Cobham College

( 64 ) COBHAM COLLEGE. BY A. A. ARNOLD, E.S.A. THE old College at Cobham was founded by Sir John de Cobham, Lord Cobham, 36 Edward III., A.D. 1362; the original ordination or foundation is not known to be in existence, and has probably never been published.* It is not unlikely that there may be a copy, or some record of it, in the Vatican Library, as it was sanctioned by Pope "Urban V. (1362—70). This is shewn by a brief recital of the fact contained in a decree or formal letter of Thomas Brinton, Bishop of Bochester, dated 23 March 1388, on the occasion of the augmentation of the College by the Founder in that year. This document (set out in Registrum Boffense, pp. 234—39) recites that the Bishop has received a Bull from Pope Urban VI. (1378—1389), to the effect that in the time of his predecessor Pope Urban V. of happy memory, Sir John de Cobham, inflamed with pious zeal and wishing to change earthly things for heavenly, bad founded and ordained in the Parish Church of Cobham, in which his ancestors had chosen their place of burial, a perpetual chantry in which there should be for ever live chaplains, making a college there and serving for ever in divine offices, of whom one should be the Master on the presentation of tho Prior and Convent of St. Saviour, Bermondsey, who held the said Church for their own use (and that such Master should preside over the College and undertake the care of the Church and support the burthens incumbent on the vicarage of the said Church), to the praise and honour of God and for the health of the soul of the Founder and the souls of his progenitors; and at the same time he amply endowed it of his own proper goods with possessions and annual rents for ever, and gave them wholesome statutes and ordinances to be observed by the said Master and chaplains, in the which, as His Holiness recites, William, then Bishop of "Worcester (William de Whittlesea, the predecessor as Bishop of Rochester of Bishop Brinton, to whom * Soon after the death of this Lord Cobham, his relative, the head of another branch of the family, Lord Cobham of Sterborough, founded a very similar College, but on a smaller scale, in Lingfield Church, Surrey. The ordination and rules of this College, which probably followed those of Cobham, are noli existing or cannot be recovered, COBHAM COLLEGE. 65 the Bull was addressed), had assisted. He further goes on to say that the said John de Cobham sumptuously repaired the Church at no small expense (opere non modicum sumptuoso), and gave to it liberally goods, books, vestments, and other ecclesiastical ornaments which the above Prior and Convent were bound to provide, all which was recited to have beeu approved and ratified by the several religious bodies concerned and was thereby sanctioned by the Pope Urban V. The Bull then further recited that the Founder being desirous of increasing the number of the chaplains with two more, as the revenues of the College were not sufficient he had given the Church of Eolvenden to it, the revenues of which were at that time valued at 60 marks, as those of the College were at 200 marks, and all this, subject to further enquiry and investigation by the Bishop of Eochester, the Pope consented to and ratified. This Bull was dated from Perugia the 8th day before the Ides of March in the tenth year of his pontificate (8 March 1387). The Bishop of Eochester then goes on to say that, having received this apostolic sanction, he proceeded with due reverence and diligence, and had found uo canonical or other objection to the annexation and union of the said Church of Eolvenden to and with the Chantry, and therefore the Bishop declares the desired annexation to be duly carried out, and he confirmed the appropriation of Eolvenden to the use of tlie College; and further, the Bishop, at the request of the Founder and with the consent of the chaplains, added two more to the College, these to be paid out of the revenues arising from Eolvenden. But they were to have a different status from the others: they were to be temporary, and subject to be removed; their duties were to say masses daily for the souls of the Founder and certain specified members of the Founder's family; the}' were to live in common with the other fellows of the College, and to be ruled and to have their sustentation in the same way and according to the old statutes, but with certain differences; they were not to be fellows for all time, but only at the will of the Master and the more discreet (sanioris) part of the chapter—not to be incorporated with the chapter, nor to be part of them, nor to have any voice there; they were not to be admitted to the secret counsels of the house, nor be stewards of it; they were to have a less stipend than tlie others ; they were not to presume to take any part of the surplus or to receive any perquisites beyond what was specially and by name assigned to them; they were to be clothed or robed from the robes of the other chaplains of the first foundation; and further, the Bishop decreed that there should be two aquibajuli VOX,. XXYH, . 66 COBHAM COLLEGE. (servers of the holy water), and that they should have their table in the College and should serve continually in the Church as sacrists, and that they should learn in the schools with the other scholars so far as they are able, unless prevented by their aforesaid duties, and that they should not be sent out of the College by the Master or by the fellows, so that they may not be hindered either from divine service or in their study of letters unless for good and necessary cause, and for some purpose useful to the College, and not solely for the convenience of any particular member of it. There are numerous other provisions and directions, and the whole is decreed and signed by the Bishop of Eochester at Trottiscliffe on the day before-mentioned, tbe 23rd March 1388, rather more than twelve months after the Pope's approval. There is subjoined to the above decree or episcopal letter the full acceptance of it by the Master and fellows, and the names of all the seven are given : William Chuldham (sometimes spelt Shuldham), Master or Warden (custos), John Moys, Sub-master, John Thurston, William Tanner, John Mercott, Eichard Zonge, and Ealph Lister. The document is under the seal of the College, is dated from their Chapter House in the said College on 1 April 1389 (within nine days from the Bishop's promulgation of it). Then follows the confirmation of the whole by the Archbishop of Canterbury, by the Prior and Convent there, and by the Archdeacon, who were all affected by this appropriation, Rolvenden beinginthatdioce.se. The full text of tlie document is set out in the Begistrum Boffense, and a summary of it is also given in Hasted (folio edition, vol. i., pp. 503, 504). On the whole it would 'seem, though the matter is not free from doubt, that whereas the original foundation was for five chaplains, two more were added on the above augmentation, and then that, by the sanction of the Bishop, and with the concurrence of the Founder, two more were to be nominated by the existing College of seven members, but not quite on an equality with them, thus making the total up to nine. At the dissolution there were, as we know from Bishop Tanner's Notitia Monastica, eleven priests in the College altogether; one of these was provided by the prebend of Cobhambury, of which hereafter.* As to the possessions of the College, we know from the Bull of the Pope that the Founder had in 1362 amply endowed it. Mr. J. Gr. Waller (Archceologia Oantiana, Vol. XL, p. 74) states, without quoting any authority, that the endowment consisted of * The prebend of Cobhambury, with other matters not relating to the College, will be dealt with in a subsequent Paper. 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" a - T f e E n ^ j ivnut ' ti- .. lirnx V V^-MiH^i*lt_r^^jf le_J____t__^^ ^ ^ t t > _ S f e _ . r S ! * « . n » t i f f i . i » v « . ^ M ^ T V ^ o ^ f f i * ^ _ T _ _ f ' * f M > . < « ' ^ ' • f e g j l * ' .___<_ <&J. _. •_ - r «kf> ~ ^J_A_. _.*«a..._ _ . 7 ©!««<«<•*«• *•**»•»» a«iti».a4»»t (..'u,. t,„i,fm pufti&iMb. •tx^fftom: jS&rt 9^«>"**«# I 'Cfa Mi* ^ t « x - Krp«jftfu;J^ •fifuA tvtit tui m-My Cf-^Mntm < ittfVnud ^c:| n JI tnd <3fe> 9u *> 2_AA . <_i 1_£_____^_S___ /=J.jc^iirA«M-**«*'%'« i*» . <»«<«+./f©*fi*f W_I_^«'rt^»f* # ' ^cf^ruS^f^^ Ji_»JJ ^a*fe<»^ r • |J^*-* RECONVEYANCE BY REGINALD DE COBBAM AND ANOTHEB TO SIB JOHN DE COBHAM, LOKD COBHAM, 8 FEBBCAKY, 4 RICHARD II. COBHAM COLLEGE. 67 " the Manor of West Chalk, with, one messuage and one toft in Cobbam, 250 acres of marsh called Eewe Marsh and Slade Marsh lying in the wardship of Sl Werburgh Hoo, as well as an annual rent of twenty quarters and three bushels of barley payable by divers of his tenants in Chalk." This description of the endowment is very precise, but it is difficult to reconcile it with the record provided by many deeds relating to the endowment. It appears from these that Sir John de Cobham, the Founder, very soon after the institution of the College conveyed and enfeoffed the manor or estate of Cobham and apparently all his estates in Kent to four trustees, Sir Eeginald de Cobham, parson of Cowling, and three others, without any condition, but obviously in the intention that they should provide from them a sufficient endowment for the College, and when they had effected this they reconveyed the estates, subject to the alienations they had made to the College, back again to Sir John. This reconveyance bears date 8 February 4 Eichard II. (1381), and as it refers so clearly to the portions of the estates which they had made over to the College, a full translation is given in APPENDIX NO. 1, p. 93, and the original also is copied in facsimile on PLATE I. The great extent of the endowments of the College can be shewn very succinctly by an extract from an inquisitio ad enquirendum, setting forth what part of Lord Cobham's lands his trustees had made over for the endowment of the College and what remained for himself. It is taken from the Calendarium Inquisitionum Post Mortem (p. 302) for the year 43 Edward III. (1370) :— 48. Joh'es de Cobham Miles, pro Mag'ro et Capellanis Cantaria> de Cobeham. \ P rayv?e i 7 and \ 12 ac terr' Thorneham Harweston in Hoo Peokham Parva Lodesdon Shorne Chalk Berling Couling Clyve Cobeham maner Shorne maner Oiteford maner „ our. Green maner Gillingham sect: terr' et ten' Kano' remanen' eidem Joh'i our; 3? 2 68 COBHAM COLLEGE. Besides these original endowments there were many additions made to the possessions of the College afterwards. The parsonage of Eolvenden, as we have seen, was annexed to provide for the additional fellows or chaplains, under the arrangement of 1387—89; and among the Cecil MSS. preserved at Hatfield, and in the catalogue of the Dering MSS. of 1865,* there are records of numerous deeds of grant, or relating to grants, of lands to the College. There are at least twelve of these in the latter collection from 1363 to 1392, comprisinglandsinG-rain.NorthCourtinCobham, Hayton in Frindsbury, the advowson of Horton Kirby, Bernard's Wood in Cobham, and lands in Dartford; and in the Cecil MSS. there are copies of grants to the College of lands in Thorneham (Thurnham), and of Bengeley, or Bengebury, an estate or manor in that parish, of lands iu Cliffe, of the property known as " Vyandes," and other lands in Cobham,t in Algestow (High Halstow)) and Nursted, besides other lands in the parishes before mentioned. After the dissolution of the College, and in or about the year 1539-40 (30 Henry VI I I . ) the net revenues of the College were stated to be £128 Is. 9_d., the gross £142 Is. 2_d., and among the Cecil MSS. there is a Eental and Terrier of the estates at that time which gives a full account of the possessions as they then stood. It does not give the full rental, J but after stating the returns from various properties, it becomes, as to the rest, a description of the lands rather than a rental; it shews that either by purchase, or gifts, or by way of exchange, the College had acquired very considerable additions to their possessions in the century and a half which had elapsed since the augmentation in 1389. (A copy of it is printed in APPENDIX NO. 2, p. 94.) * After the attainder of Henry, Lord Cobham, early in the reign of James I., the 1st Earl of Salisbury obtained a grant of a good portion of the Cobham estates, and the deeds relating to these lands are still preserved at Hatfield. The Dering MSS. were sold by Messrs. Sotheby in 1865. They consisted of about 2,000 manuscripts principally relating to Kent, and those which referred to Cobham occupy ten pages of the catalogue. f One of these grants in the Cecil MSS. (Deeds 232/13) refers to "Batfciille" wood in Cobham, dated 10 Edward IV. There is a tradition that a battle took place in Cobham near the place still called Battle Street, close to the monument or " maenhir " as he terms it, whioh used to stand there. See Mr. Lukis's reference to this in the" Journal of the British Archaeological Association " for 1854 (vol. ix., p. 427). % Mixed up with one of the Terriers made by Lord Cobham's steward, temp. Henry VIIL, is a private memorandum relating to some commissions he had evidently received from my Lady in London. These are : " To sende uppe too bngges of lavender spikes for a medisin ; item too handfull peneriall; item to send uppe mystresse too bilemyntes and a payre of slevys of tynsell; item to send uppe mystresse buttlers velvet p'clet; item to send uppe Philippe my lady's maden ; item send, to Dertforthe to se a lay sister, my lady Walden," COBHAM COLLEGE. 