Some Kentish Indents

( 95 ) SOME KENTISH INDENTS. BY R. H. D'ELBOUX, M.C, E.S.A. BOUGHTON MONOHELSEA. Bagshawe's Directory of 1847 states this church was " almost whoUy destroyed by fire, 30th December, 1832 ", and describes it as " a small neat edifice . . . erected at a cost of £1,500 ". In fact, it was the Nave that was destroyed, and the cost of reparations £1,250 Is. lid. (see C. F. Meade's Guide to the Church, 1913). In 1874 and the year foUowing it was thoroughly—too thoroughly— restored and enlarged, the monuments, however, on the whole receiving fair treatment. Skied behind the organ, on the north waU of the north Chancel, is a pleasing mural monument of the Southwark school, which has an inscription, unrecorded as brass, to Belknapp Rudston, 1613. On the floor, west of the organ, in the same chancel, is the indent for an inscription 2^- by 15 inches, possibly that of Margaret, wife of Richard Norton, speciaUy mentioned by Hasted (II, 398) as buried under the Wierton House seat. The inscription is given in full in Parson's Monuments of 1794, p. 322 : " On a brass plate let into a large flat stone, is the following inscription in old Roman letters : ' Hie jacet Margarita Norton quodam uxor Roberti Norton die Pm. be Marie anno diii MCCCC°LXX°. cujus anime propitietur Deus, Amen.' " Hasted gives the date as 1507, and the husband's name as Richard Norton. The monuments of this church were reported to Parsons by WiUiam Fell, and the general accuracy of his transcriptions inchnes one to doubt Hasted on this occasion. Stephen Norton, Esq., with Robert Norton and WiUiam Norton his sons, are witnesses to a deed of 1445 concerning lands in Boughton (Arch. Cant., XXVII, 169-70). *»&ss5Jr % V i f "Jf ^k'T«i*l^?,""',f^' -^••^ q '' '\ ^ 1 . -%-w.H. • EASTWELL. 98 SOME KENTISH INDENTS. Sir Hugh Courtenay (Vivian's Visitation of Cornwall, p. 11). In the Kent Visitation his eldest son John is said to have married firstly an Arundell of Trerice. The brass to Ehzabeth Slyfield [1597] at Bookham, Surrey, states that Sir Walter Moyle's mother was a daughter of Sir Thomas ArundeU (? of Tolverne, who died in 1443) and gives Sir Walter another unnamed daughter, the wife of Robert Gainsford of Allington Castle. The Visitations of Kent and Surrey both state that Robert Gainsford's wife, however, was a daughter of John Moyle, Sir Walter's son, and this seems the more hkely, since the inquisition taken at the death of Robert Gainsford's mother shows Robert to have been born c. 1475 (see Calendar of I.P.M., H.7,1, 336, and MU1 Stephenson's Monumental Brasses in Surrey, p. 99). The Slyfield brass's statement is nevertheless chronologicaUy possible, and would give a satisfactory explanation of what appears to be an indent for three girls, on this tomb. Sir Walter's wife, caUed Margery by Vivian, but Margaret in her wUl (P.R.C.C, 3, 349) of 1493 desired to be buried in the choir of the Church of Blessed Mary of EastweU " beside the grave of my husband ", which suggests that the altar tomb was akeady erected at that date. The tomb was unmentioned by Sir Edward Dering, who noted the EastweU monuments in 1628. In the eighteenth century it was aUotted to Richard Plantagenet, the entry of whose death occurs in the parish register under 1550, though always, by writers of discrimination, with a reservation that the monument seemed of earUer date. It is stiU popularly indicated as Richard Plantagenet's tomb. The romantic story of this man first appeared in print in Peck's Desiderata Curiosa, and was again pubhshed in a more accessible book, Seymour's Survey of Kent of 1776. Dr. Thomas Brett of Grove, near Wye, in a letter to Dr. WiUiam Warren, President of Trinity HaU, describes how in 1720 he visited the Earl of Winchelsea at Eastwell, to find him with the parish register open showing the date of Richard Plantagenet's burial, and to be told the tradition in the family concerning him ; in brief, that he was the iUegitimate son, brought up in secrecy, of Richard III, acknowledged by him in a tent at Bosworth, that he later fled