Reviews

( 292 ) REVIEWS. THE PLAOE NAMES OF KENT. Kentish Pl,a,ce-names by J. K. Wallenberg, Uppsal,a,, 1931. The Place-Names of Kent by J. K. Wallenberg, Uppsal,a,, 1934. VERY remarkable work on English place-names has been done in recent years by Swedish scholars. The learned books of Prof. Ekwall have enriched our knowledge of the whole field, and the late Prof. Zachrisson made a number of noteworthy contributions. Dr. Wallenberg has fortunately concentrated on Kent, and his two valuable books have recently been added to the Society's library at Maidstone. The books are planned on different lines but are complementary to each other. Kentish Place-Names is a study of the Kent-place name material in the Anglo-Saxon charters prior to the Conquest. From A.D. 604 to 975 the great collection of Birch (Oartularium Saxonioum) is treated in order of date with an elaborate commentary on the placenames occurring in each charter: from 975 to 1066 Kemble's "Codex Diplomaticus" is treated in the same way, and the volume ends with a commentary on the puzzling Kent Charter from the " Liber de Hyda ". There is an excellent index which forms a convenient guide to the Kent placename material of the chief collections of Anglo-Saxon charters and enables the reader to ascertain readily the first recorded date and form of the early Kent place-names. In The Place-Narnes of Kent the arrangement is under hundreds and parishes. The name of the hundred is first dealt with, then the name of each parish and the places in the parish. Overlapping is avoided by giving references to the earlier book, and an index of nearly 4000 names is added. These two books are indispensable to the student of Kent place-names. The material has been drawn from all available sources both printed and manuscript, and in the REVIEWS. 293 later volume the valuable list of Saxon churches in the Domesday Monachorum printed by Dr. Gordon Ward in Vol. XLV of Archreologia Oantiana has been laid under contribution. The second book reveals a certain change of view on a question of great importance. The earlier book was marked by a revolt (following Prof. Zachrisson) against the tendency to explain place-names by personal names (the" epidemic of eponymitis " of Mats Redin). But this view is modified in the later volume and the attributions to personal names have greatly increased. The names are discussed with acuteness and understanding, and illuminating suggestions are sometimes made. It is believed, for insta,nce, that the author was the first to point out that Tenterden (Tentwardene for Tenetwaradenn) is " the pasture of the Thanet people ". The two books form a pioneer effort and there are very few slips. On page 19 of the earlier book the author is in error in identifying " the island of Heabureahg " with Hoo which has never been an island. Heabureahg was an old name of Sheppey and it is quite possible the two names developed from a common original. At times the author goes astray through excessive deference to his authorities and insufficient acquaintance with the locality. He makes Fredville in N onington mean "the cold place" and quotes Hasted who says the place is cold, low and watery. It certainly is not any of these as it is well-wooded, and the first element appears to come from frid, frith, wooded country. Dr. Wallenburg has little interest in pre-Sa:x:on names. To the County name he allots :five lines : Canterbury, Dover and Rochester are dismissed in footnotes of nine or ten words all we learn of the r. Stour is that it is "no doubt of Keltic origin", and the r. Darent is disposed of in five lines. Quite exceptionally he gives a page and a half to the r. Cray, and Chatham, Blean and the r. Medway receive full treatment because he thinks the names may be Germanic. The author is in fact a Teutonic scholar and is disposed to see Germanic influence everywhere. In his later book he 2:l 294 REVIEWS. says (p. 127) " with very few exceptions the Kent placenames are formed from Germanic elements." He believes that all the numerous Kent names in -ham " are evidently composed of native (i.e. Germanic) elements," quite irrespective of the date at which this suffix may have been added. Holding theseviews it followsnaturally that his interpretations are largely based on old or modern English words which seem to resemble the names treated of, however badly they fit the circumstances, or on the Saxon habit familiar to Bede of assuming that any place name strange to them could only be derived from a personal name. Thus to him Ash (asch) means always" ash-tree", the element Ac, Ock, Oke is always" oak tree ", Eastry is " the easterly district ". Barnfield is just " barn field ", Horton is " filth tun ", Loose is " pigsty ", Petham is "pit-ham". Pluckley, not lending itself to this mode of interpretation, must be a personal name, " Plucca's ham". The utility of Dr. Wallenberg's volumes to the student will be greater if the interpretations are accepted with caution. The languages of Britain and Ireland were British and Celtic until the fifth century A.D., and it is impossible to assume that, however