69 In another terrier, not dated, but temp. Henry VIIL, the " heading " mentions the following parishes as containing lands of the College: Litil Peck'm, Eoolynden, Birling, Hailing, Luddisdown, Horton (Kirby), Derteforthe, Nutsted, Northeflett, Cobham, Iffild, Upehurche, Hundred de Hoo (including Hoo St. Werburgh, Stoke, and St. Maries), Halstowe, Cooling, Cliff, Higham, Tilbery, Shorn, Chalk, Frindesbury, Strood, Eochester, Eslingham, Iwade. Another and later terrier of the lands of the College, taken in 1568, is a very interesting topographical record. It is printed, so far only as Cobham parish is concerned, in APPENDIX No. 5, p. 100. So much for the endowments of the College. The Begistrum Boffense also sets out the schedules to an indenture made between the sub-master of the College and the sacrists—who would be the proper officials to take charge of them—shewing the large collection of the vestments, plate, and Church furniture for which they had become responsible; it is dated on Christmas Day 1479. Many of the service books seem to have been much used, and to be the worse for wear. Some are mentioned to be at Chalk, and it may be that the Master and brethren of the College were serving the Church there as being part of their possessions.* Their books seem all to have been service books, except one dictionary of hard words (verbis difficilibus), and the oue inevitable " G-esta Eomanorum." There is a long list of " Jocalia," being the sacred vessels, etc., used iu festivals—turribula navicula (for incense)—some of silver, some of silver-gilt, some made of holly or cypress wood and gilt, candelabra of brass, and of latten ; a long list of vestments of various colours and materials, among them an amice of gold and crimson with the arms of Cobham embroidered on it; there is another list of the vestments for daily use, another of the linen and silk, the latter carefully described, and the colours clearly discriminated, for instance: "IIpalliaaurea,quorum unum bloodii coloris,relict'rubei," two " frontells," one black with golden stars, the other of needlework in purple and green ; silk for canopies, and many other items; then follow the " sudaria et mellia," and finally the list closes by enumerating the special ornaments of the altars of the Blessed Virgin and of the Holy Trinity. Some fifty years after this inventory was taken, about 28 * Since the above was written an entry has been found in the Bishops' Begister (vol. ii.) of the institution of John Long, one of the ohaplains of tho College, to the Vioarage of Chalk on the presentation of the Master and brethren of the College iu April 1390. 70 jCOBHAM COLLEGE. Henry VIII. (1537-8), the hand of the spoiler descended on the College, and the Master, with the sub-master, fellows, sacrists, with all their company, were dissolved, disestablished, and disendowed. They had, on 27 October 27 Henry VIII.—John Bayly being then Master, and Thomas Webster, William Wharfe, and Sir John Norman, fellows, and Stephen Tennard, a brother of the College— signed to the King's supremacy, under their common seal. The revenues of the College were at this time, as before stated, £128 Is. 9|d. net per annum. Bishop Tanner gives this as the amount at the date of 26 Henry VIIL, and adds that the College had at first five chaplains, but it consisted afterwards of eleven priests. The difference between the gross revenues, £142 Is. 2|d., and the net was made up of certain quit rents and other small charges on the revenues. They were also subject to the payments of " tenths," and there is a record of a return made by the Bishop of Eochester to the King of all the tenths payable in his diocese to the Crown, dated 27 May 28 Henry VIIL, in which the amount payable hy this College is returned at £12 16s. 2id., being exactly one-tenth part of £128 Is. 9|d., shewing that the amount must have been carefully arrived at.* The College authorities (not unlike their successors in our own days) seem to have always had an impatience of taxation ; and, feeling this burthen of the tenth to be a heavy charge, as undoubtedly it was, they had, in the time of Henry V., addressed a petition to the Synod of Bishops praying to be exonerated from it (part of No. 151 in the Dering MSS. Catalogue), but evidently they met with no success. If one comes to compare the value of such an income as the College possessed at the time of the Dissolution with what it would have represented in our days, owing to the change in the value of money, no better guide probably could be had than the pamphlet of the late Eev. Eobert Whiston of Eochester on Cathedral Trusts and their Fulfilment, published in 1850. His object was to shew that while the stipends assigned on the foundation of the Cathedrals of the new foundation had then immensely increased, so far as the Deans and Canons were concerned, those for the minor officers and the exhibitioners and grammar-school boys had stood still. Incidentally he shews the enormous change in the value of money. Thus, the stipend of a Canon of Eochester at the foundation of the * The extract from the Valor Feclesiasticas (see APPENDIX No."6, p. 108) gives exact particulars. COBHAM COLLEGE. Vi new order in 1542 was £20 a year, and the "alimony" or sum sufficient to support the exhibitioners at one of the great universities was £6 13s. 4d. a year only, and by comparison with the figures which Mr. Whiston uses in his arguments it would seem that by a moderate calculation the income of the College at Cobham in 1534 would, in the present day, or a few years back, before agricultural depression set in so seriously, have reached an equivalent of not less than £2,500 a year. However that may be, when the College was dissolved Sir George Brooke, the descendant of Sir Eeginald Braybrooke, and Joan, the heiress of her grandfather, Sir John de Cobham, was then in possession of the Cobham estates, and he, no doubt after arranging some solatium or gratification to the Master and fellows, obtained a grant, or the promise of a grant, from them, subject to the King's sanction, of the possessions of the College. It would seem to have been the practice to recognize the rights, or claims rather, of the descendants or successors of the original founders when practicable, and the Acts of Parliament passed with regard to the suppressed Houses often refer to such claims. In the case of this College, by an Act passed in 31 Henry VIII. the rights of the Lord Cobham were reserved thus: " And in likewise our saide Soveraigne Lord gaue lyke lycence by his grace's worde unto the right honorable George, Lord Cobham, to purchase and receyue to his heires for ever, of the late Master and brethren of the College or Chauntry of Cobham in the Countie of Kent now being utterly dissolved, the scite of the same College or Chauntry, and al aud singuler their hereditaments and possessions as well temporal as eeclesiasticall wheresoever they lay or were within the realme of England," and then followed a clause that this Act should in no wise prejudice the rights of Lord Cobham to the College possessions or the conveyance thereof, which he might procure. Accordingly such a conveyance was made by the Master and fellows to Lord Cobham. It is dated in A.D. 1537, and is described as a " Grant by the College of St. Mary's, Cobham, to George, Lord Cobham, of the College and other lauds in Kent and Essex." A copy is preserved among the Cecil MSS. at Hatfield, and is marked as " Deeds No. 210/15." With it is a copy of the " Supplication of the Lord Cobham to the King to ratify the grant made to him of the College of Cobham " (Deeds 109/2), and also a copy of the above Act of Parliament (Deeds 219/22). Having thus got possession of the College and its possessions, 72 COBHAM COLLEGE. Lord Cobham was also able at the same time to acquire the advowson of the Vicarage and Church of Cobham which still remained iu the possession of the Prior and Convent of St. Saviour's, Bermondsey. He undertook the future provision of a " sufficient provision " for the Vicars of Cobham, and that undertaking appears to have been the sole consideration for the alienation of the advowson. A duplicate of this conveyance, dated 12 December 30 Henry VIIL, is in the possession of the Misses Stevens, of the Parsonage, Cobham, the lay rectors and owners of the great tithes of Cobham, and they have kindly placed it with many other interesting documents relating to Cobham in my care for the purpose of this Paper. It is in Latin, too large for a facsimile to be made of it, but I have appended a translation of the more important parts (see APPENDIX NO. 3, p. 98). The signature of George, Lord Cobham, is on this duplicate. He is thenoblemau whose remains rest under the magnificent altar-tomb in the Church, on which are also the effigies of his wife and himself and their children. The vagueness of the provision for the Vicar, which the Lord Cobham undertook by this deed to provide, led to difficulties. His real status was uncertain, and it was always a matter of dispute betweenhim and the landholders howfar he was entitled to take tithes. In an interesting diary of Mr. Hayes, compiled in the eighteenth century, which came into the possession of the late Mr. T. H. Baker, of Owletts, Cobham, there are several instances of these difficulties, Mr. Hayes always persisting in describing the minister as the "curate." He would not recognize him as vicar. Finally there was a law-suit tried in the Court of Exchequer,* in December 1824, " Stokes v. Edmeades," iu which Mr. Stokes, the vicar, was successful, and since then the vicars have enjoyed their rights without difficulty or question. Before, however, leaving the subject of the old College something should be said as to the buildings, the personnel of the Masters of it, and the records we have of their election and institution and induction. * I have since found a reference to another and much earlier suit at law, John Priest (the Vicar, or Minister, of Cobham) «. Bichard Savage in the Court of Exchequer in April 1709 ; perhaps it only concerned a matter of tithe. V £cmi«J>tttti* $nrt~ # ? r w J F:^| ?n«JnT"£_ai 4 t -^7V- * , f t * V(*-*""r*f c ,*i*- LICENCE FBOM THE PBIOB AND CONVENT OF 8. SAVIOUB'S. BEBMONDSEY, TO THE MASTEB AND BBETHBEN OF COBHAM COLLEGE, PEA 8T OF S. JOHN THE BAPTIST, MCCCLXX. COBHAM COLLEGE. 78 Of the buildingsno plan or view remains, or anything to explain the architectural transformation of the old College into the existing almshouses, so far as we know; little can now be discovered about them.* That they occupied the site of the present College is certain; they also extended beyond it to a small distance on the south, for the considerable remains there to this day shew it. Mr. John Thorpe, the writer of The Antiquities of the Diocese of Bochester, which follows his translation of the Custumale Boffense in the volume known by that name, wrote a short account of the College in the Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica, where he says of the old College: " I t appears by the foundations aiid other remains to have been quadrangular; part of the east wall, now grown over with ivy, and large chimney pieces of the kitchen or refectory yet remains in the south-east angle. Between the north side of the College and the south side of the Church remains part of the north cloister, and the doorway from it into the Church is still visible by the fair mouldings, though it is now stopped up; through this door the Master and brethren proceeded daily to their stalls, yet remaining, on each side of the great chancel to celebrate mass for the souls of the founder and his noble family . . . The doorway with its mitred arch at the east end of the cloister yet remains, with the large iron hooks on which the doors hung; this appears to have been the eastern entrance into the College from the gardens." The above was written by Mr. Thorpe about 1777, and things remain now in pretty much the same state as regards the College, but the mitre he speaks of in the arch has gone, through the ravages of the ivy growing on it. The north cloister which he refers to between the College and the Church was constructed under a licence given by the Prior and Convent of St. Saviour's, Bermondsey. It is dated on 24 June 1370. A facsimile of this deed is shewn on PLATE II. (a copy of it was published by Mr. L. B. Larking in Vol. II., pp. 223, 224), and a translation of the more interesting part of it is added. (See APPENDIX NO. 4, p. 99.) The corbels and other remains of the roof of the cloister and the work put up by the College in pursuance of this licence may * In a lease from Tho. Brynton, Bishop of Roohoster, to the College of five acres of land, part of Cobhambury Manor, dated 6 August 1375, it is described (Brit. Museum Harl. Charters, 43,1. 