to London, became a bricklayer, and was sent to work in the erection of Sir Thomas Moyle's new house at Eastwell, where, being discovered reading a Latin book by bis employer, he disclosed his identity and was aUowed to finish his days in a cottage on the estate, dying there, on Dr. Brett's computation at about 81. Seymour adds the unverified remark that " the time of Riohard's service at EastweU Park was near sixty years ". At the moment the parish registers of EastweU are inaccessible. The entries of 1538-1598 are a transcript made by the then rector, Josias Nichols, in 1598, and may weU have been in Latin ; if so, one may hazard that Plantagenet was a pedantic translation of Broom, SOME KENTISH INDENTS. 99 and with the conjecture dismiss the romantic offspring of the White Boar. The wiUs of Sir Walter and his wife are summarized below from transcriptions kindly copied for me from the originals at the County HaU, Maidstone, where the Canterbury and Rochester wills are now deposited. The Testament of Sir Walter Moyle Knt., 11 Dec, 1479. Weak of body : to be buried in the chancel of the parish church of EastweU : forgotten tithes, 6/8d : five marks for repair of a vestment for the same church: for repair of a chahce 4 0 / - : to buy a thurible 3/4d: to Avice Dodistone 6/8d. The residue to Margaret his wife, who is executrix. Witnesses John Lane, Rector of Eastwell, Robert Gurlyn, Thomas ManteU. The Will. Two acres of arable land in a field called Cotyngland at EastweU to be held in fee simple by three or four honest men for the use of the church, to salve his conscience for an annual rent of 2 lbs. of wax he had withheld from the church. His lands in the parishes of Godyngden, Stapilhirst and Smerden to Margaret his wife and her heirs. Probate granted to Margt. w. and exec. 31 July 1480 (Consistory Court of Canterbury, Vol. II, f. 494). The Testament of Margaret Moyle, 20 Jan. 1491; proved 3 June, 1493. To be buried in the quire of the Blessed Virgin Mary of EastweU beside the grave of Walter Moyle : to the High Altar 6/8d : to the hghts 3/4d: my vestment to the said church : to the repair of an antiphoner 5 marks : to the High Altar of Charryng 3/4d : to Dom. Andrew, chaplain of the same, 3/4d : to the parish priest of the same 2 / - : to the work of the small bells1 of Charryng, 40/- to be used within 4 years of my decease : to Richard Moyle my son, 2 blankets,, one pair of hnen sheets, one feather bed, and 2 0 / - : to Lucy Clerke my daughter one salt of beryl and silver-gilt, and one book caUed a " Matenboke " : to every son of Lucy 6/8d : to every son of John Moyle my son 6/8d : to WUham Brent 40/- : to Avice2 Brent my niece 10/- and my blue coloured cloak: to every son of. WiUiam Brent 6/8d : to Richard Parker, Agnes Bybson and Agnes Tabbe, each of them 20d : to John Brent 10/- : to WiUiam Brent " the hanggyng of Grene w' a grene coverhd " : to Ehzabeth Lewkenor my servant a featherbed and 40/- : to Robert Gurlyn my servant £40 and a hanging bed of Redde : to Beatrice Pylcher my servant 20/- : to Thomas Quested my servant 1 ad opus eampanulis. 2 Amye Brent, widow, will 1516 {Kentish WiUs). Margaret Moyle's sister Alice was wife of William Rosmordes (Vivian's Cornwall, 113), and William Brent, down in Kent Visitation 1574 as marrying a daughter of " Rosemanderos ", evidently married Margaret Moyle's niece, Avice or Amy. 100 SOME KENTISH INDENTS. :TN V - i . / i-»~* C*" • :• • i . . • 'V :•' '1 •t V:--, V. I I KINGSNORTH. SOME KENTISH INDENTS. 