their stock moving to and from the wood pastures of the High Weald.
Towards the end of October the news will have travelled back along the road that
Harold and many of his men who were local landowners had been defeated and
killed in battle. During the next two months until William arrived in London and
was crowned on Christmas Day, the local people of Tonbridge and district will have
heard of the destmction wrought in the countryside as the Normans meandered
around the capital, coming as close as Yalding.4
William the Conqueror would also have been apprehensive, not knowing how
successful he would be at consolidating his gains and staying on the throne. With
threats on all sides, his primary concern was securing the kingdom and he began
with Kent. During the following year he sailed to and from Normandy, probably
going through Tonbridge. It is likely that as early as spring 1067, he installed
Richard Fitzgilbert at Tonbridge. At the same time he gave his half-brother Odo,
Bishop of Bayeux, the earldom of Kent and entrusted him with guardianship of
the kingdom during his absence. Odo was granted a nwnber of lands in the county
including Hadlow, Tudeley and others in the Tonbridge area which he in tum
offered to Richard to include in his lowy. Richard and Odo were close colleagues
and together made a strong power base in Kent.
Richard and Odo were to discover, if they were not already aware, that many of
the lands they had gained belonged to the archbishop of Canterbury. In the confused
and uncertain period following the Conquest when security was paramount,
Archbishop Stigand became a diminished figure. He was kept closely guarded by
William so that he would not be a focus ofrebellion and was 'asked' to accompany
him on his return to Normandy. 5 It is possible that during Stigand's absence in
1067, Richard built his castle in Tonbridge and claimed his land for the lowy. It
was not Richard's only castle. He went on to build another at Clare in Suffolk from
which the family would ultimately take its name, but until 1086 at least, Richard
was Richard of Tonbridge.6
In 1070 there was a new archbishop, Lanfranc, and in 1072 Richard appeared
with him at a trial on Penenden Heath in connection with appropriated lands.
Lanfranc had begun the process of claiming back his lost lands and Richard, who
had taken a large swathe in west Kent, was an obvious target.7 The trial is certain
evidence that Richard and Odo had indeed forcibly taken ecclesiastical land in
Kent. TI1e circumstantial evidence that land was taken in this way is also strong:
William needed to defend key sites in Kent as early as possible; the archbishop
was effectively 'gagged'; and Richard would not have had an intimate knowledge
of the stmcture of land ownership arow1d Tonbridge. Land appropriation was not
new. Lanfranc was also claiming lands wrongfully taken by Earl Godwin before
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. \ ..
,;..
..
MAPPING TI-IE LOWY OF TONBRIDGE: ITS ORIGIN, NATURE AND EXTENT
the Conquest.8 Acknowledging that Richard forcibly commandeered land for his
lowy (probably with the blessing of William and helped no doubt by his ally, Odo)
how did he set about defining it?
Domesday Tonbridge
T he possibility of the lowy defining a circular area around the castle can first be
explored by researching the Domesday Book. Tonbridge is not among the list of
manors, for which a number ofreasons have been suggested.9 The survey however,
provides considerable information about the lowy. 10 As Dumbreck said, Tonbridge
district was made up of a scattering of holdings that were Saxon dens and owned
by several different manors to the north of the Weald. Tonbridge is recorded in each
of the manors affected by this Norman intrusion. Under twenty-seven different
manors, Richard of Tonbridge is recorded as holding land of the manor, in most
cases 'in sua leuga,' (in his own lowy) and in two cases holding the entire manor.
Well watered and with a crossing over the river, the Tonbridge area had become a
seasonal focus for northern manors as a grazing area for their pigs, sheep and cattle.
Many of the grazing pastures had been or were in the process of becoming farms
and small hamlets with fisheries and mills. Tonbridge by this time was taking on
a more settled appearance, with fields replacing woods in some parts. Despite this
change from den to farm, the lands were still appendages to their respective parent
manors in north Kent. Dumbreck listed the manors which had a parcel of land in
Tonbridge and it would be useful to list them again (see Table 1).