31) as lying between the land of the Bishop (Cobhambury Manor) towards the south and west to the moat (fossatum) about the Manse of Cobham College, the Cemetery of Cobham Churoh and the road from the College to Vyaunds towards the north, and tho land of the College oalled Poppymiefolde towards tlie east. 74 COBHAM COLLEGE. still be seen on both walls. No doubt the cloister was roofed overhead, but, as the grant required, it must have been left open, or with doors that could open, at both ends, to allow the parishioners perfect freedom for their usual processions to and round the Church, in which no doubt on the day of St. Mary Magdalene, under whose invocation their Church was built and dedicated, and on other great festivals they freely indulged. As to the Masters of the College, a partial list of them, not very correct, is given by Hasted (folio edition, vol. i., p. 504). Mr. Waller describes the brasses on the tombs of those who are buried in the Church (Archceologia Oantiana, Vol. XII., pp. 164, .165),* and our former Hon. Secretary and Editor, the Eev. W. Scott Eobertson, gives in Vol. XVI I I . a more complete list of the Masters, and shews too that several of them were, or became, very distinguished and held high places in the Church. He mentions a document signed by certain commissioners in the hall of this College in 1521, addressed to the Pope, then Leo. X., certifying that the Eev. Dr. George Cromer, then the Master of the College and Archbishop designate of Armagh, had taken the necessary qualifying oaths. Mr. Scott Eobertson did not give any reference to the source from which he obtained this interesting record, but I have lately come across it in the catalogue of the Dering MSS. of 1865 before mentioned. It is No. 156, and this note follows (the name is given as " Dowell " instead of " Cromer ") : " This prelate George was appointed by the King, but the Pope would never confirm him to the See, and appointed Eobert Wauchope, a Scotchman, who, on the other hand, was never allowed possession." The hall in which this certificate was signed probably occupies the same position as the hall of the old College, and the old fireplace remains iii it. Both Mr. Thorpe and Mr. Scott Eobertson describe the carvings upon it. Mr. Thorpe mentions the wiudows on the south side; when he was there he says that there were the arms of the Founders in painted glass emblazoned on them. I * Mr. Thorpe says in his Paper that when he visited the Church in 1774 the most part of the brasses over the graves of the Masters of the College had been tarn off aud destroyed; two of them, he said, were in an old chest in the chancel. These have been since restored, so far as was possible, by the care of the late Mr. P. C. Brooke, of Ufford, the descendant and representative of the Lords Cobham. He also restored the magnificent altar-tomb of George, Lord Cobham, and his Lady (which had been almost shattered to pieces by the falling ou it of a beam from the roof, as Mr. Thorpe relates), and the other beautiful brasses over his ancestors' graves. COBHAM COLLEGE. 75 think I myself remember some of this glass, and that it bore some remains also of the arms of Sir Joseph Williamson, the owner of Cobham Hall at the end of the seventeenth century, with his motto, "sub umbra alarum tuarum," but this was removed when the Hall was restored by. the late Earl (the 6th) of Darnley about 1861,* when he was himself one of the presidents of the College. The following is the list of the Masters of the College so far as the evidence of the inscriptions on their graves, the bishops' registers, and other documentary proofs extend:— 1. William Shuldham (or Chuldham), the first Master; he is named as Master in the Registrum Boffense ; he resigned in 1390. 2. William Tanner; instituted 5 December 1390 (Bochester Begisters, vol. ii., p. 10); died while Master on 22 June 1418$ and was buried in Cobham Church. 3. John Gladwyn, mentioned as Master in 1420 in the catalogue of Dering MSS., No. 151, also in the register of Bishop Lowe (Bochester Begisters, vol. iii., p. 143) in 1444 ; he died while Master and was buried in Cobham Church A.D. 1450. 4. William Bochier (or Bourchier). 5. William Hobson, admitted in July 1458, on the death of Wm. Bochier (Bochester Begisters, vol. iii., p. 230) ; died circa August 1473, and was probably buried at Cobham.t 6. John Holt (or Hott). The evidence for his appointment is that in the Act Book of the Bishops' Court at Eochester there is an entry under the date of 20 September 1473 that the will of William Hobson, the late Master, containing no appointment of executors and no residuary bequest, administration was granted to John Holt, then the Master (magistro ad presens de collegio dicto). (The registers of the Bishops, from 1462 to 1494, are unfortunately lost.) * About the same time the Earl of Darnley also restored the Church; the work it is believed was done almost entirely at his expense so far as the nave was concerned. The old pews were done away with and the present substantial oak seats substituted; the vestry was restored; the old chancel arch replaced by the present one, whioh is much wider. The east window of painted glass was given by Harriet, Countess of Darnley. At the same time the chancel was thoroughly restored by the Lay Bector, Thomas Wells, Esq., the uncle of the Misses Stevens. The restoration is mentioned by -M r. Waller in his Paper in Vol. XII. f There is an inscription in the Churoh to the memory of " William . . . ., Master of the College, who died MCCCC," but ihe name and the last figure of the date are wanting, and the inscription might refer either to No. 4 or No. 5 above. 76 COBHAM COLLEGE. 7. John Sprottle (or Sprotte) ; nominated 1492 (Dering MSS. Catalogue, No. 153) ; he died 25 October 1498 and was buried at Cobham. 8. John Alan; instituted as Master, upon the death of J. Sprottle, on 12 January 1498 (Bochester Begisters, vol. iv., p. 23). 9. John Baker, mentioned as Master in a lease from Dr. Horsey of the prebend of Cobhambury in 1502, and in the mandate for the induction of Dr. Horsey to that prebend. (Harl. Charters, 51, G 37, and 43, I 33.) He is also no doubt the same Master who is referred to as John Barker, Master in 1505 (Dering MSS. Catalogue, No. 155). 10. George Crowmer; instituted as Master circa A.D. 1512; resigned in 1521, and was then promoted to the Archiepiscopal See of Armagh; afterwards Lord High Chancellor of Ireland. 11. John Bayly was Master at the dissolution in 1534. Six other names are mentioned by Mr. Scott Eobertson in Vol. XVI IL, pp. 448, 449, as having been Masters, but I cannot find any authority, at present, for including them. I think some of them may have been fellows only, or prebendaries, or have held the office for a very short time. He does not mention John Baker (No. 9). He does mention "Edward TJnderdown," and in the Act Book of the Bishops' Court there appears the name of " Edward Hnderwode," in 1486, as connected with the College; he may have been Master, but he is not named in that capacity, but a citation is directed in I486 to " Edward TJnderwode and his brethren," so probably he was a Master at that date. The registers of the Bishops of Eochester, which began in the year 1319 (Bishop Hamo de Hythe), have been searched for the purpose of illustrating this Paper with any entries they may contain concerning the College, and for proving and correcting the above list, and the following entries have been used for that purpose. The first entry relating to Cobham is the institution and admission of John de Stanwigg (Bochester Begisters, vol. i., p. 158™), priest, to the vicarage of the Parish Church of Cobham, on the nones (7th) October 1333; the next is dated pridie nonas (4th) November 1334, and records the admission of Henry de Hope (Bochester Begisters, vol. i., p. 162vo), priest, to the said vicarage on the resignation of John de Stanwigg; then the like admission of Walter de Ferneberwe (Rochester Begisters, vol. i., p. 220), priest to the same, on the 6th Kalends March (24 February) 1345, then vacant by the death of John Werry (or Berry). All these admissions to the vicarage were COBHAM COLLEGE. 77 made on the presentation of the Prior and Convent of St. Saviour's, Bermondsey, " veros ecelesice patronos." On the 5th Kalends of February (28 January) 1363 Edward de Stanlake (Bochester Begisters, vol. i., p. 317) is admitted to the vicarage of the Parish Church of Cobham, said to be vacant by the resignation of Eichard Bail. On 17 February A.D. 1371 (after the foundation of the College) the admission of Edward de Stanlake (Bochester Begisters, vol. i., p. 348), Chaplain to the Chantry in the Parish Church of Cobham on the resignation of William de Newton, the last vicar or perpetual chaplain, is recorded, and this is on the joint presentation* of the Prior and Convent of Bermondsey and of Sir John de Cobham, Lord Cobham. The next entry found is that on the 5th day of December 1390. William Tanner (Rochester Begisters, vol. ii., p. 10), priest, was instituted and admitted to the said perpetual Chantry in Cobham Church, vacant by the resignation of William Chuldham, the last vicar of the Chantry of Cobhanri, on the like joint presentation. In the year 1403 (16 January 4 Henry IV.) there is a warrant or citation from the King (Bochester Begisters, vol. iii., p. 2) addressed to William Tanner, as Master of the College, and to two of the brothers, Walter Chartham and Thomas Colman, and to Alicia Swayne of Horton Kirby, and on 25 July 1422 there is another citation from the Bishop (John Langdon) addressed, not to the Master, but to his sons in Christ, Sir John Thurston, John Coley, and Eichard, the Chaplain of the parish of Cobham (Boohester Begisters, vol. iii., p. S), with regard to some offence committed (suadente Diabolo) by one Thomas Taylor, otherwise called Eeynold. Another entry occurs on 28 November 1444 (John Lowe, Bishop) recording (Bochester Begisters, vol. iii., p. 143) that John Gladwyn, then Master of the College, had applied to the Bishop (no doubt as visitor) for a certain day to be fixed for the audit of his accounts and for the reformation of defaults (ad audiendum eompotwni suum et reformandwn defactu-s). The morrow "of St. Andrew is accordingly named. All persons interested are to be cited. * That the necessity of having a joint presentation sometimes created difficulties may be inferred from this memorandum of the object of one of the purchases made by the College (Dering MSS. Catalogue, No. 141): " 1388. Annexation and endowment of the Church of Tilbury, Essex, to Cobham College for the purpose of exchange with the Monastery of Bermondsey for the Church of Cobham," but the exohange was never carried out, although Tilbury became part of the possessions of the College, 78 COBHAM COLLEGE. A notice is to be placed on the Church door, and especially a notice is to be given to Lord Cobham, then at " Cowlyng," in order to have, if possible, his advice (si valet consilio suo). On 19 July 1458, being the Feast of St. Lawrence, William Hobson (Bochester Begisters, vol. iii, p. 230) is instituted as Master of the College on the death of " William Bochier, the last Master," on a similar joint presentation. On 12 January 1498* John Alan (Bochester Begisters, vol. iv., p. 23) is recorded as having been instituted and admitted as Chaplain to the Chantry or College within (infra) the Church of St. Mary Magdalene, in Cobham, on the death of John Sprott. No Master appears to have been recorded in the Eegisters as having been instituted after John Alan, but there are several entries after the suppression, from 1542 to 1554, shewing that the vicarage, being, as then stated, " of the presentation of my Lo. of Cobham," remained void. In 1542 Sir John Brytten, " Chaplain to my said Lord, received the profitts of the Church for his wayge;" afterwards Sir Peter Gartus, curate; then other curates are named— Nicholas Fransham (1544), Christofer Hawke (1545-6), and Eichard Browne (1554). In each of these years the vicarage is returned as "void," and the curate for the time being as taking the profits of it for his wages. So much for the old College, which was dissolved and abandoned about 1536-7, and remained uninhabited until after the death of Sir William Brooke, Lord Cobham, on 6 March 39 Eliz. (1596). It was this nobleman who founded the present, or new, College of Cobham. He had, it would seem, intended to rebuild it himself during his life, but died before he could accomplish his purpose. By his will, dated the preceding 24 February, he made provision for his wishes to be carried out. We gather the purport of his willf from the Act of Parliament, which was passed shortly after his death, viz., 39 Eliz., which recites that, whereas the Eight Honorable late Sir William Brooke,. of the Order of the Garter, Knight, Lord Cobham and Lord Chamberlayne of the Queen's Majesty's Household, had, in his * Many of the admissions, etc., that should be contained in these Begisters were probably never recorded, and some no doubt which are recorded have been overlooked. There is scarcely any index to the contents. Marginal notes are often wanting, and much is very difficult to decipher. If ever the Registers are printed and published, and it is greatly to be desired that thoy should be, no doubt much further information will be available. t A copy of this part of the will is also given in Archceologia Cantiana, Vol. XL, p. 214, COBHAM COLLEGE. 