Report of Proceedings 1929

( 255 ) REPORT OE PROCEEDINGS, 1929. SPRING MEETING. THE Spring Meeting of the Society was held at the Museum, Maidstone, on Thursday, April 11th. The passing of the Report and Accounts for the year 1928 and other business occupied the morning, the President, Sir Martin Conway, being in the chair. , The proceedings are printed in the Council's Report for 1929 which appears in the present volume. In the afternoon a General Meeting was held which was attended by many members and friends, the President again being in the chair. Papers connected with Kentish antiquities were read, the first being on the Otford Roman Site, by Mr. Bertram W. Pearce ; the substance of this paper is printed in the present Volume. This was followed by a paper on Recent Excavations at Snodland and Finglesham, by Mr. William Whiting, F.S.A., with added notes on objects found, by Mr. W. P. B. Stebbing, F.S.A. Details will be found in the two articles in Vol. XLI of Arch. Cant, entitled " Jutish Cemetery near Finglesham, Kent," and " Iron Age Hearth at Finglesham, near Eastry, Kent." Mr. Whiting also showed an interesting series of slides of cloisters in various cathedrals in this country, the wonderful group of heraldic and other bosses in the cloisters at Canterbury being a prominent feature. SUMMER MEETING. The Summer Excursion was held in Romney Marsh on July 25th and 26th and was attended by about 220 members and friends. The programme was a full one and was very efficiently organised by Mr. F. 0. EUiston Erwood, F.S.A., Hon. Excursion Secretary. On July 25th the first place 2 5 6 REPORT OE PROCEEDINGS. visited was Snave Church. An address was delivered by Mr. V. J. B. Torr, a summary of which wih be found in Arch. Cant., Vol. XLI, p. 221. The next place visited was Ivychurch Church, which was also described by Mr. Torr. It is dedicated to St. George, one of seven1 mediaeval parochial dedications in Kent to the patron saint of England. Reminiscent of great Fenland churches, this is one of the largest and most attractive of the fascinating group in Romney Marsh. • I t is very spacious for the present small population (which has never been materially greater), and the impression is increased by the substitution of chairs for pews. The plan comprises W. tower and S. porch vaulted and with parvise chamber over, attached to three parahel aisles of equal length, without structural division from end to end; screenwork marks off the three eastern bays for the chancel, leaving four to the nave. This is an interesting and uncommon plan for its date, towards the middle of fourteenth century, when the whole church was rebuilt. A clerestory is a somewhat rare feature in Kent, appearing in about thirty parish churches only. Ivychurch is among this number, having a clerestory throughout, of smah quatrefoiled rectangular lights, blocked in nave, but open in chancel; on south side of the latter, quatrefoils are replaced by later coupled and trefoiled Perpendicular lights. The whole building has been neglected and disfigured in past years by a riot of rainbow washes everywhere, even on woodwork ; but an improvement has been effected recently and the fabric is now in good order. The sole remaining evidence of an earlier fabric is a thirteenth century semicircular ragstone base of a respond, with water-holding moulding, against E. wah of chancel to N. of altar, about 18 inches to S. of present fourteenth century respond. This proves the existence of an E.E. chancel, narrower but probably of the same length, having at least a N. chapel divided by an arcade; but whether there was a S. chapel also is conjectural, as no 1 Beckenham, Benenden, Canterbury, Ham, Ivychurch, Wrotham, parochial; and the late mediceval chapel of ease at Gravesend, later adopted as parish church. REPORT OE PROCEEDINGS. 25 7 evidence remains on the other side. This base on N. has in modern times been properly exposed as a record. The arcades, on octagonal columns throughout, are very good. The roofs are ancient though probably later than fabric and are flat in aisles, of king- and queen-post type in nave and chancel, the former and N. aisle being stih ceiled. The windows are principahy Decorated with a few Perp. replacements and restorations in N. aisle. The E. window of the N. chapel is broad late Perp. (cf. Brookland S. aisle), bricked up long ago (though Glynne, curiously, does not mention blocking) and needing re-opening ; that at the W. end of the N. aisle is good Curvihnear, retaining scraps of painted glass in the tracery. The E. window of the chancel is five-light uncusped late Perp. of early Tudor date : emphasis should be laid on this, as both Grayhng (ii. 22) and a writer in Ecclesiologist (June, 1849, p. 