TABLE 1. DOMESDAY MANORS WITH LAND IN 1HE LOWY OF TONBRIDGE
Tenant in Chief
Archbishop
Archbishop's Knights
Archbishop's Monks
Bishop of Rochester
Odo, Bishop of Bayeux
Richard of Tonbridge
Manors
Otford, Northfieet, Wrotham, East Farleigh, Darenth, East
Peckham*
Eynsford, Farningham
Meopham
Southfleet, Stone*, Halling, Frindsbury
Swanscombe, Ridley*, Ash*, Seal, Leyboume, Cooling,
Milton, Luddesdown, Ofll.1am, Eccles, Hoo*, Wrotham
Heath
Hadlow, Tudeley (held of Odo, Bishop of Bayeux)
* Domesday entry says 'Richard holds .... ' but omits to say 'in his Iowy'. Tilis may be a mistaken
omission and may or may not mean that the land was in the lowy.
Fig. 1 shows the locations of these manors which are spread over a wide area
between Dartford and Sevenoaks in the west and Rochester and Maidstone in the
east. They are up to 20 miles from their dens or lands in Tonbridge. The locations
of the Tonbridge lands have been well researched by Witney and are indicated on
the map.11 They are all south of the Greensand ridge, entirely within the Weald
and show a clear north to south alignment with their parent manors.12 The preconquest
tenurial system shown on the map had become woven into the landscape
over centuries. It shows that the Nonnan castle and lowy intruded into a complex
77
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Otford
Rlv,rr
Id.-■
•
•
evenoaks
■
Greensand
DEBORAH COLE
•
A227
'
•
0
la.I
\S)
•
/--
A228
•
Tonbridge Castle
Don>esdoy Manor
Otford den
Wroth.am den
Medway ond
Roches1er den
,k,
Fig. 1 Domesday manors with land. including dens. in the lowy of Tonbridge.
78
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Sussex
MAPPING TI-IE LOWY OF TONBRIDGE: ITS ORIGIN, NATURE AND EXTENT
administrative structure which was not just forest wilderness. Tonbridge Castle
itself was built on a parcel of land belonging to Darenth Manor. 13 Across the High
Street and around the church the land probably belonged to a different manor,
perhaps Hadlow or Wrotham. 14
Unknown to Richard, he had not only taken land already accounted for, but he had
cut a swathe through the Saxon hundred system. Witney expressed this perfectly;
the lowy of Tonbridge was 'a special jurisdiction uncomfortably inserted, like a
cuckoo's egg, among the Wealden hundreds'. 15 The lowy was placed in the centre
ofWashlingstone Hundred, splitting it into two parts; one west of Tunbridge Wells
and the other east, in Pembury, Capel and Tudeley.
Tonbridge was a collection of dens belonging to multiple owners rather than a
single estate which led Dumbreck and Ward to say that the lowy was not a compact
block of land and had no clear boundary. 16 The dens were in varying states of
settlement and land use and were of various sizes. Some would have had well
defined boundaries and some not. The map shows their approximate locations but
it cannot show in detail how much land individual dens covered. The purpose of
the map is to show the general shape of the area covered by the cluster of dens
in the lowy. Tonbridge Castle was at the centre and they were evenly spread in a
roughly circular shape around it. From the map it could be argued that Dumbreck
was correct in saying that the lowy was fragmentary with no clear boundary. The
omission of a clear boundary in the records however, does not mean it wasn't there.
The only comment about it at this early stage is the telling of the rope story.
The Thirteenth-Century Perambulations
Fortunately, there is a way of discovering more about the 'boundary': by referring
to the routes recorded by the jurors on their thirteenth century perambulations of
the lowy. Before delving into the detail of the routes, some background information
helps explain the reasons for the perambulations. By the late thirteenth century, the
Clare family had had two hundred years of direct father to son succession and
through strategic marriages and careful diplomacy had become immensely powerful
and wealthy, owning land in much of England, Wales and Ireland. When Gilbert,
the 'Red Earl,' 9th Earl of Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, 7th Earl of Gloucester and
Lord of Glamorgan, inherited Tonbridge in 1262, it is probable that the magnificent
stone gatehouse to the castle had just been or was just about to be built. 17 Over the
next few years he would build Caerphilly Castle in Wales and entertain the new
King Edward 1 and Queen Eleanor at Tonbridge. Over the years, slowly but surely,
Tonbridge and the lowy had become a special liberty with devolved powers from
tl1e Crown. Special courts were held by itinerant justices and there was a constable,
a coroner, a gallows and a prison. 18 At the court, the jury of twenty four local lords
and knights, embarked on their perambulations of the lowy after swearing oaths in
front of three presiding judges. The first perambulation in 1258 was commissioned
by Henry III in response to a dispute between Archbishop Boniface and Gilbert's
father, Richard (merely the latest argument in two centuries of wrangling over
the lowy). 19 It failed to bring about a durable resolution as the jurors walked a
larger circuit than was warranted and the ensuing complaints triggered a second
perambulation in 1279.
