Filborough Farmhouse, East Chalk, Gravesend

1 Pmmmm ^}w^^m^^^^mm VH47/1. F l LBOROUCH , KENT OCLK_ Tracery a t /-yen) biaj) /• _irVJ>« 'WcLTj KJ^^o^t fo Rail, -i ?(«.n of Chopn&y K2j ( 161 ) EILBOROUGhH FARMHOUSE, EAST CHALK, GBAYESEKD. BY GEORGE M. ARNOLD, P.S.A. WHY and how the parish of " Chalk " came by its name, since it is not more " chalky" than many neighbouring parishes of the same geological formation both in Kent and Essex, I cannot say. Hasted states that it is derived from its chalky and flinty soil, and that in Anglo-Saxon, ceale is indicative of a chalk stone, but this does not elucidate the problem, since nodules of silica are quite as prevalent to the west of Gravesend as to the east (which is the situation of Chalk parish); and adverting for a moment to the interesting chapter of antiquity opened up by the study of palaeolithic and naeolithic remains, our parish is not so celebrated in that connection as the parish of Swanscomb, a mile or two to the west (the region of Milton Street there being remarkably prolific). I have, however, a flint " scraper" from the gravel beds in Chalk parish which Mr. Harrison, of Ightham, has pronounced to be genuine, but it is perhaps a coincidence to be mentioned that Chalk did become in the last century and earlier (ages too late of course for any derivative connection with its name) celebrated in connection with flints, for here was notably carried on the industry of " knapping" the flints excavated at Gravesend and Northfleet into square pieces suitable for firearms, when the gunpowder was ignited by a spark struck from the flint by the fall of the spring hammer.* The parish anyhow possesses a respectable antiquity, and Mr. Thomas Kerslake has shewn its close relationship to * In this village are several flint knappers, who manufacture the best gun flints in England, or probably in Europe, great numbers of them being exported to foreign parts (Hasted, folio ed., vol. i., p. 518). VOI/. XXI. at 162 PILBOROTJGH PARMHOIJSE, Cliff parish lying yet further to the east in all that concerns the series of Anglo-Saxon councils and synods, expressing the opinion that " Ceale hythe" in that connection was a point of contact with the River Thames, just as Greenhithe is to this day within the neighbouring parish of Swanscomb; indeed, according to Domesday, the parish of Chalk, like Woolwich and Higham, extended into the opposite county across the Thames. If, however, the enquiry as to the origin (as a term of parochial designation) of the name of Chalk remains inscrutable, the like obscurity obtains with regard to the name of the particular house within East Chalk which forms the subject of this paper. To be imaginative, a " filled " barrow might be regarded as a mystic horn of plenty, a sort of baser " cornucopia," if the land were teeming and prolific of produce; or if distinctly the reverse (so that none could live by its means), it might be a fully occupied burial-spot, or one which would be quickly so filled if its on-dwellers remained, or it might only imply a " filled-up " burial-place; but leaving the enquiry for others, let me proceed to write what I have to say regarding the house itself. In the year 1892 I purchased the farm of some 300 acres, comprising this house, sub-let by the non-resident lessee (in two tenements) to his waggoners. Upon examination it was found to be one of our old timber-framed country-side houses which are fast becoming extinct in Kent. Upon picking off the increment of lath and plaster in some places, and weather-boarding in others, I was enabled to repair the timber quartering and to fill the interstices with brick in cement, with an exterior coat of rough cast in lieu of the remnant of old " wattle and dab," which was in an impoverished state between the timbers and beneath the modern lath and plaster. TJpon reaching the roof and removing the tiles we found that the central division of the house facing north had originally formed one room from ground floor to tiles, and that the inner sides of its two flank (east and west) plastered walls were grimed and blackened with an ancient accumulation of soot, while on their reverse sides such walls (then forming part of the sleeping F I L B O R O U G H , K E N T s e e T H R O ' W I N G CD S2SSS3352SE 6a Oowtf ! ^v^^^-^v-i'^fflsar. ^tipped. w% e e D a o o M UPPER PAR.T OF HALL FOMVl£RL.Y OPEN I . B E D'ROOM SS3fs;srTKSES2S£S W 9