much they have been modified by Saxon speech-habits in the following two centuries, a considerable number of place-names (such as Faversham) do not bear the stamp of British origin. It is known that Prof. Skeat towards the end of his life expressed profound dissatisfaction with the Teutonizing methods he had done so much to initiate and foster. F.W.H. KENT OBIT AND LAMP RENTS. Kent Obit and Lamp Rents. Oompiled and dite,d by Arthur Hussey, with an Introductory Note by Dr. Irene Ohurchill. Kent Records Branch, 1936. Issued to Subscribers. Tms volume is a Supplement to Mr. Hussey's Kent Ohantries, printed by the Records Branch 1932-6, and like its predecessor is based on the transcripts made by the late Leland Duncan of the Certificates (now preserved in the P.R.0.), REVIEWS. 295 which were returned in 1548, in compliance with the Chantries Act of the previous year. To these Mr. Hussey has added copious extracts from Wills, references to the Calendars of the Patent Rolls, and many elucidatory notes. Obits are defined in the N.E.D. as " a ceremony or office (usually a mass) performed in commemoration, or on behalf of the soul of a deceased person, or on the anniversary of bis death." Lamp Rents, were rents issuing out of lands bequeathed for the maintenance of a light, or lights, within a church, generally before an image of a saint. According to the returns of the Commissioners it would appear that in 1547, one hundred and ninety-five churches in the County of Kent (that is in the dioceses of Canterbury and Rochester) possessed endowments of this kind. The reason for the enquiry into these Chantry and Obit foundations is succinctly stated by Dr. Churchill to have been the " alleged need to correct the superstitions and errors about purgatory and masses for the departed that held sway in men's minds through the abuse of Trentals (or requiem masses), and Chantries, and to convert the lands of such foundations as came within the Act to ' good and godlie uses ' such as the erection of grammar schools, the augmentation of the Universities, the better provision for the poor and needy, and for providing money for the King's needs. As is well-known, it was this last reason that proved the dominating one." This no doubt is true, but it is only fair to add that whenever the original bequest contained a clause specifying that a part of the endowment should be devoted to the relief of the poor, the Commissioners deducted that amount before certifying the net annual value of the lands. Concerning the Lamp Rents, it is unfortunate that the returns seldom mention :the name of the saint in whose honour the light was ·to" be maintained. generally we get no more than "A lamp", "divers lights," and so forth. It is strange that where so few names are mentioned there should be two which are by no means easy to identify. Thus at Upchurch there is a bequest for a light before. 296 REVIEWS. St. Sperabill, a saint unknown in the Church's Calendar. Possibly St. Spiridon (or Spiridim), bishop of Tremethus (now Trirnithia) in Cyprus in the folll'th centmy, may be intended, as was suggested many years ago. (See Arch. Gant., Vol. XXV, p. 89); but why this eastern saint should have been commemorated in this Kentish village is still a puzzle. Another is the " Teneper " light which occlll'S under Stalisfield. Dr. Chlll'chill, in her introductory note, suggests tentatively " that it may be a form of ' tenebre ' or ' teneber ', and have reference to the service of Tenebrae, sung in Holy Week, at which candles lighted at the beginning of the service were extinguished one by one after each psalm." On the other hand it may possibly be a mis-spelling of " Template "-a beam, since there was a light in Stalisfield Church, before St. Mary of the beam. (Testamenta Oantiana, p. 316). Whenever the sale of Obit or Lamplands are noted on the Patent Rolls, Mr. Hussey gives particulars of the price paid and the names of the purchasers. The price varied from nineteen to twenty-three years purchase on the net annual value. So many of the lands were bought by Richard Monyngs, of Lydden, and Thomas Watton, of Adington, that we are inclined to suspect that they acted as agents for other persons who may not have desired that their names should appear as purchasers of church lands. The volume contains an excellent Index. C.E.W. FRANCISCAN ARCHITECTURE IN ENGLAND. Franciscan Architecture in England, by A. R. Martin, F.S . .A. (Vol. XVIII of the British Society of Franciscan Studies.) Manchester. Uni11ersity Press, 1937. pp. 306 + xx. Price not stated. Issued to members for the years 1933-4. Tms volume is a worthy contribution to that branch of Architectural Archreology that owes so much to the labours of St. John Hope, Breakspear, Bilson, Peers and Clapham, REVIEWS. 