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DEBORAH COLE
Surprisingly little has been written on the perambulation routes considering
their geographical detail and antiquity. This neglect might have had something to
do with the doubt placed on their worth by Hasted. Although the translation was
included in the first edition of four volumes, in the second twelve-volume edition
he remarked that, 'the places as well as the names of persons mentioned in these
perambulations being obsolete and now totally unknown, the insertion of them in
this place can give so little information to the reader' . 20 Despite this disparagement,
Hasted printed a map of the lowy of Tonbridge which is remarkably detailed (Fig.
2). His publication was a little too early for the first professionally surveyed maps
and he seemed to copy older maps but had them edited and checked by (probably)
amateur surveyors. His maps therefore, appear similar to older maps but they are
not identical and have additional materiaJ.2 1
The original perambulations merit further investigation than they have received
Washlingstone
Hundred
Lowy of Tonbridge
Tonbridge Castle
Medway
Fig. 2 Hasted's map of the lowy of Tonbridge.
80
Somerdcn
Hundred
Som.po,
MAPPING TI-IE LOWY OF TONBRIDGE: ITS ORIGIN, NATURE AND EXTENT
so far. The original manuscripts of the 1258 perambulation are lost but the route is
recorded in a copy of a translation of uncertain date. An original manuscript of the
1279 perambulation, however, can be found in Canterbury Cathedral Archives.22
A translation from the medieval Latin is provided by John Harris (1719) but the
manuscript was transcribed and translated again and compared with Harris's
version to check for any omissions and misspellings, etc. 23 Details of both routes
follow.
1258
T he said Jurors do upon their oaths begin the lowy of Tonbridge at Horsegate in
the parish of Had/ow which is within the lowie of Tonbridge. and so to the house of
Browning which is without, and so straight over the field to the house of John de la
Brooke which is without and so by the Kings Way to the house of James Lomewood
which is without and so by lomewood (so that lomewood be within) to the house of
Benedict of Woodhall which is without, and so to the house of Hugh Perlaben which
is without and then to the house of Peter Fromund which is within so that all the lands
which Roger of Permunter holdeth of the Earl be within, and so to the house ofGilwyn
of Cooper which is within, and so to the gate of Adam Chekar so that Go/des/and,
Hardesland Cuppersland and Durentisland be without, so that all the land of Hugh de
Wald (as the Kings highway leadeth from the house of Adam Chekar to the house of
Pupin be without) and so to the house of Peter de la Mare so that the one half thereof
be within and the other half without, so that all the hall thereof be within and so to the
house of Robert de Cure which is without, and so to the messuage of John a Curton
which is without and so to Knockwerepool which is without, and so directly unto the
ashtree which is over against the house of Benedict Darnell so that the ash be within
and the house without, and so to Tf!ynelesbroke so that it is altogether within, and so
by the midst of the new pond of Gilbert Badsell and so to Buttsbridge so that it be
within, and so by the midst of Lusting/and and so by the marlepitts on the east side
of the house of Walter of Shipretheld which is within, and so to the house of Elias
at Mill which is within and so by the midst of the meadow of the said Elias at Mill
which is within to Stokesbridge which is without. Cross over the Kings Highway that
leadeth from Winchelsea to London, to Marbury so that Marbury be without and so
by the midst of the messuage of William Wrong so that all the lands of Elias wrong be
without, and so directly to the ash tree which is on the north part of the mill of William
Bressing so it be within, to the said mill so it be within, and so by the midst of the pond
of Sunninglith unto hotingbery which is within and unto wogebohe which is within,
and so to the house of Jejji·ey of Culverden and so to the house of Elias of Holdene so
that Culverdenne by the midst of Cherisland be within, and so directly by the midst
of Borsholders hill and so to the messuage of William Shrufi-in which is without unto
Wo/stanes land so that two parts of Wolstones land be within and the third part thereof
without, and so to Horsegate and Highden within and then directly by the midst of
the field of Dodshere unto the hill called Smythesborne Swynesland and after by the
midst of harnes (hawes) land and by the midst of the land called pevenesse unto the