343),- heedless of details, have mistakenly ascribed it to the fourteenth century ; while Glynne (p. 262), who visited the church in 1868, did not risk a conjecture. It is about contemporary with the E. windows of Brookland and of Play den near Rye. Both chapels retain their altar-pieces ; a mutilated •' piscina remains in the S. chapel, and stone waU-seating extending to W. There is a newel stair of late Perp. date at N.W. corner of N. aisle, leading to the leads, and another (fourteenth century) to W. of S. porch, giving access to the parvise, the floor of which is worn away ; and a fine stoup in S. aisle to E. of door. The first piUar on S. to W. of chancel screen bears interesting mediaeval graffiti. The octagonal ragstone font standing on original steps on N. side near W. end is a facsimile of that at Newington near Sittingbourne, though without cover, and bears locking marks on the rim. Plain moulded fonts of this type are plentiful in Kent, and date from the fifteenth century. There is a fragment of a mural painting, probably contemporary with rebuilding of church, on the S. of a blocked window of N. chapel, over an image corbel. Eighteenth century pulpit and altar rails of the seventeenth century are happily retained, being probably contemporary with the screen in the tower arch, which has a 21 258 REPORT OE PROCEEDINGS. Jacobean balustrade crowned with iron spikes, and with door, one of an interesting series in the Romney Marsh district; it is dated 1686. The Royal Arms of George III, 1775, appear on W. wah of nave over tower arch, which is seemingly early Perp. and of a fine Wealden type with engaged shafts to responds. The Chancel retains some good woodwork of the fifteenth century, and staUs, with parclose screens on either side, possibly late mediaeval but of different character. The wainscot only of the rood screen remains, the doors having been removed ; an incumbent in the last century had the upper part of screen demohshed on pretext of obstruction of view. The stahs should be compared with the later work at Aldington, illustrated in Arch. Cant. XLI, p. 148. Eighteenth century plaques with texts over arcade pillars, and Decalogue tablets flank the E. window of chancel. The W. tower, of three stages, with battlemented parapet and heavily buttressed, is an early example of Kentish Perpendicular, probably added about the end of the fourteenth century ; it has a good square-framed W. doorcase, and a window of late Decorated design above. The N. and E. belfry lights are of different pattern and probably later than the other two ; the newel turret at N.E., with leaded spirelet and approached from the ground by a Perp. internal doorway, is possibly a later addition, and the top stage generahy has a later feehng than the rest of the tower. Five bells, ah 1624 save one (1724). Reference may also be made to the article on Ivychurch Church in Arch. Cant., Vol. XI I I , p. 450. • Proceeding to New Romney, the visitors were welcomed at the Town Hah by the Mayor, Major M. Teichman-Derville, O.B.E., who is a member of the Council of K.A.S., and after luncheon inspected the collection of Charters, Regaha, etc. The members then gathered in New Romney Church, where Mr. Torr again described the buhding. The parish church of St. Nicholas is one of the most, interesting buildings in Kent. There are many architectural problems connected with it, chiefly concerning the W. end. REPORT OE PROCEEDINGS. 259 Canon Livett's booklet (1930), obtainable in the church, is probably the best concise marshahing of the evidence, and the student is referred to it. The plan is now a middle- Norman nave with narrow contemporary aisles, a later- Norman W. tower, with prolongation of nave aisles at sides, advancing in date with height, and crowned by the stump of an E.E. stone spire and corner pinnacles, and chancel and two long and broad aisles. The eastern two-thirds of the church (except the Norman piers retained in the E. part of the nave) are an imposing Decorated rebuilding, of one-compartment type, as at Ivychurch, c. 1325. All trace of the Norman E. end and E.E. alterations are thus destroyed; but Mr. Ehiston Erwood's1 apsidal theory appears improbable and at variance with contemporary Kentish examples. The chief architectural features are a fine twelfth century W. doorcase ; the discarded Norman clerestory of nave ; the interesting treatment of the Decorated chancel-arch and sanctuary arrangements, giving three sets of triple sedilia to the E. end ; and the three reticulated E. windows. There is a fine series of tombs, brasses, indents, coffin and ledger slabs, of the thirteenth to seventeenth centuries ; a Decorated mural tomb in N. chapel which was possibly an Easter Sepulchre; good