101 3/4d : residue to John Moyle son, and executor : WiUiam Brent to be overseer : to Dom. WiUiam, chaplain of Burle1 16/8d. to buy a vestment for the use of the said chantry (C.C.C, Vol. I l l , f. 349). KINGSNORTH. On the north side of the church, in the churchyard, there remains in its original position a plain-sided table tomb, the top slab of which, measuring 73 by 27| inches, stiU shows the indents of an armoured figure, with sword and dagger, and hon at the feet, 38 inches long, an inscription 20J by 4-| inches, and above, two shields 6 by 5£ inches. This tomb is within the site of the north chapel, which, says Faussett, " being much oat of Repair, and the Family who shd have repaired it being extinct, or incapable, was puU'd down to the ground A.D.1763". When Faussett first visited the church in 1758 the north chancel, which belonged to the manor of Mumfords (see Hasted, III, 284 (n)), was stiU intact, and with his customary thoroughness he noted the brass, its position close to the north waU, the arms, on afess three roundels, and the inscription, which he gives thus : Hie jacet Willmus Parker Armiger, Filius Willi Parker/ quondam Civis et Mceri London qui obijt XVIII0 Die Mensis/ Junij Anno Dni M°CCCC°XXI° cujus Aie ppicietur Deus Amen/ This is more or less corroborated by Parsons whose Monuments, pubhshed in 1794, states that the chancel " was about 30 years ago taken down ", and gives the same inscription, save for stating that the father's name was Nath. Parker, and omitting his freedom of the Mercer's company. Thus the two writers show Hasted (III, 284 (r)) to have erred in accrediting the younger WiUiam with a knighthood ; Hasted, however, in his turn, corroborates Faussett's description of the arms. The brass, then, in 1794 was still on the tomb, after 30 years in the open. After that date, there seems no further mention of it, save Ireland's repetition of Hasted, in 1828. To judge by the indent, it must have been very similar to that stiU extant of Richard Malmayns, 1440, at Pluckley. The arms were presumably the same on both shields, and suggest those of Parker of NorfoUc, argent, on a fess sable 3 bezants, and in the 1568 Visitation of London, Margaret, d. of John Parker of London and wife of Robert Philipsori, bore the NorfoUc coat differenced : argent, on a fess between 3 pheons sable, 3 bezants. WiUiam Parker the elder, citizen and mercer of London, was sheriff in 1396, with Thomas Wilford (Stowe, 1632 edn., 558). The testament 1 The manor Of Burley lies in Charing and Little Chart. John de Burleigh founded a chantry in Charing for the souls of Sir John and William Burleigh (Hasted. Ill, 215), John Sayer (Arch. Cant., XVI, 261) says the chantry was at Burley, and on suppression manorial rights were transferred to the south transept of Charing and held by the Darells. 10 102 SOME KENTISH INDENTS. of the younger, dated 10th June 1421, stiU exists (Consistory Court Canterbury, I, f. 24) with no probate clause, and is summarized below. To be buried in the chancel of Kingsnorth : to the same church a single vestment of white, black and green damask : to the church of Warle1 in Essex a vestment of black damask and to its making £6 : to the High Altar of St Laurence Jewry in London a piece of blue damask : to Margaret my wife a bed with " Curteynys and costerys " complete at her choice, and all rings, clasps, pearls, brooches, chains and coUars of gold, belts chased with gold, and aU things of gold and coraU that she now holds : to Thomas Elys £10 : Thomas Chapman £10 : Thomas NycoUs 40 marks : John Perker 100/- : Walter Tany 4 nobles and a smaU purple coat with fur : Richard KeUe 2 nobles and a green furred coat: John Cook 1 noble : Rose (?) Dyram LodeweU 1 steer : WiUiam son of Roger Parker, 1 steer; Robert Hogelott 1 steer: residue to Thomas Elys, Thomas Chapman and Thomas Nycholles, executors. EAST MALLTNG. In the chancel, on the south side, is a slab 30| by 72 inches containing an indent for an inscription, 16£ by 4J inches, placed 1 1 | inches from the head of the slab. On the north side of the chancel is a slab 29 by 77 inches containing an indent for an inscription 2\ by 15| inches, and 22| inches from the head of the slab, which has been re-used to the memory of Robert Whittle, vicar, 1679. In the nave is a slab, 29 by 74 inches, containing the indents of an armoured figure 10 by 37 inches, with its head on a helm, its feet resting on a hon, a scroll 1\ by 12 inches, a foot inscription, 4 by 22 inches, and four shields. Thorpe (Reg. Roff, 792) gives the extant brass to Richard Adams, and, next to it, as now, that of