church of Penshurst without with all the land of the church. from thence to a land
called Redleafe directly to the house of Godfrey Welegate which is within and so to
heryngsheath and to Dorkinhole so that the messuage by without and so to the house
of Ralph of Wathyrst so that all the tenement which holdeth of the Earl be within, and
so to the four wants of Rotherdenne which is without and to the Kings Way called
Castevene, and so to Rymshed so that the messuage of Nicholas Malmaines and all
that tenetnent which he holdeth of the Earl be within, and so to the messuage of Peter
81
DEBORAH COLE
which is without, and so to Markstoke so that all the land of Richard of Vabedone of
Shipborne be within, and so to Goodingcrouch without and the lands of Puttenden
within and so to the mill called Oxenhoth Mill without so that Slewerith mede be
within and so to Horsegate where the perambulation began.
1279
Beginning the lowy at Somegate which is in the parish of Tonbridge, and so along so
the hedges and pale include the northern forest to Claygate ... and so from Claygate
to Larkhale, so the pale and hedges of the forest include the said forest, therefore this
part of the said forest and Larkhale be within the lowy ... and so flwn Larkhale to the
domus of Henri Neweman so the said do mus be without ... and so from the said do mus
through the middle of Lomwode to the messuage which was Ricardi Parleben :S so that
messuage and all the land of Ricardi is without ... and so .ft'om the said messuage to
the domus which was Peter Fromunds which is within ... and so from the domus of
Peter Fromund to the land of Regi le Parment which is held from the earl and is within
... and so to the messuage of Elwyn the Couper which is within ... and so cross over
to the domus ofA de Cob(/)bel which is within ... and so from the said domus to the
Kings Highway which includes the land of Hugo de Waldis and by the same way to
the messuage of Pepin?(obscured) which is without and all his land ... and so directly
over thefield(s) to the hall of Peter de la Afore ... and so by the window to the first door
of the messuage so the east part of the hall and first door are without ... and so to the
domus of Thomas de la Hothe so that domus and land is within and so to the mill of
John de C--- [obscured] so the messuage, the mill and all the tenements of the Prior
and tenants of the Archbishop of Canterbury be without ... and so to Cnokewerespole
which is without andfi·om Cnokwerespole to Uynelingbroke so that which is of the fee
of the earl is within and those tenements of others in the same wcry are alwcrys without
and Wynelingbroke is within ... and so from T1Vynelingbroke to land which is called
Ketecroft which is of the fee of the Archbishop of Canterbury so the fee of the earl is
within and so to Leth---- [obscured] which is without so the fee of the earl is within
and the fee of the Archbishop of Canterbu,y without ... and so directy to the do mus
of Walter le Thro me which is without ... and so from the said domus by the highway to
Matters Cross and from A1atteres Cross to Dodingebery which is without ... and so to
the domus of Hereward Cimentar which is without so within these limits the tenements
of the hundred of Wechelstone and of Brenchesle are without and so from the domus of
Heriward west as far as the pale of the forest so the land which is called Kymeneland
is within ... and so by the pale to the land of Reginald de la Ion de so the land which is
of the fee of the earl is within ... and so to the domus of Finecot Bolle which is within
so the tenements of the earl are within ... and so by the pale to Bromelegeregg which is
all within so Fleshe,f{s)e which is of the fee of the Archbishop of Canterbury is always
without and Sunningelegh and hocube,ywhich was of the service of the king be without
... and so from Bromelegeregg to the oak which is called Wogebohe ... and so to the
domus ofWillelmi de Colverdene which is within ... and so directly to Leuichisland so
the fee of the earl is within and the fee of the Archbishop without ... and so through the
middle of the wood of Hertesell so all the tenants of the hundred of Wechelstone within
those limits are without ... and so directly to the messuage of Wille/mi Shrofin which
is without and so to Wo/stonesland so two parts of this land are within and the third
part without ... and so to Horgate which is without ... and so to Hegedonne which is
within ... and so directly through the middle of the field ofB[D]odesere to a sort of hill
which is called Smethedonne of which one half is within and the other half without ...