post-Reformation woodwork; screens (1602) at W. end, and altar rahs probably c. 1700. The Royal Arms (Anne, before 1707) appear over the chancel-arch ; E.E. piscina in S. chapel; eighteenth century marble font and hatchments. There are eight bells, all of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. A remarkable feature in a building of this rank is the absence of rood-loft doors. From New Romney the party motored to Newchurch Church, where, in the absence of the Rector, Canon C. D. Lampen, the paper which he had prepared was read by Mr. V. J. Torr. The church is dedicated to SS. Peter and Paul, and was formerly one of the rich Kentish sinecure rectories. It was put into good order about 1847, 1 Arch. Cant., XXXVII, p. 199. 2 6 0 REPORT OE PROCEEDINGS. and subjected to a second excellent restorationin this century. I t has a nave with aisles, chancel with chapels, N. and S. porches (latter modern) and W. tower. The Chancel is thirteenth century; the tower fifteenth withDecorated W. window (probably reset from the destroyed W. wah of the nave), newel at N.E., good W. doorcase and arch to nave enclosing seventeenth century screen hke Ivychurch. The rest of the fabric is of fourteenth century, with good windows ; Perp. kingpost roofs and two parclose screens ; roof-loft doors on N. and S. ; fine octagonal concave-sided fifteenth century font at S.W. of nave. Linen-fold pulpit on N. side, probably early sixteenth century, with modern sounding-board and fine Decorated chest (cf. Saltwood and Rainham). Five behs, aU 1637, save one recast 1845. St. Mary-in-the-Marsh was the next objective, where the Rector, the Rev. T. F. Cooke, met the party at the Church, a description of which was given by Miss Anne Roper. Her notes have been printed in the form of a smah pamphlet from which the fohowing details are taken : Though the present fabric is mainly Early English, the church is of Norman foundation, and there is reason for supposing that the present nave arcades are the original Norman waUs pierced with arches in the early thirteenth century, when narrow aisles were added.1 The Norman chancel seems to have been a smah square-ended extension measuring some 13 feet each way, the present one, nearly twice that size, with its long lancet windows, having been built round it. The unusual plain east window is a fourlight insertion of the fourteenth century, but retains its thirteenth century angle shafts. For some unknown reason the chancel arch was afterwards removed. The sanctuary contains double sedilia and a piscina, ah in Caen stone and 1 Marks in the stonework show that the easternmost arch of the south arcade was once occupied by a parclose, screening off the east end of the south aisle to form a chapel. An oak beam, with late Gothic mouldings apparently of the sixteenth century, crossing the south aisle from the spandrel of the first pillar of the south arcade, is probably a survival from the screen which bounded this chapel on the west. AYMBB VALLANCE. REPORT OE PROCEEDINGS. 261 of one contemporary design. The whole composition has been assigned to the fourteenth century, but Miss Roper claims the support of Mr. Torr in dating it from about 1270 ; a thirteenth century date is corroborated by the two drains in circular depressions in the piscina niche, a feature rare after about 1300. The sedilia are surmounted by graceful trefoiled arches with a bold hood-mould with square ends and two carved heads, one a grotesque mask and the other a tonsured head of a clerk, both characteristicahy thirteenth century in expression. To the west of the sedilia is a low-side window, recently blocked up. Other interesting features inside the church include : fragments of yellow and green encaustic tiles in chancel and nave ; a delicately moulded fourteenth century female face below the bell capital of the western respond of the nave arcade ; a simple oak pulpit of Queen Anne date on a modern base ; two ancient benches in the chancel; a plain octagonal font dating from the thirteenth century, with a good Jacobean painted cover ; and the Royal Arms of 1775 over the south door. The church also possesses an interesting Chahce of unusual shape and design, made in London and bearing the date 1578 and the maker's mark, a windmill in a plain oval, the sign of a goldsmith who hved in Chepe. The massive tower was added some fifty years after the original church was built; the lowest stage with its early Norman window is especially fine, and early windows, long since unfortunately boarded up, remain in the upper stages. The huge clasping buttresses are evidently of later date, and the unusual batter at the east end is also probably not original. (For ground-plan see plate facing p. 203 in