79 lifetime, resolved to- erect and endow, for the perpetual relief of poore people, one Colledge at Cobham in the County of Kent, which he intended to be called " The New Colledge of Cobham," but being prevented by sickness, he recommended by his will the care and performance thereof to Sir John Leveson, Thomas Fane, Esq., and William Lambarde, three of his executors, requiring them to perform the same within four yeares next after his death, and to that end gave unto them all those edifices, ruined buildings, and scite and ground lying in Cobham aforesaid, with the appurtenances, which sometime were the estate of the late suppressed Colledge of Cobham aforesaid, together with a close of pasture containing by estimation three acres thereunto adjoining, and together witli a hundred thousand of burned bricks and forty tons of timber. And did moreover leave in the hands of his said executors, or some of them, certain sums of money, to be employed as well in re-cdifyinge of the said Colledge as in the purchasing of lands, tenements, and hereditaments in fee simple for the continual maintenance of poore persons to inhabit the same, to be in such manner so elected, weekly relieved, and by such rules, etc., to be governed, and by such persons to be visited, corrected, and expulsed as by the direction and good consciences of the said Sir John Leveson, Thomas Fane, and William Lambarde should be in writing set down and appointed. Upon the re-edifyinge the twenty small lodgings within the which said College they had already bestowed £500 in money at the least, and do intend to finish the same, and to purchase lands and employ the profitts thereof for the relief of the poore, according to the said trust reposed in them, and the Eoyal assent was thereupon given to carry out Lord Cobham's intentions, and it was further enacted "thatthe wardens for the time being of Bochester Bridge, which be continually chosen of such persons as be of great estimation and credit in the county, who noe doubt will be faithfuU and carefull for the due performance of soe honourable and charitable a work, should be made a body corporate as the Presidents of the New College of Cobham, and have the government of the said College." The following letter from Mr. Lambarde, addressed to the great Lord Burghley, the Lord High Treasurer of England, only a few days apparently after Lord Cobham's death, fully explains the position of matters and how the money was entrusted to the executors for the College:— Albeit my most honourable and graoious Lord that my Lord Cobham will present your Lordship with a brief, and large copy, of the last will of that most 80 COBHAM COLLEGE. honourable and christian Lord, both in life and death, his late departed good father, yet forasmuch as his last disposition standeth not only in his known testament but chiefly in the declaration of a secret confidence reposed in Sir John Leveson, Mr. Pane, the lieutenant of Dover Castle, and myself, whereof he hath also in these his last desires recommended the oversight to your good Lordship and Mr. Secretary, I take it to stand both with his own good pleasure and my duty to make known hereby (since your Lordship's indisposition of body permitteth not my access) the heads and very contents of the same. His Lordship therefore minding an undoubted accomplishment of his godly and fatherly intentions as well towards the Poore as his own children did in his lifetime put into the hands of Sir John Leveson the sum of £5,600 almost, in ready money, over and above rich furniture of his lady's provision amounting in his own estimacion to the value of 2,000 marks. His commandment to us was that with .£2,000 or more of these monies the late suppressed College of Cobham should be re-edified and endowed with livelihood for the perpetual maintenance of twenty poor. Next, that wilh £2,000 or thereabouts his second son Sir William Brook should be freed out of debt for to so much he knew him to be endangered by the mortgage of his lands and leases and by other bonds, and lastly that an interest for life in some competent dwelling-house be procured for his third son Mr. George Brook, and that some consideration should be taken of the poor estate of his daughter's children by Mr. Edward Becker, and as for the furnitures he would have them to be delivered to such of his three sons as should first bestow himself in marriage. Give me leave, most honourable Lord, to add somewhat of his and of mine concerning my now Lord Cobham and his brethren which neither it will grieve you to hear nor I, without their wrong, may prajtermifc to write. We find them all not only to concur in most cheerful obedience to the utmost execution of their good father's will and purposes, but also to contend among themselves whether of them shall be more kind and bountiful to the other, whereof I most humbly beseach your good Lordship to take knowledge, and to confirm it in them with your good liking, their honourable father being moved by me to use them, or some of them, for the execution of his will; however in the setting down of his former wills he had pretermitted them in regard, as I oonceive, of their minorities, he answered thus: " I would well to follow the example of my father herein, who notwithstanding that I and other of my brethren were then of men's estate, ordained Benedict Spinola and Mr. Osbora to be his executors." I have said enough, if not too muoh, considering the present weakness of your Lordship's body, which I most heartily pray the heavenly physician to re-cure, and so most humbly take my leave. Prom Lincoln's Inn this xv day of March. Your good Lordship's most humble and bounden by your manifold favours WILLIAM LAMBARDE. The work evidently proceeded at a good pace, and the whole was completed long within the term assigned by the Testator. Not only the rules and ordinances, but the Order for daily prayers, morning and evening, which follow them, were most elaborately -ENTRANCE TO OLD COLLEGE BUILDINGS, TAKEN FROM THE SOUTH, SHEWING THE MEMORIAL TABLET TO THE FOUNDER OF THE XEW COLLEGE. From a Photograph by Mr. E. C TOOESS. COBHAM COLLEGE. 81 and carefully drawn up, and one cannot doubt but that this was the work of Mr. Lambarde himself.* To him also we must ascribe the erection of a tablet, with the arms and quartering, containing 12 coats within a Garter, to the memory of the Founder of the College, which now stand on the south side of the ruined entrance of the old College. The inscription on the tablet runs thus:— " This new College of Cobham in the County of Kent was founded for the relief of the poore at the charge of the late Bight Honorable Sir William Brooke, Knight of the' Garter, Lord Cobham, late warden of the Cinque Ports, Lieutenant for the same County to the Excellent Majesty of Elizabeth, Queen of England, one of Her Highnesses Privy Councillors and Chamberlayne of Her most Honorable Household. He died 6th Maroh 1596. This was finished 29th September 1598." The qualification of a candidate for the new College was defined by the rules. He, or she, must be one of the honest and Godly poore or needy; must have dwelt in the parish by all the space of 3 yeares next before, and must have been relieved at the charge of the parish; none but such as could say the Lord's Prayer, the articles of the Christian belief and the ten commandments of God ; none enemy to the gospel of God, or to his religion now established by authoritie in this realme; no common swearer; none adulterer; no thiefe or hedgebreaker; no common drunkard; nor any that had before been expulsed from this College. Each of the pensioners, their children, and servants were daily to wear upon their right shoulder before, and " apparently," the badge of the College, which was a small brass plate bearing the crest of the Brooke family—under the penalty of sixpence for every default; none of the poor were to give any railing speech to any other of them under the like pain of sixpence. They were not to beg alms, nor to haunt any tippling house within two miles of the College except when at work near thereto, nor to keep tippling within the College, nor to swear any manner of blasphemous or unlawful oaths, under penalties; they were to maintain their own glass windows, and in May and also in January in every year the paymaster was to read the rules to the assembled pensioners. He was also to judge of the forfeits and penalties; and as often as the minister of Cobham upon the first Sunday of every quarter was to assemble the pensioners in the * About the year 1576 Mr. Lambarde had himself founded a very similar College for the poor at East Greenwich. This College was also for a warden, sub-warden, and eighteen poor as Cobham was; and for the governing body the Master of the Eolls and the two Wardens of the Drapers' Company were made by Letters Patent a Corporation for Greenwich, as the Wardens of Boohester Bridge were for Cobham. TOIi. XXVII, G 82 COBHAM COLLEGE. Parish Church before evening prayer and examine, them in saying the Lord's Prayer, the articles of the Christian faith, and the ten commandments, so often he was to have three shillings and fourpence : and the poor on the second Sunday in every quarter were to go to Cobham Hall if the Lord Cobham, or the Lady his wife, should then keep house there, to present themselves in thankful manner. The paymaster was to have the sum of forty shillings for his pains, besides his shares of the forfeits. The special prayer, morning and evening, to be used in the College, was in these words:— " God save His Church universal, our gracious sovereign King ( ), the nobility and councillors, the presidents of this College, and the whole clergy and commonalty of this realme." The dimensions of the interior quadrangle of the College are 60 feet 7'inches on the north and south sides and 51 feet on the east and west. There are twenty houses altogether; first, that of the warden, who is elected by the principal visitor of the College (now the Earl of Darnley, for the time being, in place of Lord Cobham) ; next that of the sub-warden, elected by the presidents themselves; and eighteen others elected by various parishes, no doubt the parishes in which the Cobham estates were principally situated, viz., Cobham and Hoo St. Werburgh each three, Shorne and Strood each two, and Cooling, Cliffe, Chalk, Gravesend, Higham, St. Mary's, Cuxton, and Hailing each one. The electors are the minister and the churchwardens and sidesmen (if duly admitted). In Cobham and Shorne they nominate two persons for each vacancy, and the Earl of Darnley selects one of them. Similarly in Cuxton and Hailing Sir John Leveson was to select one during his life, and afterwards his heirs, provided he resided at Whornes Place, then Sir J. Leveson's residence, which lay in part of each of those parishes. I t is evident, from what Mr. Thorpe says in his article in the Bibliotheca Topographica, that in the first half of the eighteenth century the rules were very little observed, and so the College got into great disrepute. The parishes entitled to elect the poor sent only the dissolute and obnoxious characters whom they wished to get rid of. The presidents were usually gentlemen who lived at a distance, and no discipline was maintained. The late Dr. Thorpe, who lived at Bochester and became a warden of Bochester Bridge and a president of the College in 1734, very soon rectified all this. I t was by his care and assiduity that the College was put on a proper footing. He drew up the forms which are still in use, and Xu. :t.—KXTKIUOR or THE XF.W COLLEGE OF COBHAM, FROM THE SOUTH-EAST. From (l Photograph by Mr. E. 0. YouEss. COBHAM COLLEGE. 83 which oblige the electors of the various parishes to certify that the persons they elect do comply with the rules and are worthy of reception in the College. Ever since his time there has been no default in these respects, and he well deserves the eulogy and tribute which are given to him by his son in the article referred to. _________ The seal of the old College, which I have been able to get from v.y. *.'.