and so to a certain water called Pevenese so the fee of the earl is always within and
82
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MAPPING TI-IE LOWY OF TONBRIDGE: ITS ORIGIN, NATURE AND EXTENT
the tenants ofWechelstone without ... and.from Pevenese to the garden of Penecestr
and so directly to Redelef so the land of the parson of Penecestr bea/ways without ...
and ji-om Redelef toDurkynghale so that Redelef is within and to Welleheche and so
to Durkynghale which is the fee of the earl and so Durkynghale which is not of the fee
of the earl is always without ... and so from Durkynghale by the highway to a marsh/
pool of a certain Radulph de Durkynghale so the pool is without ... and Ji-am the pool
through the middle of lands called Rissettes so that Eastrisset is within and from the
said Risset to Coppingsland ... directly there it is without so that of the fee of the earl is
within ... and.from Coppingsland to Bissoppesbeoche and so directy next to the land
of the Prior of Tonbridge which is within ... and so to the highway of Eadinghurst . . .
and so to the mead ofNewsoles which i s within ... and s o to the paved way so that the
fee of the earl is within and the fee of the archbishop without ... and so from the paved
way to Markstokke and so to Romdshedde so the fee of the earl is within and the other
tenements are without ... and from Romdshedde to Erlemeyesland which is within and
.from Erlemeyesland to the messuage of Radulphi le Fughe which is without so the fee
of the earl is within and Holindenne without ... and from the messuage ofRadulph le
Fughe by the other way to Hothcroft which is without . . . and so directly to the new
messuages [plural?] which are Rici de la Helles which is within ... and so directly to
J\ilarlerui which is next to the Grange? which is John de Wattons so that Holindenne
is always without ... and so through the middle of 1\ilarlerui to the land of Bendevile
which is without and so directy to the pale of the forest so that the tenements of the
earl are always within and Holindenne is without ... and so by the pale of the forest
which continues to Somegate.
Finding the Lowy Boundary
Having transcribed and translated the 1279 perambulation, the long process began
of constrncting the route walked by the jurors. There are sixty places mentioned,
some on and some off the route. Thirteen of the names are still in existence today
or at least can be recognised and they are:
Claygate
Cnocwerespole (Oak Weir Pool)
Dodingebery (Downingbury)
Sunninglegh (Sunninglye Fann)
Hocubery (Hawkenbury)
Colverdene (Culverden)
Penecestr (Penshurst)
Redelef (Redleaf)
Coppings land
land of the Prior of Tonbridge (Priory Fann)
Romdshedde (Romshed)
Holindenne (Hollanden)
Newsoles (Nizels)
A further five places were identified by Dumbreck from other written sources:
Larkhale
Newmans
Lomwode (Lomewood)
Fromunds
the land of Hugo de Waldis (Weald)24
Another six were identified by Witney, who researched in great detail the manorial
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DEBORAH COLE
structure in Kent, matching manors with their Weal den dens ( drawing substantially
from Hasted's work):
the messuage of Pepin (Pepinstraw)
John de Curtone's mill (Little Mill or
Stilstead)
Leuichisland (Frychisland near
Broom.hill)
the messuage of William Shrofin
(Scriventon)
Hegedonne (High Dens, Bidborough)
the field of Dodsere (near Swaylands)25
Somegate, at the start of the perambulation near Shipboume has not been identified,
but Hasted marked it on his map of the lowy (Fig. 2).26
Twenty-five names out of sixty could therefore be located with reasonable
confidence. They were linked on a map and as Dumbreck noted, parish boundaries
were generally followed on the perambulation. Using the pre-1870 parish boundary
network, the decision was made to walk the bounds in the hope of locating the
missing thirty-five places. It was hoped that some lost names might be preserved
as house or road names, or might be indicated by landscape features. Beginning at
Shipboume the circuit was followed in the same clockwise direction as the jurors
walked and in the process sixteen further names were identified. Public footpaths
obligingly followed much of the speculated route and it has now been made into a
long distance thirty-three mile circular walk around Tonbridge through lovely and
very varied countryside.27
Interesting discoveries were made from the start. The perambulation begins
along the forest pale of the 'northern forest.' Just beyond Claygate, a footpath
follows the top of a linear bank which is the Hadlow and West Peckham boundary
(Fig. 3). It is marked by a boundary stone and must be the course of the old forest
pale of the great North Frith, hunting forest of the Clares.