Arch. Cant., Vol. XXXVII.) The Rector and Mrs. Cooke kindly entertained the members to tea in the Parish HaU. An Evening Meeting was held in the Assembly Rooms, New Romney, at which the Mayor delivered a lecture on New Romney and its Records, the bulk of which is printed in Arch. Cant., Vol. XLI. Dr. F. W. Cock, F.S.A., presided 262 REPORT OE PROCEEDINGS. over a good attendance. In the discussion which fohowed, Mr. R. Holworthy, the archivist, spoke on his researches into the New Romney records. A vote of thanks was passed to the Mayor, and the Hon. Secretary of the Society took the opportunity of thanking him and the Local Committee for their valuable co-operation in arranging the meeting. ' Starting from Ashford on the second day the party made their first stop on the Rhee Wah near Appledore Station, where Mr. Charles Stokes delivered a short address upon the Topography of Romney Marsh. After referring in sympathetic terms to the loss the Society and district had sustained by the untimely death of the late Mr. Arthur Finn, of Lydd, who was to have addressed them on the spot that day, Mr. Stokes said that he held what no doubt many of his listeners would look upon as heterodox views as to the history of the Marsh. He pointed out that the Marsh occupied what was, in his opinion, a drowned valley surrounded by hills of the Lower Green Sand and Wealden formations and stated that the generahy accepted view was that the district was originahy a bay of the sea, the old coast-hne of which foUowed the hill foot and was fringed on its present seaward edge by banks of shingle and sand, which had caused the silt brought down in suspension by the waters of the rivers Rother, TiUingham and Brede, discharging into it, to be deposited and gradually to fill up the bay until in early Roman times it had become a tidal morass, the " inning " of which the Romans had completed by erecting the Dymchurch sea wall and the Rhee Wah, thus reclaiming an area of some 24,000 acres. This theory did not satisfactorily explain matters, as it did not ahow for the fact that the river Rother (then known as the Limen) had an outlet at the modern Lympne, near Hythe, on which was the Portus Lemanis, the site of which was marked by the protecting castrum (now known as Studfall Castle) which covered the port from the hill above. If the land in Roman times had not stood at a higher level than at present, the REPORT OE PROCEEDINGS. 263 inflow of the sea at the Portus Lemanis must have inundated the marsh at every high tide in spite of the sea walls. Resting upon the earher deposits of sand, overlaid by a thin bed of clay at a depth of about four feet below Ordnance datum, there was a forest bed, mainly of oaks, which might be identified with the submerged forest to be seen occasionaUy at low water at Pett, near Hastings. Above the clay bed there was about eight feet of deposits of muddy peat surmounted by two feet of peat and above this again marine aUuvium of varying thickness. These deposits had been proved in a section at Fairfield Brack in Wahand Marsh. These upper aUuvial deposits were probably thicker in Walland Marsh than in Romney Marsh proper, as the deposit of silt had gone on there for some considerable period after they had been cut off from Romney Marsh by the erection of the Rhee Wah. The lower of these deposits were probably laid down during the Neolithic depression and it was clear that, after the sub-alluvial marine deposits had been laid down, there must have been an upward movement to have permitted the growth of the forest, and that a subsequent depression must have supervened, during which the covering marine aUuvium was deposited. Again, during the first four centuries of the Christian era, parts of the Marsh, which in post-Roman times had only become habitable after extensive drainage operations, were occupied by Roman settlements, notably at Dymchurch, where an extensive pottery was situated. This would appear to indicate a second upward movement f oUowed by a second depression, as all these sites are at present considerably below high water of ordinary tides, and the pottery referred to is covered by the sea at the present time. Similar evidence of depression since the Roman occupation is to be found on the Flemish coast, in the Thames Valley, in the North Kent Marshes and in Sussex, a notable case in the latter county being the Roman paved ford across the river Arun at North Stoke. 