Robert Selby and his wife Isuelt, 1478. He then gives : " On a brass plate fixed in a grave stone, (the arms and effigies erased) is this inscription Hie jacent Robertus Selby, ohm civis et goldsmith London, et Johanna ac Johanna, uxores sui. Qui quidem Robertus obijt XII° die Augusti, anno domini M°CCCC°LXXVII0. Quorum animabus propicietur Deus. Amen." This is substantiaUy as given by Weever (p. 330) save that the latter has aurifaber for goldsmith, and jacet for jacent. Thorpe next gives the inscription to Robert Whittle of 1679, mentioned above, which is on the north side, stating it to be near that of Robert Selby. It would seem, then, that the brass to Robert Selby was central in the chancel: none is there now. Thorpe correctly uses " effigies " as either singular or plural in his writings, but mentions in other records if there be more 1 Probably Great Warley, near Brentwood. SOME KENTISH INDENTS. 103 than one figure, so that, in the case of this brass one figure only seems indicated. The date of this indent in the Nave agrees with the date of Robert Selby's death. Glynne in 1850 says the nave roof is new, and the east window of the chancel modernized, and the Bagshawe of 1847 corroborates the latter statement; Glynne's editors note that the east window was " restored " in 1861. It is not unlikely that the despoiled slab was moved from its central position during one of these restorations, and relaid in the Nave. ROLVENDEN. In the south chancel, or chapel of St. Anne and St. Katharine the Virgin, hes centraUy on the floor, a large slab, 3 8 | by 84£ inches, bearing indents for four shields, and in the middle a shield within a cusped cross head, suggesting mid fifteenth century work. This chapel was buUt by Edward Gyldeford of Halden in Rolvenden, and its dedicatory brass tablet which stiU exists high on the south wall, reads as foUows : Fundata fait hec Capella in die Scor Tiburcij & Valeriani1 martir p Edwardii gyldeford Armigeru in honore Ste Anne & Ste Katerine Virginis A° dn"i M°CCCC°XLIIIJ° Edward Gyldeford was knight of the shire in 1426, and sheriff of Kent for 1438/39, and had inherited Halden through the marriage of his father with Joane, heiress of John de Halden, who died 1 Henry IV (see Hasted, III, 85). There seems httle doubt it is his tomb covered by the indent, and that the slab has remained undisturbed in its original position. In his wiU (P.C.C., 175B Stafford) of 1448, proved 21 September, 1449, he desired " to be bered afore the auter in ye myddis of my chappell at Rowynden Cherch y clepid seynt Anne and Seynt Katerne ChaunceU ". One item is of unusual interest: " y bequethe to the said cherch in ye worship of God xls for a boxe y gilt of coper wt a tabernakele to hange ynne Goddis body aboue ye auter." He mentions Juhane his wife, John his son, and Wilham Darell, and appoints Richard and John WaUer overseers. In Bibliotheca Top. Britt., XLV, p. 195 occurs the foUowing reference to two lost brasses once at Rolvenden : Inscriptions on brass plates in the possession of John Beardsworth, Esq., at the Hole in the Parish of Rolvenden, and taken from the Church. Here resteth Robert Gibbon, sonne and Heire of Thomas sonne and Heire of Gibbon Sackford, LineaUy and lawfuUy Descended from the familys of Sackford- 1 15th April. 104 SOME KENTISH INDENTS. 1.-4 -lUl'Ai.'. #17*; * *'«/•' DV'1 'J ^1 ./ ^^:\{:\ Ji ..•««:• EAST MALLING. SOME KENTISH INDENTS. 105 :'?%• * > • } , • ' , " • ; » • ; . . > » ; • • ; ; - • » * - M - - - • » • - 5 . 5 ' . ' v ~ ~ e j ' « f? 11 e s ! I. •) ,--^ -v rs V } ft >ft•» K> >«,' .Vv '•-%.-.-^-.-.:- ,-.- 1 . . : . . -„ .,.r., t_; ..•,-. ;,vA-.