In Hadlow, a number of personal names are recorded of owners or occupiers on
the route which are now lost. About a third of all personal names on the circuit
around Tonbridge occur on a three or four mile section in Hadlow, giving the
impression that this was the most densely populated part of the lowy. In fact a
close study of the old Hadlow Parish boundary with East Peckham shows that it
is heavily convoluted. The boundary zigzags through now empty fields indicating
that when the parish boundaries were created before the thirteenth century the
land was divided into many more tenements. Eve1;1 change of direction probably
touched on someone's property and their bound,.
Wynehngbroke is recorded as being just south of the Medway. The name suggests
a winding stream and there are many of them on the flat lands between the
Medway and Five Oak Green. In Five Oak Green there are a number of 'brook'
names over a large area south of the village and as the footpath passes by Brook
Fann, innumerable footbridges are crossed. This brook, now called the Alder
Stream could have been the 'winding brook'. Hasted placed 'Brook House' on the
boundary of the lowy (Fig. 2).
The walk between Old Pembury and the junction of the A228 with the old
Hastings Road (once called Woodsgate) follows the parish boundary of Tonbridge
and Pembury. Here, the jurors walked alongside the forest pale at the edge of the
'South Frith'. As at the North Frith, the course of the pale can be seen as a linear
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MAPPING TI-IE LOWY OF TONBRIDGE: ITS ORIGIN, NATURE AND EXTENT
Fig. 3 Boundary bank of the North Frith. (Photo by the author.)
bank rnnning alongside the footpath. This part of the South Frith is called 'Forest
Wood' (the wood of Tonbridge Forest).
Bromelegeregg in Tunbridge Wells means a 'heathy' ridge. There is an echo of
this word in High Brooms. A sixteenth-century map of Tunbridge Wells shows that
at the junction of Crescent Road, Church Road and Mount Pleasant there was a
hamlet called Bromelerge.28 The A264 Pembury Road follows a ridge which ends
naturally at this junction and it is speculated that Bromelegeregg is this ridge.
111e oak of Wogebohe was translated by Harris as Bowbeech although in the
manuscript it does not look much like that. Between Bromelegeregg and Culverden,
it would have been a distinctive tree at a place where the perambulation changed
direction. Such a place could be the junction of parish and county boundaries at the
church of King Charles the Martyr. The boundary meeting point is now marked by
a paving slab just beyond the south wall of the church (Fig. 4). There was once a
stream here now buried, but there must have been a distinctive feature such as a
tree that marked the place where boundaries met and changed direction.
Hertesell is described as a wood to the south of Bidborough. Birchetts Wood is
a strong contender for this as it is in just the right place and the appearance of the
names in medieval Latin is not so different.
Wolstonesland is to be found where there is now a Stone Wood. This wood is
exactly on the parish boundary between Tonbridge and Speldhurst and could come
from the hundred name 'Washlingstone' or the older version, 'Wechelstone' of
which Speldhurst was a part.
85
DEBORAH COLE
Fig. 4 Parish boundary stone between Speldhurst and Tonbridge. (Photo by the author.)
Horgate is indicated on the perambulation as being 'without' the lov.ry. Bowen's
Fann is just outside the Tonbridge boundary and the position on a road (Poundsbridge
Lane) could have been the site of a gate.
Continuing along Poundsbridge Lane from Bowen's Fann there is a steep ascent
up the hill towards Swaylands and at the top there is an old forge. This area was
an important source of iron ore in Tudor times and probably earlier.29 The timber
clad slopes provided charcoal for a furnace which was at the site of Barden Mill
less than half a mile away from the old forge. It is possible that iron working was
already known of in the area in the thirteenth century and a smithy was here as
early, giving the hill its name of Smethedonne.