264 REPORT OE PROCEEDINGS. Ah the existing shingle banks rest upon ahuvium and the " fulls " of the earlier, and lower, ones run more or less at right angles to the existing shore hne. These can be well seen at Hythe Oaks and at the Holmstone, near Lydd. Mr. Stokes believes that both the Rhee Wall and Dymchurch sea waU are mediaeval and that their necessity was not felt until the post-Roman depression had advanced far enough to cause the erosion of the fringing shingle banks, which were breached according to records in the thirteenth century, when old Winchelsea was destroyed and the Rother diverted to Rye. The river channel from Appledore to New Romney, the site of which was particularly well marked between Old Romney and Hammond's Corner, was in aU probabihty always more or less artificial, and the Rhee Wah became necessary when the silting up of the river bed raised the waters above the level of the surrounding country. From records at New Romney this channel appeared to have always been a source of trouble and expense and exceedingly difficult to keep open. Dymchurch waU was hardly noticed in records until the sixteenth century and little expense was incurred in connection with it- until the year 1700; and it was evident that originahy it was not continuous, but that, as breaches occurred in the shingle bank, sections of waU were erected from time to time, and as erosion went on were linked up. The sections of wah marked in early maps bear names such as Spittleman's Wall, WiUop WaU etc., which suggest that they were not all constructed at one period. In the early years of the eighteenth century serious erosion began to take place, breaches were frequent, and large sums had to be expended upon maintenance. The state of the Wah became alarming at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and in 1803-6 £50,000 was spent on reconstruction. It has since, although faced with stone for the first time in 1826, continued to be a source of danger and expense. The great storms of the thirteenth century which fmany diverted the river from Romney to Rye, where there REPORT OE PROCEEDINGS. 265 had no doubt always been an outlet, did not affect the Marsh north of the Rhee WaU, and the inning of the marshes south of the WaU had f oUowed. These innings as shown on modern maps bore the names, and dates, of Archbishops of Canterbury, but there was no evidence, that Mr. Stokes knew of, to connect them. In fact in one case, that of Baldwin's Innings, it was known that the Prior and Convent of Christ Church at Canterbury had granted the lands to a Baldwin Scadway on condition that he enclosed them from the sea. The final inning, that of the Enclosed Salt Marshes from Rye towards Appledore, did not take place until 1833. On arrival at Lydd, members were welcomed by the Mayor, W. T. White, Esq., at the Town HaU, and then proceeded to the Church, which was described by Canon G. M. Livett, F.S.A., with the help of plans which he had specially prepared. Canon Livett's paper, enlarged and revised, appears in the present volume. In the church were also exhibited charters, regalia and other objects of interest relating to the town. After luncheon the members proceeded to Brookland, where Mr. Torr gave an address on the Church, which is dedicated to St. Augustine. The chancel is thirteenth century, with two good contemporary stepped sedilia, and piscina; nave and aisles are chiefly fourteenth century, with the W. end of N. aisle divided off as late mediaeval vestry. Among the interesting features of the church are : mediaeval pewing and remnants of painted glass ; late screenwork ; brass (1504), now mural in chancel; Jacobean tomb in S. chapel; eighteenth century pulpit on S. ; Royal Arms of George I I (1739) over N. door, which is approached by a good porch ; remarkable twehth century leaden font. A detached timber belfry (probably of the fifteenth century) stands to the North of the church. Mr. Druce then gave an address on the twehth century font, the most important of the thirty leaden fonts remaining in this country, with its series of Occupations of the Months and Signs of the Zodiac. It has been fully described by Canon Livett in Arch. Cant., Vol. XXVII, p. 255. 266 REPORT OE PROCEEDINGS. Appledore was the last place to be visited, where the Church was dealt with by Dr. F. W. Cock, F.S.A., who, being resident in the village, has known and cared for the church for a long period. The original Norman church having been burnt down by the French in 1380, the present building is mainly of the Perpendicular period. It was restored some few years ago and Dr. Cock in referring to it testified that " not hah a bushel " of the old material was removed. It is described in Arch. Cant., Vol. XIV, p. 91. Dr. Cock also described Home's Place not far off, which includes an interesting and weU-preserved fourteenth century building, the domestic chapel of the Home family. A good account appears in Arch. Cant., Vol. XIV, p. 363. At this point members dispersed, having spent a very pleasant and interesting