> British Museum, represented the > m Mary supporting the Divine m fant with her left arm and hav t c ing in her right hand a lily; a figure is kneeling before her in adoration of the infant, and the ii legend round the seal is " Sig w ilium Cantarie de Cobham Mr. Lambarde, being a Protestant of the Protestants, would not of course for one moment retain symbols which he believed to be superstitious, and so he adopted for the new College a new seal, ,/tu te >>. o w X of May 1598. y_ m . ^ asgured fd> J. LEVESON. [Addressed] To my very assured lovyng frend Mr Will'" Swayne at his house in Aldersgate Street. ME. BYNG OF WEOTHAM TO ME. LAMBAEDE. SIE, I send y° Sr John Leveson's l're; upou yr first sight whereof he hath assured me payment of 330", being the residue of the prioe of my land at Shorn, wk I pray y° cause to be payd w'fch as muoh spede as conveniently you may, either to my servant Thomas Hunt, the bearer hereof, or to my cosin Daniel Skynner, when wheather of them shalbe at best leysure to attend y° for it, and as muoh thereof in good gold (according to yo1' promise) as you may haue, and I besech you think not that I am more hasty to lingar yor m mey than I am ready & willing & oarefull to satisfie y° in all good dealing touching the conveighanoe & assuranoe of my laud. God hath at this prosent sent me a little lamenesse or reither sionesse that I cannot endure a boote, by reason whereof I shall not be so soue at London as I propos'd, But I trust by his favor to be with y° a full seveiiighte at least w'thin the terme, and to fiuishe th'assuranoe aooording to yo'' desyre. 86 GOBHAM COLLEGE. times " let at so much as £236 a year, but now the rent is greatly reduced, and the burden of the tithe rent-charge also falls on the College. The farms at Edenbridge were sold a few years after they were acquired. The purchase-money seems to have been kept by Sir John Leveson until he could find a suitable re-investment, but on 12 March 1615 (12 James I.) he conveyed to trustees for the College a farm at West Thurrock and Stifford in Essex, with 41 acres 2 roods 6 poles of marsh land called the West Marshes. The conveyance does not state the price given. There seems to have been something not quite satisfactory to the presidents in Sir John Leveson's conduct of this business. The farm called " Stoyles " at Edenbridge must have been rented at above its value, for in 1603 they remitted £3 out of the year's rent to the tenant in regard to the "hard pennyworth " that it was to him. After its sale Sir John continued to pay au annuity of £21 a year, to make up the rent to the College, until 1614, when he appears to have purchased the other College property at Edenbridge called " Mowses." Then there is an entry of a receipt from " Sir John Leveson, Knight, and of the Lady Christiane Leveson his wife, by way of annuity, and in liewe of certaine landes in Essex, entended to be estated upon the said Colledge, for one year, £61. " The conveyance above referred to was then made, and in the In the meane tyme I send you my bond for repaym' of the money primo Junii next, and all th'evidences of these lands whereby you may make a draught of yor purchase, wh I wish to he don by the mydst of the next weke at the furthest. My father made three sev'all p'chses of the lands, which you may see, whereof the first two being from Beoher are all conteyned in Smith's lease, and the third being fro' Edmeades* was by my father graunted fro' year to year either to Smith or his assigne Antony Pisher, for xiij8 iiijd p'r annum, the wood excepted and is retained by me, but is determinable at any Miohaelmas. My desyer is you should have as good assurance of it fro' me as you can possibly devise, not encumbring the residue of my landes, wherein I dare repose myself on your equity and favor, that you will not think it mete to hinder or discredit me by too curious & cautelous p'vision for another. Given thus in hast, w"1 my hartyest com'endac'ons to you I commend us both to the favor of God in Christ. Wrotham, 11"' Maij 1598. Yo" in all true affec'on, GEO. BYNGK [Addressed'] To the right worshipfull my very assured loving frend Mr William Lambarde, Esquyer, at his chamber in Lincolns Inn. Give these at London. * Mr. Henry Edmeades of Nursted had sold part of the Shorne property to Mr. Byng's father a few years before; his conveyance is with the title-deeds. The family have continued to live at Nursted, and their present representative is Major-Gen. Edmeades, late R.A., of Nursted Court, a member of our gjociety. COBHAM COLLEGE. 87' following year the rents of the two tenants, amounting together to £62 16s. 8d., are credited as having been paid to the College; but there are items of later date shewing that there was trouble in getting the full rents, and that the presidents were of opinion that they still had some claim on Sir John, or rather, as he had then died, on his son and representative, Sir Eichard Leveson. Thus, on 24 April 1628, at the annual election of the wardens and assistants of Eochester Bridge, they (and among them the two presidents, the Earl of Westmorland and Sir George Fane) passed a resolution to the effect that" they required Sir Eichard to become tennent to them for the payment of all such monyes as was appoynted by the will of William, Lord Cobham, until such tyme as he shall purchase and assure landes of that valew for the use of the said College." They had, previously to taking this step, been advised by " Mr. Eandolfe, the Counseller," but no good result seems to have followed. So late as 1648 the paymaster enters a charge for himself and his clerk for taking a letter to Sir Eichard in Staffordshire, and afterwards following him to London, thus:— 1647-8 Paid for a horse-hyer of 14 daies into Staffordshire to carry a letter from the Presidents to Sir Eichard Leveson in the behalfe of the poore. £2 4s. Od. It. paid Henry NichoUs for his journey. 14s. It. paid for mannes meate and horse-meate in the journey. £1 lis. It. to John Atkins (the paymaster) for five daies being in London to waite on my Lord of Westmorland when he went to Sir Eichard Leveson to gett him to make that rent good in Essex w1' hath so longe been kept from the poore. 15s. but still, Sir Eichard does not appear to have paid anything at all. For many years the revenues of the College were impoverished by the expeuse of keeping up the river wall which protected, or should have protected, these west marshes at Thurrock, and by payments to the Commissioner of Sewers, and, in consequence, the small pensions of the inmates of the College had to be reduced; and finally, in 1693, the whole of these marshes were overflowed by the river Thames aud irretrievably lost. Some other portions of the Essex property have been sold, but about 82 acres at West Thurrock still belong to the College. Here are some of the items from the payment side of the 88 COBHAM COLLEGE. account book (for the first four years the receipts are entered at the beginning of the book and the disbursements at the end) :— 1598-99 Item, for this p'nt booke of receiptes and payements. ijs. vjd. It'm for a chest and locke with two severall kayes for the use of the College. vs. It'm to Sir John Leveson . . . . due unto him upon his accompte for the buildinge of the same Colledge. vii. xiijs. viijd. 1599-1600 Payd more to him (John Clement) , . . . for worke in makinge the pewes for the poore people in Cobham Church. vijs. more to him for two lockes for the iron doore. xs. vjd, for two payer of rydes for the great gate and the Hall door. vijs. for xxiij cognusances (Lyons)* for the poore theare to weare unto Zelous Whyte. iiijs. viijd!. for two newe lockes for the outward door towardes the Church, and the outward gate next the gardeins. vijs. 1600-1 for a locke for the middle gate of the Colledge. ijs. vjd. 1601-2 .... for makinge of the two great gates for the woodyard and setting up another gate going into the gardein of William Meares, one of the Almsmen. vjs. viijd. 1602-3 Paid Mr Mudde the resident Minister at Cobham for his paines in instructinge of the said poore people in the principles of Eeligion for one whole yeaer now ended. xiijs. ivd. paid Christopher Stace . . . . for newe rippinge of some part of the fore syde of the Colledge and mendinge of the wailes and Chymneys at xvid. p. diem, xvijs. ivd. paid him for his labourer for 13 daies @ xd. p. diem. xs. xd. paid for an hand bell to call the said poore people to morning and evening prayer. iiijs. vid. paid Anthonie Fisher of Shorne (the College tenant), disbursed by him in a sute against the Vicar of Shorne * These were square brass badges, 3 inohes by 2$ inches, with the Brooke arms (" Gules, on a chevron or, three lions passant sable) engraved thereon, and fitted with holes on each of the four sides so that they could be sewn on to the cloth of the pensioner's garments. They were worn out or lost, and in 1693 someone, probably Sir Joseph Williamson, gave a new set, some of which are now in existence; they have engraved on them, below the arms, " New . Coll: Cobham . 1693." ' Only one lion is shewn on the chevron. COBHAM COLLEGE. 89 for certaine Tyth by him challenged (as it is thought) wrongfullie. ijs. vid. 1603-4 Paid for the slytting of a peece of Oak for the partie'on ground-sill. viijd. paid for a payre of rydes for the doore of the partic'on. xvid. 1604-5 Paid . . . . for making and setting up of pales and rayls in the backyarde and a new gate into the entraunce of the garden plotted to the high-waye. ijs. viiid. [This no doubt refers to the land allotted to the 20 pensioners for gardens, and the gate is that into the road by Cobhambury.] 1606-7 Paid John Dewling for mendinge of the rafters and "entertayre" of the Porche and laying of a newe joiste in the Hall flower. xiiija. „ for horse hyer twice to the College in the plague tyme to take order for their keepinge in the Colledge and provydinge of victuales to be brought them. ijs. 1609-10 It'm to John Hott for halfe a loade of tymber for the makinge of apeut-house in the South East angle of the Court. * iiijs. 1613-4 To Water carriage of 4,500 plame tyles (and other materials) to " Seaven Sisters."t vs. 1615-6 To John London 3° ffeb1' 1615 for Carpenters worke on the Porch of the Sowth syde of the Colledge, new reapinge of the same in the grownd cells, punchions, postes, shoares and rafters. vijs. 1617-8 Paid . . . . for two tonnes of Oaken tymber for repayringe of the ground celles of the South syde of Colledge Hall at xis. the Tonne. xxxs. „ 200 of oaken boarde for the Hall flower, being over the seller and rotten. vijs. 1618-9 Paid to John Salmon reader to the said poore his fee for one whole year begon 25 Maii 1618. xxs. [The payment of 13s. 4d. to the Minister was last made to Mr. Mudde in 1614, and the payment of this 20s. to one of the pensioners as "reader" takes its place for some years, i.e., until 1630.] * In Mr. Thorpe's view of the College, in Bibliotheca Topographica, taken about 1770, a pent house is shewn on the south-werf corner of the quadrangle, so probably there woro two. t There are many entries for carriage to " Seven Sisters at Cuxtou." It must l)(ive been well known then, but I cannot now trace the name; probably some wharf. 90 COBHAM COLLEGE. 1621-2 Item paid to Boatson Hennis of Stroud for a Bell for the Colledge of Cobham. viijs. Item for nayles to hang the Bell. xijd. Item . . . . for the makinge of a new pentice over the West doore in the College. vs. Item to John Bockwell for 14 deal bords to lay a floor in the pay house at Cobham. xiiij of. Item for a locke and a keye for the deske in the Haule. xviij d. 1623-4 Item for a square table for the College and a carpett. vis. 1624-5 Paid for M1' Cozens (to advise about repairs) his diner at Cobham and for my own. xvjd. „ for 12 new pannells for the Haule. xiid. „ for my horse hier with the plomer of Eochester to look on the pypes when the water was last lost. xvid. „ for towardes mendynge of the pypes and repayringe of the conditt (conduit). xxd. 1629-30 Paid to Mr. Trigge the Minister of Cobham for reedinge of prayers to the poare. xxs. 1630-1 Paid to John Vidgeon the joyner for a table for the poore to receive the Communion, to stand in the Haule of the Colledge, and a Chayer (Chair) to tbe same, xiijs. iiiji. Paid Bricklayer for xix daies about tyling at the Colledge . . . . and makinge of three new ovens a ijs. and viijs. a day for him and his labourer. Is. viijd. Paid to Mr. Trigge the Minister for his paynes in instructing of ihe poore for this year alowed by the Presidents.* xls. 1632-3 Paid to Nathaniell Franke for making of a new seate in the Square Courte of the College, he findinge the stuff, xxs. „ for cullering the bench and seat. ivs. 1633-4 „ alowance for gold that was to light. xxd. 1634-5 Paid to Mr. Philpotte for a quarte of wine when Sir John Hales (one of the Presidents) went to Cobham College. xvii. 1636-7 Paid Nathaniell Franke . . . . for setting up" of the Portch and bourding p'te of Eichard EusselPs chamber, f xvis. * Mr. Trigge's name does not appear in Hasted in his list of the Incumbents. He continued to receive the 40s. yearly until 1635, when a reader was again appointed. f This porch must, I think, have stood on the north side of the College, at the gate leading into the churchyard, llussell ocoupied the Cuxton house which adjoins that gateway. COBHAM COLLEGE. 