New soles seems to be an old fonn of Nizels, near Hildenborough, and there is
evidence of this change of name in the fourteenth century. 30 Nizels is now a golf
and leisure club and covers a large area where there are a number of variations on
the name such as Nizels Heath and Nizels Fann. Nizels Mead on the perambulation
route is not one of them, but at a boundary stone where the parishes of Tonbridge,
Leigh and Sevenoaks meet, the land is flat and criss-crossed with many streams.
This will be the site.
Durkynghale and Welleheche are associated and are listed after Penshurst and
Redleaf. Durkynghale is recorded several times on the perambulation because some
land was within and some without. The elusive location of this place has prompted
much discussion. 31 Dumbreck placed it near to Ramshurst in Leigh, perhaps because
it is of the same knight's fee. Witney however, preferred a location aligned with
other places on the route and that meant somewhere near Chiddingstone Causeway.
Gordon Ward placed it similarly on a line between Redleaf and Coppings.
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MAPPING TI-IE LOWY OF TONBRIDGE: ITS ORIGIN, NATURE AND EXTENT
The name Durkynghale had many variant spellings (now Durtnall) and is associated
with early title deeds in Chiddingstone and particularly around the Eden
Valley. In the thirteenth century Stephen of Penshurst (who was one of the presiding
judges for the perambulation) granted William Durkynghale 'common of pasture
for cattle he kept all winter' in the area of Cinderhill in Leigh. He also granted him
'a way one rood in breadth' leading from William's land to the common pasture.32
At Cinderhill there was, until recently, common land called Blackhoath Common
or Lygbe Green which was on a tributary of the Eden about a mile upstream. If
William was overwintering bis cattle there, he would be seeking higher ground
away from the damp Eden Valley and the droveway probably followed this small
tributary stream uphill. There is another Durkynghale association with the Eden
Valley further downstream towards Penshurst at Doubletons; named after Dubel de
Durkynghale. 33 Welleheche or Wellegate was probably at the spot where the Leigh
Parish boundary turns on Station Hill. In title deeds this part of the Eden Valley
was called Wellefield. 34 The evidence suggests that Durkynghale was by the Eden
Valley in the vicinity of Chiddingstone Causeway and Moorden Farm.
The twenty names still to be identified on the ground are:
Ketecroft, Leth ... (obscured), Walter le Throme, Matters Cross, Hereward le
Cimentar, Kymeneland, Reginald de la Londe, Finecot Bolle and Flesberfe in
the Pembury and Capel areas;
Pevenese near Penshurst;
Rissettes Bissopesbeech, Eadinghurst and Markstokke in Leigh and Weald areas:
and a group of names in Hollanden (Erlemeyesland, Ralph le Fugbe, Hotbcroft, Rici
de la Helles, Marlemi and Bendevile).
Mapping the Boundary
With forty of the sixty place names identified on the 1279 perambulation, and
given that parish boundaries were generally followed, it was possible to construct
a map of the route (Fig. 5). The 1279 perambulation route is drawn in solid ink
around the perimeter except where dashed lines indicate a projected route. The
1258 route is the same except where it is marked by a dotted line. The three parts
of Tonbridge which made up the nineteenth-century lowy is indicated with a
combination of a solid line and dots. Although the accuracy of the translation of
the 125 8 perambulation is questionable without the original, it was encouraging
to find that the two routes match each other for about half the circuit, especially
on the west side. The 1258 perambulation followed a larger circuit than the later
one, by taking in Shipboume Parish, a fragment of Hoo Hundred, a fragment of
Littlefield Hundred and Pembury Parish. Hasted's late eighteenth-century map
is also shown for comparison but may look different from his original as it was
redrawn on the same scale as the per-ambulation map (Fig. 2). Like Hasted's map,
hundreds are indicated rather than parishes for greater clarity and because they
were the principal administrative unit at the founding of the lowy. The lowy of
Tonbridge was sometimes named on maps as a hundred.35
The nineteenth-century lowy of Tonbridge was made up of three detached parts.
The southern part (Southborough and the South Frith) was detached from the
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