two days, materially assisted by fine weather. AUTUMN MEETING. The Autumn Excursion took place on Tuesday, Sept. 10th, in the country round Chilham. About 200 members and friends attended. All arrangements were made by Major Usborne of Chilham, and proved very satisfactory. This excursion was also favoured with fine weather and was most enjoyable. The first place to be visited was Challock Church, the meeting place being at Challock Lees, whence members made their way on foot to the Church, where an address was given by Mr. Torr. This church, in a remarkably beautiful position north of EastweU Park and approached by a deep lane from ChaUock Lees, is stiU but little known. The Kent Archaeological Society has not previously visited it, and this is the first notice of the church in Arch. Cant. It was formerly a chapel of Godmersham, but was separated in last century, and has been recently annexed to Molash. The dedication to SS. Cosmas and Damian is rare and occurs elsewhere in Kent only at Blean, though an altar of this name anciently existed at Biclaior. These early saints occur in the canon of the Roman Mass and are historically important as associated REPORT OE PROCEEDINGS. 267 with the last surviving use of phalhc rites in Christian ritual, under their tutelage, in the kingdom of Naples late in the eighteenth century. The church shows practically no trace of work earher than thirteenth century, and comprises nave and aisles (north subsequently widened), chancel, N. chapel, W. tower and S. porch ; the chancel arch and that from the N. aisle to the chapel have been removed for insertion of a rood loft. The nave is of three bays (two western on N. side are modern), with good later thirteenth century chalk arcades on circular columns. A fourteenth century arch divides the chancel from the N. chapel. The fenestration is is chiefly Decorated ; the S. aisle windows are transitional, with interesting label heads, c. 1380 ; and the N. chapel has a window of a type common about Ashford, c. 1500, supplanting an earher blocked one and inserted for the better lighting of the rood-loft. The newel stair to this remains in N. wah, with upper and lower doorways and another through wall over arcade, proving that the loft spanned nave and N. aisle. The chancel (E.E.) has re-used Norman quoins, but has suffered drastic restoration and lost all fittings save a Decorated piscina on S. and a mural opening looking into chapel, probably an Easter sepulchre. Stone seating extends the whole length of N. aisle and chapel, also around the bases of some of the arcade pihars; on one of these pier-seats, on S., stands the mediaeval font, a square mass of masonry with old lead hning and lock marks, probably thirteenth century, but difficult to date. There is a stoup , to the E. of the S. door. The chancel roof is modern, that of the ringing chamber old; in the rest of the church the original roof is obscured by ceihngs needing removal. The N. chapel presents several interesting features ; the external quoining is of flint only, singular for its date. Others are the E.E. stringcourse ; image corbel (as also in S. aisle); remarkable oak beam on uprights (fifteenth century) spanning chapel; sediha in form of stone bench against S. waU, beneath Easter sepulchre opening and that of piscina (very rare, cf. Stewkley, Bucks.), but original floor levels tampered with ; Jacobean table and 1681 chest. The arch close at hand over 268 REPORT OE PROCEEDINGS. modern pulpit bears rope marks of a vanished sanctus-bell. Remains of fifteenth century heraldic and other glass in E. window of S. aisle, and scraps in N. aisle; brasses of 1504,1614, 1632,1737. Important fifteenth century screenwork includes a parclose between the N. chapel and chancel, improperly painted; rood-screen, ihegally shifted to the division between N. chapel and aisle, replacing that removed to tower arch, and a loose piece of panelled wainscot at W. end of S. aisle. There is a mass-dial on S.E. quoin of chancel; and an E.E. inner doorcase to porch. Good Perp. W. tower, having square-headed windows, moulded doorcase, and newel turret at S.E. octagonal at top, square below ; also interesting fhntwork cross in W. wah. Good arch to tower from nave ; the ringing chamber has a door opening to the timbers of nave roof, over the ceiling, and has the rare feature of a fireplace in N.W. corner (suggesting possible mediaeval use as priest's room), and a kingpost at N.E. is inserted to support bell-frame (1637) of floor above, wherein are four behs (1634, 1724, 1614, 1640), ah cast by different founders. The newel retains its original door and case on the ground floor. The party then left for Chilham, where luncheon was served in the Village Hah. Members