«. »-^i. ROLVENDEN. ~ 1 •J •* *.' *• \ \ >t i it < s « ; * i -."i* 106 SOME KENTISH INDENTS. HaU in Suffolke and clan Gibbon in Ireland: Obnt xin Die JunU Ann° D'NI. MDCXVIII Here underneath resteth in assured Hope of a joyfull Resurrection Lidia, the dearly beloved wife of Edward Chut of Bethersden Esquire Who departed this life the 12th of November Ann° Do'mi 1631. Aged 46 In 1790 Hasted (III, 87) states that at that time Mr. Beardsworth was holding The Hole in right of his wife, a Miss Jefferson, to whom it had been bequeathed by Ehzabeth, daughter and heir of PhiUips Gibbon. The pedigree of the Gibbon family at the CoUege of Arms is said by A. R. Wagner, Richmond Herald (Antiquaries Journal, XVIII, 407) to commence with Robert Gybbon of Rolvenden " said to have come from Glamorganshke ", according to the pedigree, and whose wiU was proved at Canterbury 10th March, 1547. The two pedigrees entered in the 1634 Visitation of London both show Suffolk connections, and one a Suffolk origin, but I have been unable to trace a Seckford marriage. Seckford HaU is in the parish of Great Bealings. Lydia was the daughter and coheir of Thomas Gibbon, 2nd son of Thomas Gibbon who purchased Frid in Bethersden. She married Edward Chute, a son of George Chute of Surrenden in Bethersden, 19th September, 1608, WUham Gibbon of Bethersden being bondsman. Dr. Cock noted these inscriptions in a letter to Mr. Ralph Griffin in 1939, and the letter came to me in 1946 from Mr. R. H. Pearson. To all three, I would still express my indebtedness. AN INSCRIPTION ONCE AT SEASALTER, KENT. The foUowing note occurs in the Transactions of the Monumental Brass Society, Vol. II, p. 187 : A brass plate, measuring 2 | by l lf inches, was sold by auction on May 1st last [1894] at Canterbury ; it was purchased by F. Baker, Esq., Middlesbro'. It had been found among the effects of the late Rev. —. Bird, formerly of St. Dunstan's, Canterbury. The inscription runs : ©rate p aia&ofoti <6?lmpn qui oWjt &° tori JW°cccclxxxxbtif The brass was later acquired by Mr. 0. J . Charlton, and, at his death, by Mr. C. J. P. Cave, F.S.A., who, despairing of tracing its origin, presented it in 1943 to the Victoria and Albert Museum. SOME KENTISH INDENTS. 107 The church of St. Alphage,- Seasalter was puUed down in 1845, the chancel only being left standing as a mortuary chapel, and a new church erected in Whitstable. Neither Hasted nor Cozens mentions this brass, which presumably was covered by a pew, and came to hght during demoUtions, since, in his testament, Gylmyn desired to be buried before the rood loft, and to have " a competent tyme after my decesse " a sufficient stone of 6 foot in length and 2\ feet in breadth to he over him. His testament and wiU, dated 5th August, 1497 and proved 28th July, 1498, is in the Archdeaconry Court of Canterbury Registers, Vol. 7, f. 44, and was copied for me by a friend in Maidstone, where, in the County HaU, the Rochester and Canterbury wiUs are now deposited. Testament. Robert Gylmyn of parish of Seasalter : to be buried before the rood loft; for forgotten tithes 2s. ; to the Cross hght _ 12d; to the Wardens of the hght of our Lady there caUed hokday1 6d; to the Wardens of the same hght caUed BorstaU,2 6d : to the reparation of the body of the church for my sepultur there to be had 6/8d. to the reparation of the body of the Church where most needed 5 marks ; executors a competent time after his decease to buy a stone 6 ft. long and 2 | ft. wide to he over him ; for 4 new torches for his burial 18s., two of 10/-, and 2 of 4s. each ; executors to spend in masses dirges, alms to the poor in bread, ale, and other charitable deeds of mercy, on day of burial, for his soul, his father's and mother's, and aU Christian souls, 40/- ; his month's mind of the same form, 53/4d. ; year's mind 53/4. To every godson and goddaughter 12d : to repair of highway from St. Peter's3 chapel to a barre caUed Russhemede in the said parish, 20/- ; to Thomas Gilmyn son of Andrew Gillmyn to his marriage 4 0 / - ; to John Nethersole 13/4 ; to John Hayton 3/4 to hospitals of St. John the Baptist without Northgate Canterbury, and St. Nicholas Harbledown, each 3/4d to every feofee, 3/4 : to Margaret, wife of John Colyn of Birehington, 13/4d : to Thomas Salkin of Heme, dwelling beside the vicarage there 6/8 : to Avis, wife of Robert Davy of Heme 6/8d. to WiUiam Violett and Johane Graviar his servants, each 20/- on attaining the age of 20 ; to John SamweU a great carven chest; to Margaret my wife 3 ldne 10 ewes, a mare or gelding, she to have free choice of each one of them ; one part of corn and grains as I have on 1 Hocktide was the second Monday and Tuesday after Easter. 