Maritime East Mailing

MARITIME EAST MALLING By C. L. SINCLAIR WILLIAMS WHEN a new inn-sign for 'The Ship', East MaUing, was under consideration recently, the derivation of the name came into question. It seemed incongruous that an inn so far from the sea should be caUed 'The Ship'. As the son of a shepherd the landlord recognized the possibihty that the inn derived its name from the old Kentish pronunciation of 'sheep'; but renaming was out of the question, and the sign now portrays a vessel which Admiral Blake might weU have commanded. That the name is not inappropriate becomes clear when account is taken of New Hythe, an ancient hamlet in the north of the parish of East Mailing, lying on the west bank of the Medway. 'Hyth' is, of course, OE: 'shore, haven, landing-place, harbour, creek, port'.1 WaUenberg's earhest reference to the hamlet, which is not noticed by EkwaU, is 'La Newehethe' 1254.2 Before it was submerged in industrial development, and severed from East MaUing viUage by the London Road (A20), New Hythe was an integral part of the parish. Some of the leading yeoman famihes had their homesteads and holdings there, but their Hves centred around East Mailing parish church where their remains now He. The Fabric RoU of Rochester Castle shows that in the time of Edward I I I New Hythe was of some importance as a loading place on the Medway.3 During the period 1367-1369, when the castle was under repair, there are references to the carriage of great quantities of timber to New Hythe for shipment. As many as 66 waggon-loads are mentioned in one entry. The scale of these shipments of timber suggests that the vessels berthing at New Hythe in the fourteenth century were no mere dinghies or wherries, and one entry specificaUy refers to ships: 'To John Halle and his fellows, for the carriage of timber at Newheth, in ships, for the whole year, in gross 23s. 4d.'4 A century later, the Cely famUy of wool merchants were conducting their trade in London and Calais. Their correspondence over the years 1475 to 1488, mainly between their London office and their representative in Calais or, occasionaUy, Bruges, is preserved, together with related 1 John R. Clark Hall, Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, London, 1898, 191. 2 J. K. Wallenberg, The Place-names of Kent, Uppsala, 1934, 149. 8 Arch. Cant., ii (1859), 111-32. 4 Ibid., 112. 61 C. L. SINCLAIR WILLIAMS memoranda, in the Pubhc Record Office. Selections were pubhshed by the Royal Historical Sooiety in 1900.5 The Celys exported their wool to the Calais Staple in ships hailing from a number of Httle ports along the Thames and the Medway as weU as in ships belonging to London. The documents often go into great detail, giving the description and quantities of the wool, the name of the ship with its master and home port, and occasionaUy even the position where the packages were stowed aboard. Thus, in an undated letter (probably 1480), Richard Cely the elder writes from London to his son George at Calais advising him of a large shipment where one consignment appears as: 'Item in the Mary of Malling, John Underwode mayster ij sarplers.'0 In 1481 WUham Cely writes from London to George: 'Syr ye schall receyve by the grace of God of the Thomas of Newhythe Robert Ewen master j pack hallf a o xiiij felles lying nexte the maste afte warde under the felles of Thomas Bettsons7 and a few broken felles and pesys bownde together marked wt my master marke and they lyeth uprest nexte the maste and they be the last end of all my masters felles . ..'" Again, in 1481: 'Item in the Thomas of Newhythe Robard Hewan master a packe Ixiiij fellz Cottysowlde thay ly behynde the maste and Bett sonys fellz ly above them.'9 Both these letters of 1481 also mention the Thomas of Maidstone, Harry Lawson master. Possibly this ship berthed at New Hythe. A book of memoranda dated 1478 records a payment to 'John undyr Wode, master in the Mare MaUyng' for wool shipments,10 and there is a similar entry, concerning a payment to 'WylHam Spryng master in the Barbara of MaHun.'11 UntU recent times, East MaUing was a parish of the Deanery of Shoreham, a pecuhar of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Probate records of the Deanery earHer than 1614 have been lost, and the only surviving wiUs of people whose principal property was in East Mailing are some twenty which were proved and copied in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury and are now preserved in the Pubhc Record Office. Among this smaU number of surviving copies no less than five 5 Henry Elliott Maiden, M.A., (editor), The Cely Papers, Camden, 3rd Series, vol. I, Royal Historical Society, London, 1900. « Ibid., 42. 7 Thomas Betson, merchant of the Staple, is the subjeot of a ohapter in Eileen Power's Medieval People, London, 1924, 111-46. 8 Op. cit., in 5, 72. » Ibid., 75. 10 Ibid., 196. 11 Ibid., 196. 