assembled at the Castle, where the chief object of interest was the Keep, behind the house ; others enjoyed the gardens or visited the Church. Mr. VaUance addressed the members and described the Castle and House. The Donjon, commonly called the Keep, stands at the back of the present house. It is an octagon in plan, with a rectangular annexe on the S.E., both dating from about 1160. The whole is enclosed in a curtain wall, forming roughly a rectangular bailey, which appears to be mainly of fourteenth century work upon twehth century foundations. Excavation beneath the annexe, in September, 1926, resulted in the discovery of a sub-vault, being one bay (or about hah) of an ancient hah of the eleventh century. To the N.W. of the Donjon is a well—now disused—having an enormous horizontal wheel with wooden cogs or teeth, and a yoke for a horse to go round and round pumping. REPORT OE PROCEEDINGS. 269 After passing through various hands, the property came in right of his wife to Sir Dudley Digges, who puUed down aU he found standing of the old house and built the present one in 1616 ; the date is incised over the front entrance. The architect's name is unrecorded, but the building has been assigned by some experts to Inigo Jones. It was more probably designed by John Thorpe. The plan is peculiar and original—an E-shaped frontage, having at the back an hexagonal court enclosed on all sides but one. It is built of brick with stone dressings and is a product of the Renaissance in its rigid symmetry and balance of parts ; at the same time it preserves some of the picturesque features of the older Gothic, such as mulhoned windows. The present owner, Sir Edmund Davis, acquired the property in 1918, and has carefuUy restored the house, putting it into thorough repair. A short drive brought the party to Godmersham Church and Court Lodge, which were described by Mr. V. J . Torr. The church of St. Laurence, one of about ten Kentish churches so dedicated, and Court Lodge, are set attractively beneath Godmersham Down, near the river Stour, in one of its most beautiful parts. Originally a Norman building, the Church comprises nave, chancel, and tower at N.E. of nave with a smah apse. The chancel was rebuilt in the thirteenth century (its arch being subsequently removed), and a south transeptal chapel was added at a later date, balancing the tower on N. A severe restoration, c. 1865, added a S. aisle (modern arcade), S. porch, and organ chamber at S.W. of chancel, and considerably modified the general character of the church. A Norman doorcase (blocked) with good tympanum remains at W. end of nave, over which is' a four-hght Decorated window (restored); and the original N. wah of the latter retains two twehth century internaUy splayed lights to W., and at E. a threelight late window, c. 1500. Glynne (p. 123) visited the church before 1840 and noted the uncommon feature of a porch on N. of chancel, but said nothing of the font then in 270 REPORT OE PROCEEDINGS. use. This must have been modern, as broken remains of the original Norman font were found built into S. wall of nave on the removal of the latter at the restoration. This font (like existing one at Westweh) had an arcaded square bowl on central and angle shafts, ah on a square phnth. Even its remains have disappeared, and the present font dates from this restoration. The nave has a good fifteenth century kingpost roof with pierced spandrels to the tie-beams. The S. chapel was formerly fiUed with family pews of Eggerton and Ford (now Godmersham) Park, in the latter of which Jane Austen often sat. The windows contain late heraldic and other glass (see Parsons, 67-9). The tower, unbuttressed and with pyramidal cap, is early Norman with original windows. There are five behs, all 1687. The apse has a domical vault and original windows, and was subsequently divided from the tower floor space by a wall carried hah way up, seemingly thirteenth century by the doorcase at the S. end. Similar apses, now destroyed, existed at Bapchild and Kingsdown in W. Kent, also at E. Dean near Eastbourne. The tower communicates with the nave by a smaU Perp. door, and at N.W. of the chancel is a blocked rood-loft entry, which must have opened from the apse. The chancel is a good example of a thirteenth century type common in E. Kent and has an unequal eastern triplet with plain rear-arches carried on shafts ; it had a low-side window at S.W. Other windows, save one of the fourteenth century now looking into organ chamber, were renewed at the restoration. Wide-arched thirteenth century sedile on S. with deep mouldings and shafts with cap and base ; and piscina with elaborately cinquefoiled arch and renewed floor immediately to E., apparently fourteenth century but presenting difficulties. At the back of the sedile is the only brass in church, pahmpsest of 1471 and 1517, so fixed to the waU that both inscriptions may be read. Eight staUs are noted in this chancel by Dr. Harris in 1719, all unhappily removed shortly before 1731. A stall end bore the date 1509 and initials T.G.P., for Thos. Goldstone, Prior (of C.C. Cant.); these stalls were for Christchurch monks as rectors, the church REPORT OE PROCEEDINGS. 