2 Borstall: there is a Bostall Hill, one mile from Whitstable, on the main road to Canterbury. • 3 St. Peter's Chapel.: " By the great storm, which happened on Jan. 1, 1779, there was discovered among the beach on the sea shore, at Codhams corner, about half a mile westward of the present church, the stone foundations of a large, long building, lying due east and west, supposed to be the remains of the antient church of Seasalter. Many human bones were likewise uncovered . . . collected together and buried in the church-yard of Seasalter." Hasted, 8vo edn., VIII, 503. This was near the present railway bridge on the Graveney road. 108 SOME KENTISH INDENTS. the day of my death and £40 in money from the lands ordered to be sold in my wiU : also aU my instuff and household effects. Executors to find a secular priest to say mass for Hamond GUlmyn my father, his benefactors etc. for 6 months, he to have 5 marks ; also a secular priest within 6 months of my decease to pray for my soul and the souls aforesaid and to be at all divine services in the church of Seasalter, for 6 months, 5 marks ; Remainder of moveable goods to John Marchmont and WiUiam Moyse, executors, to be expended in charitable deeds; for their labours, 26/8d each. Will. To Margaret my wife, remainder of a lease in a weir at Snowte1 according to an indenture with Faversham Abbey : WiUiam Gilmyn my cousin to have in fee simple Bynefeld in Whitstable, paying my wife 13/4d and my feoffees on dehvery 3/4d: Thomas AbeU, a former servant, to have for ever part of the common marsh of Seasalter ; Stephen Swanton and Margaret his wife to have for both hves for ever my weir at the stede in Seasalter : the foUowing land in Whitstable and Seasalter, Russhemede, a two acre meadow at a place caUed Wolett, land caUed Silvesterland, land caUed Brodefeld, an acre caUed the bank of GorweU, an acre and an half of woodland beside Silvester land, a weir at Regge caUed the lende, a messuage at Dogland, with an acre beside it, about 7 acres in two parceUs, one caUed Forgate, and the other lying beside the quelett of GoreweU,2 which messuage, acre, and 7 acres were Ahce GiUmyn's my sister, and mine after her death, all to be sold to pay debts, legacies, etc., and the residue to be expended on a yearly obit after the 12 months' mind, on repairing foul and noyeus ways, and on 6/8 distributed yearly among poor people as long as it will extend. For most of these notes I am indebted to Mr. C. R. Councer, F.S.A. The brass is illustrated in the Transactions of the Monumental Brass Society for 1946. 1 Snowt: Mr. E. H. Wix of Faversham has kindly supplied the following information. Snowt Weares form one of the boundaries of the Faversham Oyster Fishery and are referred to in their records dating back before the reign of Queen Elizabeth. At the close of the sixteenth century some proceedings were taken by the fishermen to define their boundaries and for the purpose of these proceedings a plan was prepared in 1608 which clearly shows the position of the Snowt weirs east of Shellness. It would appear from this plan that there was land between Shellness and the weirs which has since been overrun by the sea. This is apparently confirmed by the reference in Southouse's Monasticon of 1671, where, at page 56, extracts from the Leiger Book of Faversham Abbey of 1499 are quoted, viz. " The Farm of Snowt werry ". In 1377, and again in the reign of King Henry "VOLT, these weirs were greatly damaged by the sea, and the quit rent was remitted, but later on they appear to have been repaired and let to several tenants. In the Leiger Book of the reign of Henry Vni the " werrys " are referred to as seven streams. a Quelett of Gorewell. A quelett is a small pipe, and so here a piped stream. There was a Gore-marsh in Boughton under Blean and Hernehill, probably near Dargate.