91 1642-3 Alowed Eichard Clerke for the payments due upon the Act of £400,000. jli. 1645-6 Paid for horse-hyer to Maydston to get a letter from the Comittie to the Comittie in Essex to gett the taxes taken of from the lands that belonge to the Colledge. iijs. vid. 1646-7 Item paid for a horse-hyer for two dayes when I went to give notice to the severall parishes of the order that was made by the Presidents, etc.* vs. 1652-3 Paid and alowed for the taxes at Michaelmas 1652 and £12 19s. 6_.f 1659-60 Paid a man for shearing up yc Porch. Is. Qd. 1661-2 Paid for two horse hyers at two sev'all tymes to Cobham when ye Commissioners for Charitable uses sett their about the Poores business.^ 6s. 8d. Paid Mr. Cumber, Minister of Cobham, for instructing yc poore of the College one whole yeare according to the ordinance, etc.§ 13s. 4 IWADE. Pirma Manscor. Imprimis de Mag'ro Joh'e Norton pro firma Marisoi voo. Chateney jao. in Iwade juxta Queneburh cont. 500 acr. vjW. iij*. iiija!. Hoo. Item de Will'mo Charles de Gelingh'm pro firma duorun mariscoru' in Hoo voc. Eowmarsshe et Stonemarsshe ac chant, hoope xxxijs. tenet de D'no Grey coten. p. fideletatem tan. 205 acr. in Eowmarshe Stone marshe et chanta hope. Not. q. chant, hoope solebat dimitti ad firma. p. iij*. \\v\d. per ann. COBHAM COLLEGE. 95 COWLING. Item de Edwardo Wodeare pro firma Marisoi voo. Sherlond marsshe solvend ad festa s'ci. mich'lis et b'te marie equalis portionibus ac contiuet 110 acr. et tenetur de D'no Cobham p' fidelitate tantu. iijK. iijs. iiijd. CLYFFE. Item pro firma ouj usdam marisci jac. in Cliffe voo. Pykworthe Marsshe cont. 102 aor. in tenura Joh'is Pothed ao tenetur de D'no Archie'po Cant. p. fidelitat. et sect, cur de Otforde. Item de eodem pro butlers hope vel mortlakes mede cont. 32 acr. marisci tenetur de prior Cant, p' fidelitatem t'm. Item de eodem pro firma potmans marsshe iiij W. vs. SHOENE. Item de Davide Eogers (written over " M. Edmunde Page ") de Chalke pro firma Marisci in Shorne voc. Swanepole marshe xxvj*. viijd. Item de Eichardo Goldooke de Higham pro firma marisci voo. Bolam marissho in Shorne ujli. vj.?. 8_. Item de pro marisc. voo. heriotmarshe jac. in Shorne. BENEFICIOE FIEMA. EOLWENDEN. Imprimis de Mag'ro Dudle pro firma Eeotorie de Eolwenden xrijli. xs. HOETON. De Johe Willet pro firma Eectorie ib'm solvend ad festa purificatio's b'te marie et s'oi Joh'is Baptiste xiijK. vjs. viijd. Item de eod. pro firma vin. tent, ib'm xij*. CHALKE. De Eobto Browning de Gravisend pro firma Eectorie ib'm solvend ad festa purificaco'is b'te marie et s'ci Joh'is baptiste xvii. EST TILBEEY. Item de B'to Wade pro firma Bectorie ib'm solvend ad festa purificaco'is b'te marie ao s'ci Joh'is baptiste xvii. MANEEIUM DE WEST CHALKE CUM FIBM. TENTOE. ET CEETAB. TEEB. IB'M. Imprimis de Eob'to Brownyng de Gravisend pro firma Man'ii ib'm hoo anno xvjli. Item de eod. unu. q'terr. de barley vel quin. solid, in pecuniis munerat. ad electionem dni. Item de eod. pro le outlands per ann. xxj*. Item de eod. Eob'to pro pastur. viginti ovium vs. Item de Edwardo Cobham milite de firma unius tent, et quatuor acr. terr. per ann. xs. Item de Davide Eogers pro sex acr. di. salsi p'ti. 1 marisoi jacent in le Shippey Meede sio dinjissu' hoo anno iij*. iiijd. 96 COBHAM COLLEGE. COBHAM. Manerium de Northe courte cum firma tentorum ib'm. Imprimis de Johe Stace pro firma de Northe Courte per ann. vj&. Item de fabio pro firma tenementi ib'm per ann. xiij*. iiijd. Item de Johe Herman servus D'ni Cobhm pro firma unius tent, per ann. viij*. Item, de Barnabeo Armestrong de firma uni. tent, per ann. viij*. De Thoma Dorret pro firma unius tenementi viij*. De Eichardo Ancell pro firma unius tenementi pro ann. xij*. De Willmo Coke viij*. S'um ten'tor. cum Northe Courte ixli. xvs. iiijd. PIEMA CEETAE. TEBEABU' IN COBHAM. Imprimis de Willo Busse pro firma certar. terr. per ann. iij*., callyd pigeynes. Item de Henrico Hayes pro firma certaru' terraru' per ann. viijs. ijd., and discharges they quenes reynte. Item de Johe Wodeare pro firma unius pasture olausure voc. prests filde per ann. x*. Item de Johe Miller pro firma unius tent, quod Holts nunc Webbs de London (tenet') cum cert. terr. per ann. xxj*. Et xxj buss, ordii. Item de Edwardo Bonam* pro firma certar. terr. per an. liijs. iiijd. Item de Joanne Girdler pro firma le viandes per ann. cum terr. cum pertinent. vK. iij*. iiijd. NUTSTEAD ET NOETHFLETT. De Nicholas Germin pro firma 3 acr. terre ib'm per ann. voc. Okffild quar. xxvij acr. tenet, de manerio de Nutstead nuper W. Martyn. Et alia sex acr. jacet in Northflete. xviij*. DAETFOETHE. Item de Thoma Parkar pro firma tenth voc. le flower de luce oum q'dam b'cino adjacent, simul cum quadam via dicto b'oino pertinet. per ann. xiijs. iiijd. Item de Eob'to Lamparde pro firma tenementi ib'm per ann. xiijs. iiijd. Item pro Domo Angulari sive une shopa cum solario desuper edificat. de viijs. IN THE PAEISSHE OF SAINT MAEGAEETTES. Imprimis of John Burwell for xiij acr. di. of londe whereof lyth in Cobham crofte 7 acr. di. to the londs of theiers of Eichard Lee, Esquire, callid Great Deles ayenst the Est, The Kinges hywey leding from Boohester to Maisten Est and west. And to the londes sometyme Thomas Shymyng callid Dronkyn aker ayenst the south and to the londs of the sayde Thomas Shymyng nygh quene crofte ayenste the North. Eedd. parvo Dels—ponti Eoff. * Some of the Hayes family, who had much influence in Cobham in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and founded some local charities still existing, had " Bonham " for their Christian name. Probably they took it from this Edward Bonham; in the return of " void" benefices made in 1544 it is recorded that the curate, Bichard Pronsham, received his stipend from Edwarde Bonam of the parish of Cobham, no doubt the same person. COBHAM COLLEGE. 97 Item in Pederfilde 4 acr. di. with thappertenances lying betwene the Londs of Bichard Lee longing to great Dels ayenst the Est, to the Kinges hyweye due. de maidston ayenst the west And to the Londes of Thomas Shymyng ayenst the north and South. Bed. M'ro Lee. Item thre acr. lying ayenst saint Willm chapell in a place callyd palmerisdene to the Kinges hywey a Eoff. usque Maydston ayenst the Est to the londes of Eicharde Lee vocat "Dels downe" ayenst the weste to the londes of Thomas Shymyng ayenst the North And to londs of Saint Bartilmewes ayens the South. Bed. M'ro Lee.* He. 7 acr. Eedd. Eiohardo lee per annum 22d. ob. The following entries are in the same book but before the rental above given. They, howevor, refer to Cobham College lands:— BIELING. Item de Bichardo Edy pro 4 Aor. prati infra olausuram voc. Dikmed ao tenetur de say ut de manerio suo de Birling p. fidelitate et servio ijs. per annum. Item una Aor. prati jac in Hamelmede voc. Bakars aker reddit Abbatisse de Mailing per ann. iiijd. Item quinq. virg. prati manerio Cobhambery in Hordon mede ac. Eeddit D'no de Birling per ann. vijd. ob. xs. CLEEEN HEGGEM LITTLE PECH'AM BOSCUM. Item de Dna Gilforthe pro firma certarum terr. ib'm per annum id est Centum et xij Aor. oilve et pasture et Bedd. heredib's Culpeper iijs. iijd. per ann. absq. secta ourie. xiij*. iiijd. HoETON (Horton Kirby). Item de tenemento ib'm per annum p. tibbolde tenet juxta Ecol'ie portam xij*. * Of these three fields in St. Margaret next Boohester, belonging to the College, the 7£ acres first described appears to have belonged to the Manor of Little Delce, and to have paid quit-rents to the Boohester Bridge Corporation, who were the owners then, and still are, of that Manor. Another portion was held of the Manor of Great Delce, and paid quit-rents to Mr. Eichard Lee, the Lord of that Manor. The " Saint William's Chapel" mentioned here refers to the little chapel or shrine built in the thirteenth century on the site of the murder or martyrdom of the Scottish baker, William of Perth, who met his death here about the year 1201 while starting for a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. His body was buried in the Cathedral, and he was held in the highest sanotity. He was canonized in the year 1256, but his name is not to be found in Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints. Some small remains of the little chapel still exist, and are preserved by the trustees of the Munioipal Hospital recently erected near the spot and called " St. William's Hospital." An account of this saint, not flattering to the Church, is given by Lambarde in his Perambulation, and in 1891 the late Father Bridgett published a defence of the whole matter in The Month. Our Vol. XVL, p. 226, shews a fresco found on the jamb of a window in Erindsbury Church supposed to represent St. William. The 23 May was his day, and was no doubt well observed at Boohester, when vast numbers of pilgrims resorted to his shrine in the Cathedral, YOI,, XXVII, B 98 COBHAM COLLEGE. BECTOEIA IB'M. Item de Gilberto Wilkinson (nunc Johes Willet tenet, inserted) de leadenrodinge in Comitat. Essex generoso filio Jane Gline generose p' Eectoria ib'm et una virga terre jac. in Campo voc. Oxendowne ad Eegia' stratam northe et tenet de Ep'o Cantuar. xiijli. yj*. viijd. HALLING. Imprimis Braisland contin'es. est 15 acr. terr. et 4 Acr. bosci ut pat. per cartem Eeginaldi Cobham et alior registrat. in penulti' folio in Begistro Appropriationis benifioior. Ac. Bedd. her. tuder per ann vjd. Item una Acr. dimi cum fundo jac. in Bosco voc. Goldwynes ad terr. capelle sancti Laurentii southe et Northe, ac terr. nuper Willm. Kenley Est et West. Item quinq. daywerke bosci cum fundo juxta heohehill. LUDDISDOWNE. Imprimis Boscum voc. Eedde wod. APPENDIX No. 3. TEANSLATION OF GEANT BY THE ABBOT, ETC., OF ST. SAVIOUE'S, BEEMONDSEY, TO SIE GEOEGE BBOOKE, LOED COBHAM, OF THE ADVOWSON OF COBHAM 12 DECEMBEB 30 HENEY VIII. To all the faithful in Christ to whom this present writing indented shall come Eobert by divine permission Bishop of S' Asaph and Abbot in commendam of tho exempt monastery of Saint Saviour of Bermondsey in the County of Surry and the Convent of that place, the true and undoubted Patrons of the Church of the parish and of the perpetual Vioarage of Saint Mary Magdalen of Cobham in the Diocese of Eochester health, in the Lord, everlasting. Know ye that we the aforesaid Abbot in commendam and Convent in consideration and in the intention that George Brooke the Lord Cobham his heirs and assigns at their own costs and from other sources [de ceteris] and for ever well and sufficiently shall endow or shall cause to be endowed the Vicar of the perpetual vicarage of the parish church of Saint Mary Magdalene of Cobham in the Diocese of Eochester who for the time being shall be for his life the Vicar with a sustenance and from and on account and in respect of such sufficient endowment shall for all time to come exonerate and acquit and keep indemnified the aforesaid Abbot in commendam and Convent and their successors against the said Vicar there for the time being Have with the unanimous assent and consent of us given granted and by this our present writing indented have confirmed unto the said George Lord Cobham his heirs and assigns The Advowson donation, collation presentation, and free disposition [and also our right of patronage] of the Perpetual Vicarage of the Parish and Church of S' Mary Magdalene of Cobham in the Diocese of Bochester aforesaid [then follow some formal Clauses but only to the same effect as above]. In Witness whereof to one part of this our present writing indented remaining with the said George Lord Cobham and his heirs we have caused our Common Seal to be affixed and to the other part of this our COBHAM COLLEGE. 