297 i.e. the investigation of monastic remains ; and this particular aspect of that very wide subject could not have been entrusted to a better pen than that of Mr. Martin, who had already to his credit accounts of his investigations into the history, topography and architecture of the friaries of Greenwich, Lincoln and Walsingham. The book is, in effect, a series of monographs, similar in character to the three above mentioned, but somewhat compressed owing to the extent of the field to be covered. The thirteen Franciscan Friaries of which any substantial remains exist-Canterbury, Chichester, Coventry, Dunwich, Gloucester, Lincoln, Lynn, Reading, Richmond (Yorks), Walsingham, Ware, Winchelsea and Yarmouth are dea.lt with in detail, and. this chapter is followed by another of equa] value, dealing with such houses, which though to-day only scantily represented by visible fragments, can be illustrated from documentary sources or from the recorded results of excavation or chance discovery. These are Bedford, Cardiff, Lichfield, Llanfaes and London. Finally, those foundations for which there is little or no architectural evidence are illustrated historically : Bodmin, Bridgnorth, Bridgwater, Bristol, Chester, Greenwich, Ipswich, Salisbury, Shrewsbury and Worcester. Thus, with details of two houses of Nuns, Denny and London (the Minories), thirty out of the lmown sixty-four Franciscan establishments (sixty-one friaries and three nunneries) are described, making thus a not inconsiderable corpus of Franciscan architecture in England and this is admirably summed up in a prefatory chapter in which the various constituent buildings of a Greyfriars home receive full and scholaa:ly attention. Kentish Antiquaries will naturally look to note how their own Franciscan houses are treated. There are of course only three, viz. Canterbury, Greenwich and New Romney. Of these the last had but a brief existence of not more than forty years, and seemingly the only reference to this quite unimportant house is a single line in .Arch. Gant., XLVI, p. 29, noting a bequest, in 1278, of one mark. Mr. Martin has been 298 REVIEWS. unable to add anything to this and it is now up to our Marsh Historians to tell us more. Greenwich has been taken out of Kent and the site of the Observant Friary is occupied by Wren's magnificent group of buildings comprising Greenwich Hospital. These replaced the old Palace of Placentia, of which the Friary formed an important part. Mr. Martin, with the benefit of local knowledge, had already contributed to the pages of the Archaiological Journal a full and detailed account of his researches, and here his conclusions are summarized. Canterbury is likewise fully described, but as its history had been written by our member, Dr. Cotton, in an earlier monograph in the same series, there was little to add save t,hat opportunity was taken to modify the plan in that book and replace it by one more in consonance with what we know of Friar's Churches. One can only hope that it may one day be possible to make a few excavations in the orchard on the west side of Grey Friar's Lane and confirm (or otherwise) the newer plan. Even now, however, Mr. Martin is unable .to make more than a suggestion as to the original purpose of the beautiful building that still spans the Stour. The book is well illustrated with some thirty plans and the same number of photographs ; it has a very full list of references and is well indexed. It has the honour of an introduction by Sir Charles Peers, C.B.E., Litt.D., P.P.S.A., F.B.A., and it should be found on the shelves of every library and of every student of our English Monastic life. F. 0. ELLISTON-ERWOOD. A SHORT GUIDE TO THE ANOIENT PARISH CHURCH [OF SUTI'ON BY DOVER]. A Short Guide to the Ancient Parish Church [of Sutton by Dover]. Compiled, by the Rector, the Rev. A. E. Taylor. 1937. Price 4d. Tms is one of those useful little guides for which so many parish priests now realize that there is a public not only limited to parishioners. It reproduces a sketch of the church REVIEWS. 299 from the N.E. by Petrie, dated 1807, two drawings of the doorways by the Rev. Canon G. M. Livett, from Arch. Gant., a plan and a photograph of the interior. The booklet in ten pages gives the date, plan and structure of the building without much order ; and quotations from those who have described it, such as Sir Stephen Glynn and Canon Livett. The Registers, Parish Books, Tithe Map, Communion Plate and Memorial Tablets find their place, with mention of the soil of the churchyard : " First 3 ft. soil, then 1 ft. hard soil, then all chalk." Finally there is a bare list, stated as not complete, of the Rectors and Patrons. It is a very estimable little production which a later edition should improve still further. A SAUNTER THROUGH KENT. A Saunter through Kent with Pen and Pencil, Vol. XXXI, By Sir Ohwrles lgglesden, F.S.A., "Kentish Express " Office, Ashford, 3s. 6d. SOMETHING like 200 parishes must now have been dealt with in these volumes which the author continues to produce regularly, and the " Saunters " doubtless total in the aggregate an impressive number of miles. In this volume we are taken to Capel le Ferne, Hougham, Paddlesworth, Hartlip, Bredhurst, Stockbury and Bredgar. Sir Charles, as on previous occasions, is accompanied by his artist, whose pleasing sketches of old houses, barns and inns do something to make up for the shortcomings of some of