27 1 belonging to them from Saxon times. (See Gent. Mag., Apr., May, Aug., 1789, for dissertations on staUs, etc.) The whole chancel has recently suffered indiscriminate whitewashing, to its detriment. To the North of the Church is Court Lodge, of early thirteenth century date, but greatly altered. The Hah was destroyed c. 1810, but the arch of its (blocked and altered) W. Window remains, showing finely moulded domestic work, c. 1230 (cf. Crowhurst, Sussex, manor house ruins). In its head is inserted a sculptured figure in pontificals, wrongly identified as Abp. Arundel or either Prior Chillenden or Goldstone. It is probable of late twehth century date, and precise identification is impossible. Continuing the journey to Wye, where a halt was made for tea, the party reached Brook Church, which was also described by Mr. Torr. St. Mary's Church is one of the most interesting in the county by reason of its unaltered plan and mediaeval waU paintings. The Church was impropriated to Christ Church, Canterbury, long before the Norman Conquest, fell to the Convent at Lanfranc's division of property, and passed to the Dean and Chapter at the Dissolution. The chancel, nave, and massive west tower, form the original unaltered ground plan, the only addition being the late mediaeval north porch. Even the fenestration has been but httle modified. The whole church is of late eleventh century date and is certainly that mentioned in Domesday. The building is lofty, like the later adjacent church at Brabourne, and presents a grander effect than do the similar simple Norman churches of the Dover district. The tower is massive and of three receding stages, and a fine newel at S.W. leads to a very interesting first-floor chamber. This has in its E. wall two openings to nave (high up) and between them, in a recess, under a moulded arch, is a remarkable painting of Christ seated in the act of blessing, c. 1100, but archaic in style. The Royal Arms of George IV. (1829) appear in this chamber, and there are three bells (fifteenth century, 1612, 272 REPORT OE PROCEEDINGS. one of unknown date) in the top stage. The W. window and doorcase were renewed or inserted in fifteenth century, when N. and S. (now blocked) doors were remodeUed and porch probably built. The font at W. end of nave is modern. Tower and chancel arches are plain ; the former lofty for the eleventh century, but work under Canterbury influence was always advanced. The only alteration to the nave is the insertion of a large late fourteenth century window on N., but it is unhappily plaster ceiled. The beautiful wooden pulpit, temp. Henry VIII., is one of about hah a dozen pre- Ref ormation examples in Kent The early sixteenth century wainscot of the destroyed rood screen is left across the chancel arch. A blocked rood entry remains to the N. of the arch, which was originahy gained by a wooden stair from the chancel side ; the height of the opening shows that screen and loft filled the whole arch, to the N. of which, on the nave side, is a shallow recess probably serving as a reredos to a smah altar once standing there (cf. similar arrangement, on opposite side, at Grain, with thirteenth century painting). AU three E.E. lancets in chancel supplant earlier lights; also of E.E. date are a remarkable vesica-shaped low-side window on N., and a cinquefoiled piscina and single sedile. The latter have good mouldings of the first hah of the thirteenth century, and the plastered back of the sedile has much-perished contemporary painting. Mediaeval tiles are set in the floor round the Jacobean altar table. Evidence remains in the chancel waUs that two beams spanned it, after the manner of Posthng (destroyed) and ChaUock (existing). The whole church was originally adorned with waU painting. The Nave .scheme (prob. c. 1300) comprised rectangular compartments on S. wah, exhibiting in part legends of the B.V.M., but the insertion of a Decorated window and superimposition of eighteenth century texts have destroyed the design of N. wah. The chancel paintings (in better condition) represented the hfe of Christ, and are aU of the greatest importance, those on the E. wall being c. 1200, and on the S. waU, of the later twehth century. Two painted consecration crosses of later addition also appear on the E. waU.