99 present writing indented remaining with us the aforesaid Abbot in commendam and Convent the aforesaid George Lord Cobham has.affixed his seal with his arms ("ad arma"). Dated in our Chapter House on the twelfth day of December in the year of our Lord one thousand five hundred and thirty eight and in the year of the reign of the King Henry the Eighth by the Graoe of God of England and Prance King Defender of the Paith and Lord of Ireland and on Earth, under God, of the English Church, (or of the Church of England) the Supreme Head the thirtieth. The Counterpart is signed: "GEOEGIUS BEOOKE." [The Seal is lost, all but a very small fragment.] An endorsement: " Thei Vycceridge of Cobham graunted to George Lord Cobham and his heires for ever GEOEGIUS D'NS COBHAM" [I think an autograph signature] and, in a later hand: "30 Hen. 8th 12 Deo. 1538 The Vioaridge of S' Mary Magdalen of Cobham granted by the Abbott of Bermondsey to the Lord Cobham N° 3°." APPENDIX No. 4. TEANSLATION OF LICENSE FEOM THE PEIOE AND CONVENT OF BEEMONDSEY TO THE MA8TEE, ETC., OF COBHAM COLLEGE TO BUILD BETWEEN THE COLLEGE AND THE CHUECH, A.D. 1370. To all who shall inspect these present Letters We Peter the Prior of Saint Saviour's of Bermondeseye and the Convent of that plaoe, of the Cluniao order Winchester Diocese and possessing for their own use the Paroohial Churoh of Cobeham Boohester Diocese Health in the Lord Everlasting Know ye all that our beloved in Christ the Master and Brethren of the College or Chantry of Cobeham in the said Diocese of Eochester rightly and lawfully possessing [obti.nentes] the appropriation of the vioarage of the Churoh itself of Cobham for themselves and their said College with our express consent or with our warrant on that behalf lately made supplication to us that whereas they the Master and Brethren themselves are disposed [affectent] as they assert at their own proper oharges to construct and build certain buildings or houses for divine worship extremely useful and necessary on the soil of the Cemetery of the said Church, on the South part thereof for the whole width of the said Cemetery whioh does not exceed thirty and seven feet of a man according to a measure lately had and extending to the total length of the said Churoh and Chancel so far as we shall provide them with our authority and consent for the said construction and building. Now therefore having considered that what has been so placed before us by the said Master and brethren in this behalf is pious and laudable, and that it is a useful and necessary work and will not in anyway be hurtful or prejudicial to us or to the parishioners of the said Churoh give our licence and full authority for us and our successors as fully as in us lies to the said Master and Brethren H 2 100 COBHAM COLLEGE. to build and rebuild the aforesaid houses [domos] and buildiDgs on the soil of the said cemetery on the south side of the said Church of the aforesaid width of thirty and seven feet that is to say to the length and extent of the said Churoh and Chancel ahd when the same house and buildings shall be built or rebuilt the same to repair so often as need shall in the future require and to have free ingress into the same and egress out of tho Bame and may have the ectotinual use of the same for ever without our or our Successors molestation contempt or contradiction [then follows after some legal formula this proviso, namely] that the way of the processions [via processionalis] on the south side of the said Churoh as is accustomed for ever in future may be open and preserved or saved [sahia] to the parishioners of the said Churoh and their successors especially [saltim] at the times of Morning and Evening Mass and through the said buildings at the times aforesaid so that the said way may not be impeded. In witness whereof we have hereto affixed our Common Seal. Given at Bermundseye in our Chapter House on the feast of Saint John the Baptist one thousand three hundred and seventy. APPENDIX No. 5. A TEEE'OE [TEEEIEE] OF THE LANDES BELONGINGE TO THE LATE DISSOLVED COLLEDGE OF COBHAM [subjoined to a rental of the College lands for the year 1572; limited to the lands in the Parish of Cobham only (with one piece in Nursted)]. IN THE TENUEE OF JO. ANDBOWES. Imprimis one Pylde cawled northe Court Fylde,* Bowndinnge to a Lane leadinge from the Towne of Cobham to Skarlettesf the Landes of Willm. Smedley and John Abell towardes the northe and west, and to oerteyne Landes cawled Sowthe Landes towardes the Sowthe. And uppon the Landes of Willm. Smedley towardes the East, and conteynethe by estymation xx acres. One other Pylde cawled Skottlandes bowndinge uppon a highe waye leadinge from Howlett to thonge towardes the west and uppon the landes of Mr. Haddon towardes the northe, and uppon the Lane leadinge from Cobham Towne to Skarelettes towardes the east, and uppon a Fylde cawled ij aores towardes the Sowthe, and conteynethe xvj acres. * In 1796 this field had got to be spelt " Northoot." Now, 1905, it is known as Northgate Field. t Scarletts was so called after the owner or occupier, and often occurs in the deeds and terriers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Then it became " Soarless " and " Scaless," and in modern times " Scalers," and is now known as " Scalers Hill," being on high ground and commanding an extensive view. I t is about 60 acres in extent, and now belongs to Mr. Arthur W. Booth, who has built a house there. On the north-west it is bounded by the old Eoman road called Watling Street or Clay Lane, and it was near the north side of that road close to Scaler's Hill that the great " find " of bones, celts, spear heads, and armour in 1825, recorded by Mr. A. J . Dunkin (Springhead, 1848, pp. 113,114), was mad§. COBHAM COLLEGE. 101 One other Fylde cawled eleven aores Bownding uppon the highe waye leadinge from Howlett to Thonge towardes the west, and uppon the Fylde afforesayed cawled Skottlandes* towardes the northe, uppon the Lane leadinge from the Towne of Cobham to Skarlettes towardes the East, and uppon the Landes of the Colledg now in the Tenure of Wyllm. Barham Sergeant att Lawe cawled Bakers towardes the Sowthe and conteyneth xj acres. One other Fylde called Chamberlaynes hill woodf Bowndinnge uppon the Landes of Mr. Haddon and John Harper gent, towardes the northe, uppon the Lane leadinnge from Howlett J to Thonge towardes the East and Sowthe, and uppon a, Lane leadinge from Skarlettes to Hennerst Court towardes the west and conteyneth ix acres. Qne Crofte cawled Halle croft Bowndinnge uppon the Lane leadinge from Howlette to Thonge towardes the Easte, uppon the Lane leadinge from Skarlettes to Hennarst Courte towardes the northe, uppon the Landes of John Abell towardes the west and uppon the Landes of John Harper gent, towardes the Sowthe and conteyneth wythe Kebbles v aores. Somme of the aores 61 acres. IN THE TENUEE OF JOHN ANDEOWES. By Indenture and payethe per ann. vj li. Wheate 2 qr. Capons 6, Chekyns 24. IN THE TENUEE OF GYLBEETE TONGE. One Tenement cawled the Vyanoe, wt. the Barnes stabelles and other owt howses and one yearde. One Crofte oawled payntors Bowndethe uppon a Lane leadinge from the Vyanoe to Cobham streate towardes the Easte, uppon the longe garden in the tenure of John Melsham towardes the Sowthe, uppon the Landes of the Lorde Cobham and Bobert Spryver towardes the northe, and uppon the Landes of theyres of Clynke towardes the weste, and conteyneth iiij aores. One other Crofte called Culver Crofte, Bowndeth uppon the highe waye leading from Boohester to Cobham towardes the northe, uppon the Landes of Wyllm. Busse towardes the Easte, uppon the Tenement cawled the vyance towardes the Sowthe, and uppon the Lane leadinnge from the sayed Vyance to Cobham streate towardes the west, and conteyneth vij aores. One other Crofte oawled Skryveners, Bowndethe uppon the Landes of Willm. Eusse and Eobert Spryver towardes the northe, uppon the Landes belonginnge to the Busshoppe off Bochester towardes the Sowthe, uppon the Landes of the sayed Bobert Spryver and the sayed Busshopps Landes towardes the Easte, and uppon the sayed Tenement cawled the Vyance towardes the west and conteyneth x acres. * This field is still oalled Sootlands. t Now called Chamber's Hill Wood. | " Howlett's," the house occupied for many years by the owner, the late T. H. Baker, Esq., now called " Owlett's." The name often occurs in deeds of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as Howlett's, and in 1492 one Howlet or Houwet was a lessee of land in Cobham under the College. Probably the name was derived from him. 1 0 2 COBHAM COLLEGE. One other Crofte cawled Hogge crofte, Bowndethe uppon the Landes belonginnge to the Busshopp of Boohester towardes the Sowthe, uppon the Lane called the Vyance Lane towardes the northe and Easte, and uppon the foresayed longe garden and the Busshopps Landes towardes the west aud conteynethe ij acres. Somma off the acres 18. IN THE TENUEE OFF HENEY JAEMYNE. One Fylde cawled Stansteade Bowndethe uppon the Landes of the Busshopp of Eochester towardes the northe, uppon tbe Lane leadinnge from Cobham to Burlinnge towardes the Easte, uppon the Landes of f . . . . Bycarde towardes the Sowthe, and uppon the highe waye called Frosten streate in parte, and the Landes of the Lord Cobham towardes the west, and conteynethe xv acres. One other Fylde cawled Bedd Woodd Fylde, wythe one grove Bowndinge all togethers uppon the highe waye leadinnge from Frosten streate to Golding strete Sowthe, uppon the Landes of Jo. Jermyne west and northe, uppon the Landes of the sayed L. Cobham called stansteade towardes the East and conteynethe xv acres. One other fylde called Cobham Berrey hill, bowndethe uppon the highe waye leadinnge from Cobham to Luddesdowne towardes the west, uppon the Landes of the Bysshoppe of Bochester towardes the northe Sowthe and East and conteyneth xv acres. One other Pylde cawled Sheape crofte, Bowndethe uppon the highe waye leadinnge from Cobham to Luddesdowne East, uppon one other highe waye leading from Cobham to Frosten streate Sowthe, uppon the Landes of.... Bycarde towardes the west and northe, and conteyneth j acre dimi. - One Fylde cawled okePylde lyinnge in the parrisshe of Nustead Bowndinnge on the Landes of John Abell and george wright towardes the East, uppon the Kinges highe waye leadinge from Cobham to Nusteade towardes the Sowthe, uppon the Landes of John Sydley gent, and Jo. Eogers towardes the west, and uppon the Landes of Mr. Lymsey towardes the northe and conteynethe xx acres. One peace of Lande oawled the Lordes Crofte Lyinnge in Cobham. To the Landes of John Jarmyne towardes the East and northe. To the Landes of henrey Jarmyne towardes the west and to a peace of Lande called Stavesgate towardes the Sowthe, and conteyneth xx acres. One peace of Laude cawled Stavesgate Lyinnge in Cobham to the Landes of John Jarmyn and the Landes of the Lorde Cobham cawled Dordes orofte towardes the Easte. To the Landes of the sayed Lorde and of henrey Jarmyne towardes the northe. To a peace of Lande of the L. Cobham called Tanners towardes the west and to the Quenes highe waye leadinnge from Luddesdowne to Soles streate towardes the Sowthe, and oonteyneth iiij aores. Somme off the acres 62, and payeth per ann. iijli. xviij*. xd. COBHAM COLLEGE. 103 IN THE TENUEE OFF BYCH. GEEDELEE. One Pylde cawled the olde Lande* Bowndethe uppon the highe waye leadinge from Soles streate to henley towardes the weste, and uppon one other highe waye leadinnge from the sayed Soles streate to Frosten streate towardes the northe, uppon the Landes of Bycarde towardes the Easte, and uppon the Landes of the sayed Lorde oawled Brookes towardes the Sowthe and conteynethe xxj acres. One other Fylde cawled greatt Brookes Bowndethe uppon the highe waye leadinnge from Soles streate to Luddesdowne towardes the weste, and uppon the Landes of John Poore and John Esdone towardes the Sowthe and the Landes of . . . . Bycarde towardes the Easte. And uppon the Landes of the L. Cobham toward the northe. And conteynethe xvj aores. IN THE TENUEE OF BYCH. GEEDELEE. One other Pylde cawled Battes Bowndethe uppon the highe waye leadinnge from Sole streate to Luddesdowne towardes the Easte, uppon the propre Landes of the sayed Bych. Gerdeler towardes the Sowthe, and northe, uppon the Landes of the Lorde called Beaconf towardes the west, and conteynethe ix acres. One other Fylde oawled Beacon Bowndethe uppon the Landes of Eychard Gyrdeler towardes the Sowthe, and northe uppon the Landes of John Jeator weste, and uppon the Landes of the Lordo called Battes and conteyneth iij aores. Somme off the acres 49. The two first peaces arre in the tenure off Gylbert Tonge and payeth per ann. xl*. ottes 8 qr. The two latter peaces arre in the tenure off By. Gerdeler and payethe per ann. xs. ottes j qr. IN THE TENUEE OFF JOHN EVESDONE. One Pylde oawled Askyns wt. a grove, Bowndethe uppon the Landes of . . . . Eycoarde and henrey Jarmyne towardes the Sowthe, uppon the highe waye leadinnge from Luddesdowne to the viance towardes the East uppon the Landes of the sayed . . . . Eyccarde towardes the northe and uppon the Landes of the L. Cobham towardes the west, and conteynethe xij acres. One Crofte of iij acres Lyinnge uppon the Landes of Henrey Jarmyne towardes the Easte, and the proper Landes of the sayed John Evesdon towardes the Sowthe, uppon the Landes of . . . . Rycoarde towardes the weste. And the Landes of the L. Cobham towardes the northe, and oonteynethe iij aores. * Formerly in part the property of Mr. John Soratton, now of Mr. H. E. Moojen, one of the Common Counoil of the City of London. He has lately built a house here, and has preserved the anoient name, calling it " Oldlands." t Battes, a small farm belonging to the Earl of Darnley, oalled after the name of a former oooupier, as I have reason to think. It is on very high ground, and in all probability a beaoon once stood here. 104 COBHAM COLLEGE. One Fylde cawled Lyttell Brookes Bowndinnge uppon the Landes of Henrey Jarmyne west, uppon the Landes of John Evesdon and John Came towardes the Sowthe and the Landes o f . . . . Boggerste* towardes the Easte, and uppon the Landes of the Bysshopp of Bochester towardes the north and conteynethe xij acres. Somma off the acres xxvij, and payeth per ann. xxvj*. ottes 4 qr. IN THE TENUEE OFF WYLLM. EUSSE. Longe crofte Bowndethe uppon the Landes of . . . . Byccarde towardes the East and west, uppon the highe