bis studies of church architecture. A lengthy description is given of Capel le Ferne church, as well as an extract from the inventory of church goods of the time of Edward VI-not Edward III as stated in the text. The description contains a number of loose statements and has at least two important omissions. It is inexcusable to say, without producing an atom of evidence, that" on the site of the present building stood a church . . built by the Romans ", while our author still does not appreciate the 300 REVIEWS. important difference between a fresco and a wall-painting. A small window for lighting the rood-loft is by no means so uncommon in England as Sir Charles implies. Within a few miles of Capel there are such windows at J3ishopsbourne and Sevington, to name only two examples. Parker was an Archbishop, not a Bishop, in 1573. One looks in vain for any mention of the panels of fifteenth century glass in the tracery of the east window, and of 􀄜he fact that a quantity of local ironstone occurs in the walls of the church. This stone of Pliocene age is just mentioned in the account of Paddlesworth church (p. 25) where it is "supposed to have been quarried locally by the Romans for their early church"{!), but its importance has evidently not been realized. As early as 689 a charter of Oswy grants to Rochester a ploughland at Lyminge" in which there is known to be a mine of iron ", and there is in fact an immense amount of this material in this district, although older geologicaUy, as has been shown by borings at Folkestone, Abbotscliffe, and Farthingloe. The author thinks that an earlier church than the present Norman building existed at Paddlesworth, but the one piece of solid evidence tending to support this theorythe " long and short work " on the north side of nave and chancel-is not mentioned. The significance of the dedication to St. Oswald is, however, realized. The account of Hougham is interesting, due mention being made of the ravages of the plague there in 1665; but nothing is &lid of the important Fyneux family-associated by marriage with Sir Thomas .l\Iore--one branch of which was sett.led in the parish for many generations. The Fyneux tomb in t,he church, mentioned by writers of a century ago, cannot now be found. The churches of Hartlip and Bredhurst, and t,he interesting t,hirteenth century paten preserved in the latter, are adequatelj• described and there are some delightful MCOlmts of old houses in this upland region of Kent on the fringe of the l\Ied-way valley ; but at Stockbury our author assigns a prehistoric origin to the earthworks REVIEWS. 301 which more probably are only the remains of tho d' Aubervilles' Norman castle. Nor is it realized that the north window of the north chapel in the church is the original east window of the chancel, moved to its present position at the " restoration " of the building-when the barbarous practice of "restoring back" was the vogue- in 1851. The fifteenth century glass remaining in it is mentioned but not described, and the important fragment showing a figure "blowing the clouds", perhaps indicating the former existence of a "Creation" window, is passed unnoticed. This is bad enough ; but when we go on to Bredgar and find the undoubted remains of the Mass of St. Gregory-unique in Kent if not in all England-dismissed as " a portion of fourteenth century coloured glass" our patience wears a little thin. Not even the pleasant descriptions of various old houses in the village and neighbourhood, including the building formerly belonging to the college founded at Bredgar in 1392, can soothe feelings of irritation aroused by the author's archreological shortcomings. This is, in fact, no book for the antiquary: he will catch the author out in many small slips, and in a few errors or omissions which in a serious work could only be described as preposterous. But, with justice let it be said, the volume is obviously intended rather for the non-antiquarian reader. For him the descriptions, as the author has seen them in his travels through the country, discursive though they may be of the Kentish countryside, its people and their ancient houses, will doubtless have an appeal of their own. Tm: ROFFENSIAN REGISTER, 1835 to 1936. The Rojfensian Register, 1835 to 1936, Fourth Edition. Mackays Ltd. Rochester, 1937. Tms Register of the King's School, Rochester (Founded .A.D. 604, Reconstituted .A.D. 1542), and "containing the names of all members of the School ", is dedicated to the memory of the Rev. William Parker, M.A., R.D. Headmaster 1913-35. 302 REVIEWS. As this is the fourth edition it must be almost free from errors as the editor mentions in his preface that it is the result of ten years most pleasant and interesting research. It should appeal to many old Roffensians as the third edition was published sixteen years previously. The volume includes the prefaces to the second and third editions ; Carmen Roffense; The Old Roffensian Society; a list of the HeadMasters, Second Masters and Assistant Masters (in the last is included the name of Sir William St. John Hope but without the years of his mastership) ; Lists of Exhibitioners and King's Scholars ; publications by Roffensians, and the necessary index. It is an interesting book to glance through even to one with no connection with Rochester. Although it is unpriced it should be a bed-book to every old boy of the school. WINDMILLS IN SUSSEX. A description of the Construction and operation of Windmills exemplified by up-to-rlate N ote8 on the still existing Windmills of Sussex wi,th photographic illustrations by the Rev. Peter Hemming, M.A. London: The G. W. Daniel Go. Ltd., April, 1936. 