waye leadinnge from Frosten streate to Sole streate towardes the northe, and uppon the Landes of the Lorde Cobham called Askyns towardes the Sowthe, and conteynethe ij aores. And payeth per ann. iij*. IN THE TENUEE OFF THO. HOTTE. One yearde of Linde Lyinnge in Joanes Crofte, and Bowndethe uppon the highe waye towardes the northe, uppon the Landes of the sayed Thomas Hott towardes the weste. And the Landes of the Lorde Cobham towardes the East and conteyneth j yearde, and payeth per ann. j busshell off Barly. IN THE TENUEE OF BYOH. STAOEY. One Crofte cawled Hawkyns crofte, Bowndethe uppon the Landes of John Abell towardes the weste and northe, and uppon the Landes of george Wrighte Sowthe, and uppon the Landes of Eychard Stacey towardes the East, and conteyneth vij acres, and payeth per ann. viij*. CEETEYNE OF THE COLLEDGE OF COBHAM LANDES LETTEN TO ME. SBEGEANT BABHAM. IN THE OCCUPATION OFF NICLAS BAEHAM BY INDENTUEE. Item one Tenement or messuage wyth a garden therto Lying wyche sometyme was of one waiter Stace Lyinge att the Churche streate betwene the garden of the sayed Colledge towardes the west, and the Tenement of Bobert Holte now Mr. Sergeant Barhams towardes the Easte and to the highe streate there towardes the northe, and to the L tndes of the Lorde Cobham called the longe garden-j- towardes the Sowthe wyche is letten to Mr. Sergeant Barham by Indenture wythe other Land and payeth for the sayed messuage and garden yearley xij bz Barley. One Croft of Lande called Askyns in the parisshe of Cobham Lyinge to ihe Landes of the sayed Sergeant Barham called Carlebyes and to the Landes of Bobert Spryver northe. To the Landes of the same Bo, Spryver and John Jarmyne Easte. To the Landes of the sayed L. Cobham called Torkes Sowthe. And to the common waye leadinge betwene Thonge and Mewpeham weste, and conteynethe ij acres. And payethe for the same per ann. xj*. * This is the earlier form of the name of the family of Boghurst, well known in this part of Keno and in Boohester, but now it is believed extinct in the male line-. The family of Caddel, well known in Boohester, now represent them. t The long garden is probably the long narrow strip of land now converted into twenty-one gardens allotted to the twenty pensioners of the College and the occupier of the paymaster's house. COBHAM COLLEGE. 10 5 One Crofte called Vyance Brome Lyethe to the Landes of the Lorde Cobham called Lyttell pooreriohe* northe. To the landes of the sayed nyolas Barham called penFylde Easte. To the Landes of the sayed John Jarmyne Sowthe and west, and payethe for the same per ann. iiij bz. barley and conteynethe 3 acres. One Crofte called Lyttell pooreriohe Lyethe to the Landes of nyolas Barham oalled greatt pooreriohe northe. To the Landes called upper churohe Fylde East. To the landes of the sayed Lorde Cobham called Vyance Brome and to the Landes of the sayed Nyolas Barham oalled penffyld Sowthe. And to a certeyne lande waye leadinge to the Tennants landes there weste, and conteynethe 2 aores and payethe per ann. ij*. On halff an acre of Lande oalled trenohe myll in the parisshe of Cobham Lyethe to the Landes of nyolas Barham towardes the Easte and Sowthe, towardes the Landes of the sayed Lorde Cobham oalled Brome crofte towardes the weste and to the northe, and to the Landes of the heyres of John Abell towardes the northe, and conteynethe dimi acre and payethe per ann ij*. All wyche sayd 5 paroelles are now letten to niclas Barham Sergeant off the lawe. Per ann. in toto xv*. Barley ij qr. To be payd att the feast off all sainctes. A FEE FAEME TO NYOLAS BAEHAM SEEGEANTT ATT LAW. One peace of Lande oalled Torkes Bowndinge to the highe waye leadinge from Mewpeham to Cobham weste, uppon the Landes of John Jarmyne and Bobert Spryver Sowth and Easte. And uppon the Landes of Mr. Haddon northe, and conteynethe 8 aores and payethe per ann. in Pee Farme viijs. ob. Memorandum this parcell lyeth together wt. Askyns and is bownded togeather in the olde terr'or as it is sett downe here. IN THE TENUEE OFF BO. ALEXANDEE AND WT. THE PLOTT IN LEAZE. One Fylde cawled Kempwell Bowndethe uppon the Landes of the L. Cobham and of Bobert Spryver towardes the northe, uppon the Landes of the Bysshoppe of Boohester towardes the west and Sowthe, and uppon a Fylde cawled Wyntramef towardes the Easte, and conteynethe xxx acres dimi aud 4 dayeworkes. Twoo Fyldes the one cawled greatt Wyntram, and the other Lyttell Wyntram. Bothe bowndinnge uppon a highe waye leading from Fynohe crofte to plotte towardes the Easte, and to the Landes of the Lorde Cobham towardes the northe, and uppon the sayed Landes oawled Kempewell towardes the west, and uppon the Landes cawled EllynsoleJ towardes the Sowth, and conteynethe xxv acres and 5 dayeworkes, dimi and a pearoh.§ * The singular name of " Poor-rich " is still applied to this field, and *' Great Poor-riohe " to another field in Cobham also mentioned in this Terrier. t These fields still retain the name of Wyntrams, and on the Ordnance Map are oalled " Winterham Hill." J This name has been corrupted into " Ellison's " or " Elliston Bottom "— the latter is given in the Ordnance Survey. The parish of Luddesdown adjoins; as there js an anoient pond here, there can be little doubt but that the termination " sole " is correot. § This aoreage appears to inolude the next two entries. 106 COBHAM COLLEGEOne other Fylde cawled Ellynsole, Bowndethe uppon the Landes of the Busshopp of Bochester and Cobham Berrey wood towardes the west, uppon the Landes of Jeames Williams towardes the Sowth, uppon the highe waye leadinge from Fyncbe crofte to the plotte t owardes the Easte, and uppon the Landes cawled Wyntrams towardes the northe and conteynethe wt. the Wyntrams [blank]. A peace of Lande called Bawmans hill wythe iij peaces of grownde, Bowndethe uppon a highewaye leadinge betwene the Plotte and Birlinnge towardes the weste, uppon the Landes of John Boggerst towardes the Sowthe, uppon a highe waye leadinge from Cobham to Cuxstone towardes the northe, and uppon a wood cawled Bedd wood towardes the East and conteynethe [blanh]. IN THE TENUEE OF JO, MELSHAM. The Soytuation of the late Colledge of Cobham wythe the Stone howse sometyme a Seole howse, wythe the garden and oroharde therunto adjoyninge, Lyethe to the highe streate there northe. To the Churche yearde of Cobham and to the Landes of the Busshoppe of Bochester weste, and to the Landes and tenementes of the sayed Colledge East and Sowth and conteynethe j acre, dimi, and 7 dayeworkes dimi. The longe garden Lyethe to the Landes of the Busshoppe of Boohester weste and Sowthe. To the common Fote pathe leadinnge betwene the sayed Colledge and the Vyannce* northe and to Hogges crofte east and conteynethe iij acres and vij dayeworkes. Somma off the acres iiij acres dimi one yearde and 4 dayeworkes. And payeth per ann. for the same xxx*. Over and besydes vj*. for the parsonadge Close no parte off the Colledge off Cobham Landes. But yett letten in his Indenture and answered in the Hundreth of Shamell. Jo. KENNINGSTONES HOWSE. One Tenemennt in Cobham streate wherein John Kenningston dwellethe, wythe a Lyttell garden platt, and Lyethe to the highe streate there northe. To the Stone howse weste, and to other Tenementes and Landes of the sayed Colledge Easte and Sowthe, and conteynethe iij dayeworkes. In the tenure off John Kenniogston att wyll and payeth per ann. viij*. one Henne. IN THE TENUEE OFF THO. BEOWNE WEVEE. One other Tenement in Cobham streate adjoyninge uppon the foresayed Tenement Weste, uppon the highe streate there northe. To the oroharde of the Colledge Sowthe. And to the yeard of Nyclas Barham Sergeant att Lawe East and conteynethe wt. a Littell garden platt iij dayeworkes. • In the tenure of Thomas Browne att wyll and payeth per ann. viijs., one Heune. THE SMYTHES POEGE. A messwage or Tenement cawled the Smythes Forge and ij Lyttell pareelles of Lande Lyinge and beinnge jn the towne of Cobham afforesayed, wherof the * This description and other references seem to fix the position of the " Vyance " farm and buildings, and to place it somewhere near the south-west corner of the meadow in whioh the Parsonage stands. COBHAM COLLEGE. 107 same Tenement and one of the sayed parcelles of Lande Lye to the highe streate of the sayed Towne towardes the Sowthe. To a Tenement of the L. Cobhams called anselles towardes the weste and northe, and to a carrinnge waye cawled Bowes Lane* towardes the Easte, and conteynethe j yearde and dimi one pearch. The other parcell of Lande Lyethe there to the sayed earring waye oawled Bowes Lane towardes the weste. To the Landes of Henrey Jarmyne northe and East, and to the highe streate Sowthe and conteynethe ix dayeworkes. Somma hallfe an acre Laokinnge iij pearohes. In the tenure of John Stokes att wyll and payeth per ann. xiijs. iiijd. A TENEMENT CALLED ANSELLS. A Tenement wt. a garden and a peace of Lande togethers cawled Ansells Lyinnge in Cobham Towne to the highe streate there towardes the Sowthe. To the Smythes Forge affore sayed and to the littell parcell of Land to the same adjoyninge towardes the East. And to the Landes of theyres of John Payne towardes the west and to the Landes of Bobert Spryver cawled East Pylde towardes the northe, and oonteynethe one acre j yeard iij dayeworkes and a pearche. In the tenure off Wyllm. Johnson by Indenture and payeth per ann. xxv*. Henne j . A TENEMENT IN HOWGH PHILCOCKES OCCOPEYINGE. One other Tenement in Cobham Towne afforesaj'-ed wt. a garden and small peace of Lande, Lyinnge to highe streate there towardes the northe. To the Landes of t'heyres of Eychard Holte towarde the west. To the Colledge Landes in the tenure of gilbert yonge East and Sowthe and conteyneth one yearde and a hallfe. In the tenure of George Philoooks att wyll and payeth per ann. viij*. DOWLES HAWE. A garden or a Lyttell parcell of Lande cawled Dowles Hawe Lyinnge in the sayed Towne of Cobham to the highe streate there northe To the Landes of the heyres of Eychard Holte towardes the Easte. To the Landes of the L. Cobham cawlyd Payntors towardes the Sowthe. And to ihe eschete Landes of the L. Cobhams late Thomas Munne towardes the weste and conteyneth one yearde and j dayeworke. In the tenure off george Smedley att wyll payethe per ann. xijd. * It is suggested that " Bowles Lane " is the road leading from Forge Green to Eochester by Cobham Park, and now commonly known as " Ha'pence Lane." 108 COBHAM COLLEGE. xirj xiij mf • lxviii *. d. iij iiij . APPENDIX No. 6. [From the Valor Fcclesiasticus, Henry VIII., vol. i., p. 104.] COLLEGIU' DE COBHAM IN COM' KANC ET IN DECANATU EOFFEN. Annuus Valor Sp'ualiu' et temporaliu' Joh'i Bayle Magistri Collegii de Cobham in Com. Kane in Decanatu et Dioc' Eoffen. eid'm coUegio p'tin' ut inferius patet. COM' KANC, BOWENDEN (BOLVENDEH). li. *. d. Bectoria ib'm valet p' ann'. xvii x — HOETON (KIEBY). Bectoria ib'm valet p' ann'. CHALKE. Bectoria ib'm valet p' ann'. COBHAM. Vicaria ib'm valet p' ann'. COM' ESSEX, TILBEEEY. Bectoria ib'm valet p' ann'. COM' KANC, COBHAM, Terr' et ten't in Cobham valet p' a'". D. vendio'one bosci d'ei Collegii co'ibus annis. Bedd'us assis' in Cobham p' am. SHOBNE, Terr' et ten't ib'm valet p' an'1". CHALK. Maniu' ib'm ou' al' terr' ib'm valet p' an'. Bedd'us assis' in Chalk p' ann"1. PEENDESBBEEY. Terr' et ten't cu' xviij8 xa ob. de redd' ib'm p' ann'. NOSTED, HOETON ET AL' LOC' UT INFKA PAT3. Terr' et ten't in Nosted xiiij". Horton xij8. Higham xvi". Clyff iiij11 xi" x'1. Cowlyng lxvii" iiij'1 . Halstoo & S' Maris iiij" xiii" vij". Stoke ij". Hoo xxxiij" viijd. Strode xvij" viijd . S'ca Margareta juxt. Eoffen. iiij" viii. Iwade vi11 iij" iiijd. Birling vi8 viiid. P'va Pekham xiij8 iiijd . Dertford xxxvi8 viij'1. Luddesdon xiiij" et Shingillwell xii" in toto p' ann'. xix" xiiij" viijd xl - ix" iiij'1 cxv" vid xvij8 lx8 lxviii" iid ob. xxvi" xm* S'ma omnis oxlii" — xiiydob. COBHAM COLLEGE. 109 De quib's alloc' in p'curao' peno'. Arch'o Cantuar' p' procurao' rectorie de Bowenden p' ann'. Arch'o Essex p' procurac' rectorie de Tilbery p' ann'. D'n° Ep'o Eoffen. p* penco'c f. de rectorie de Horton p' ann', Adhuc alloc' videl' in redd' resolut'. D'no Archie'p'o Cantuar. Ep'o Boffen. Priori Eoffen. D'no hundred de Hoo, et div's aliis p'sonis p' terr' et ten't p'd'cis p'ut p'tiolar patet in libro d'oi Mag'ri d'oi Collegii de Cobham videl' p ' ann'. Feod'. Magistri Christoferi Hales Senl1 (Senesohalli) terr'd'ci Coll. p' ann. xx8 — Will'mi Bous balli'i et colleotoris redd'us ou' xiii8 iiijd p' liberatura sua p' ann'. Iiij" iiijd Joh'is Fowle p' sen" cur. et auditoris p' ann. xiu" iv xxxv" —" oxvu" ix" vi" vi" viiid Iiij" iiij^ S'ma allocao' et sio remanet . Xm0 pars inde xm" xix8 . oxxviii" — xxi ob, xii" xvi8 iidq N.B.—The reader is requested to alter " Commissioner " to " Commissioners'' on page 87, line 7 from bottom; and add to the note on page 77 the following:— " The notarial certificate of the process by which the Master of the College, William Tanner, took possession of this Church, is exhibited in the British Museum (Case VI., Charters, No. 64)."