8s. 6d. net. Tms delightful book has been presented to the Society by the Author. In its general make-up it is a model of what such a book should be ; and in the completeness of its information, although a " county book ", almost indispensable to windmill lovers. The sub-title gives a good epitome, but the book needs actual use to be able to enjoy the many delightful photographs, mainly the work of the author. The statistics given in Appendix C are sad reading as it seems that only six mills are still working, out of 68 of which there are remains above ground. Mills which have now disappeared number another 129. Fire seems to be one of the dangers to which mills are subject. If the stones are allowed to run dry, or too fast, the heat engendered may lead to this catastrophe. Defoe in REVIEWS. 303 "The Storm", 1704, p. 155, records that of over 400 windmills destroyed some had " the Sails so blown round, that the Timbers and Wheels have heat and set the rest on Fire, and so burnt them down ". The writer was surprised to learn that several mills have been removed from their original sites and re-erected at other spots ; and that so many are of no great age. One of which the locality is not given, was only built in 1879 and the •oldest, that at Hogg Hill, Icklesham, was removed 155 years ago from Pett, where it is supposed to have been erected about 1680. Outwood Post Mill, Surrey, is dated 1665 and that at Bourn, Cambs., the oldest in England, 1636. On pp. 12, 16 and 19 mention is made, because of some peculiarity, of mllls at Ash, Woodchurch and Northbourne. Some other Kentish mills are also referred to. A little more information is needed about the actual ,composition of the mill stones and the geological age of the beds from which they are quarried. In the last line of p. 18 there are two mistakes. Quarts (sic) should be "siliceous " .and porous "cellular". And in the Bibliography no date of publication is given of the books-a most important matter. W.P.D.S. THE P .A.RISH 0B:u:RoHEs OF NORFOLK AND NORWICH. The Parish Churches of Norfolk and Norwich, by Olaud,e J. W. Messent, A.R.I.B.A. With illustrations by the Author. Norwich: H. W. Hunt. 1936. 7s. 6d. net. MR. MESSENT, the author of several other books on the architecture of the County, has been kind enough to send us a copy of the above book for review, although it is in an altogether distinct architectural province to that of Kent. As far as it goes it is a co􀂪petent and complete catalogue of all the churches, with a list at the end of the 135 known round towers. It will be a useful book to ecclesiologists, but, to the reviewer, unattractive in its general get up, in its illustrations, and in its limited scheme. We require now something rather more than bare lists, something human, 304 REVIEWS. and something connecting a building with its parish and its benefactors. For these reasons the book can have little appeal to the public, even to those in Norfolk itself. SANDS, CLAYS AND MINERALS. Sands, Clays and Minerals. Vol. III, No.2, September 1937. 3s. 6d. Edited by A. L. Curtis, Chatteris, Cambs. Tms " Journal for those Interested in the Production or use of Rare and Economic Minerals " now appears as a quarto so in a far more suitable form for the reproduction of maps and diagrams. We are pleased to receive it as though severely technical and with little direct connection with Kent it includes several valuable articles on important subjects. A topic of some interest to us, as we must now include Kent among English coal fields, is one on " The Preparation and Marketing of Coal" by J. B. M. Mason, Chemical Engineer to the Tilmanstone Colliery, but many will be more interested in that rare metal " Beryllium and its Alloys ", and its crystalline forms beryl and emerald. As a metal it was not discovered till 1798 and isolated till 1828. Its value now is as an alloy with copper, nickel, iron and aluminium. Another article of importance is that on "Undeveloped Mineral Resources of Cornwall ". This reviews the possibility of finding tin ores beneath many of the old copper workings, gives much information about the geology of the County and is illustrated with a number of views of famous mines. A third article of more general appeal should be that on "Early Mirung Literature " with its references to William Smith the "Father of English Geology", and Hugh Miller. In other ways the magazine deserves an Empire circulation as it includes no fewer than four papers on mining, etc., in Nova Scotia, Kenya, Uganda and Southern Rhodesia. . , • ' - ! I