52 MARITIME EAST MALLING are the wiUs of mariners or people otherwise concerned with ships, and a sixth is the wiU of the widow of one of the mariners. The earhest was proved in 1512, and the testator describes himself as 'Simon Lewty of Larkfield in the parishe of EstmaUing'.12 His calling is not stated. He willed that his wife AHce 'shaU take and have to her own use aU the profett and advantage comyng of my Shipp called LitiU Mary during one hoole yere next insuyng my decesse And yf the same AHce wiU by the same Shipp I wiU thanne that she have the same in fuU payment of the XX 1 which I willed to be paid wtin the said xij monthes Item I woU that the same AHce to her alone pper use the one halfe or moyte of my Shipp caUed the Cristofere wherof John Tamlyn is Coopten.' Simon had one son, John, who no doubt inherited his father's ships in due course. John Tamlyn was probably an ancestor of the Tomlyns who became the most extensive yeoman fanflly in East Mailing in the following century. Richard Clements, whose wiU was proved in 1518, describes himself as 'Maryner of newe hithe in the pisshe of EstmaUing.'13 He desired that his 'executor doo make sale of my Catch wt hir Cok14 and all other takylls to hir belonging Immediately after my deth . . .' It seems that he must regularly have berthed his httle ship just below the Tower of London, for he makes 'John DaUows dwelling at Saint Kateryns' one of his executors, and his witnesses include 'Thomas Alcock curat in saint Kateryns next the Tower of London' and several others of the same parish. The wfll of 'Thomas Gybson of East MaUyng in the countye of Kent marryner and in the Deanery of Shoreham' was proved in 1563,1B but it throws no light on his seafaring activities. The wfll of 'Thomas Woolett of the parish of East Mawlinge . . . marriner' which was proved in 158916 is similarly unreveaHng. That ships were repaired, perhaps built, in East Malling emerges from the will, proved in 1597, of 'James Mayhm of Newhide within the pishe of East MaUing' who is described as 'Shipwright'.17 If the rest of his estate were insufficient to cover his debts he wished his overseers to seU 'the house I dwell in with the Barne and Garden Wharfe or Keye and the ferry yearde and one piece of Lande in the meadowe caUed Kinges meadowe . . .' The seventeenth century, generally the most prolific with records, yields httle information about East Mailing's nautical activities until towards it close. That ships or boats were stiU built or repaired here « P.R.O., P.O.C., 9 Fetiplace. 18 P.R.O., P.C.O., 12 Ayloffe. 14 Cookboat. 'SmaU ship's boat.' (O.E.D.) 15 P.R.O., P.C.C., 1 Stevenson. " P.R.O., P.C.C., 38 Leicester. « P.R.O., P.C.C., 3 Cobham. 53 C. L. SINCLAIR WILLIAMS may be inferred from a deed dated 1667 which makes passing reference to 'James Fletcher the younger of East MaUing Shipwright',18 and from the Parish Register where WiUiam Falsbury, at the baptism of his son Edward in 1698, gives his occupation as 'Sailmaker'. It is in the seventeenth century, however, that we first hear of hoys and hoymen in East MaUing. The OxfordConcise English Dictionary defines 'hoy' as: 'SmaU vessel, usuaUy rigged as sloop, carrying passengers and goods esp. for short distances.' Here it might be worthwhUe to reflect on the sizes of the vessels we have been discussing. The editor of The Cely Papers observes in his introduction: 'The ships from the httle Medway ports could scarcely have been of thirty tons to navigate the river safely. The Thomas of Maidstone can have been only a barge if she had to pass Aylesford Bridge.'19 This is a correct inference, for ships plying between Britain and the Continent in the fifteenth century rarely exceeded fifty tons and were often considerably less. Columbus' Santa Maria was about 100 tons, but the two vessels that accompanied her into the unknown were about 50 and 40 tons respectively. The Httle ships which sailed from East MaUing to London to coUect the Celys' and Bettsons' wool for shipment to Calais were probably under 30 tons. Ships rapidly increased in size during the Tudor period. Hoys, although designed for shorter hauls, were generaUy larger than the adventurous Httle ships we have discussed so far, and by the time of Ehzabeth I could be as much as 200 tons.20 George Westerby 'of Newhite [sic] in the parish of EastmaUing . . . Mariner' who died in 1689,21 bequeathed to his 'daughter Mary the wife of John Hoysted22 aU that my quarter parte of the Hoy caUed the George.' His messuage and wharf, with a piece of land at New Hythe, he bequeathed to be shared between his two daughters. The Maylim family, a member of whom was noted above as a shipwright in 1597, continued their association with sail. The parish register records the burial of James Maylim, hoyman, in 1653. Possibly his son, another James Maylim of East Mailing, waterman, died in 1684. Hoymen continued to be in evidence in East MaUing in the eighteenth century. Among the relatively few entries in the parish register 18 K.A.O., U838—T213. 10 Op. cit., in n. 6, xxxviii. 20 In 1549 Edmund Drake, father of the future Sir Francis, was a refugee from religious disorders in Devon. He brought his large family to Kent where later he became vicar at Upchurch. Here the young Franois began his sea life in the coastal trade. Thus, it is probable that Drake learnt seamanship in a Medway hoy. 21 P.R.O., P.O.C., 167-397. 22 If, as seems likely, Hoysted was a hoyman, one must avoid the snare of deducing a late occurrence of an occupational surname. 'Hoy' in this surname probably derives from 'haugh'. 64 MARITIME EAST MALLING where occupations are stated is one recording the burial in 1721 of 'Mr. WiUiam Norman of Newhied, highman', and another for the burial of 'James Sigstone of new hythe, himan', later in the same year. WUham Norman, it wfll be observed, is raised above yeoman status by the use of the title 'Mr.' In 1741 Sir Roger Twisden, Lord of the Manor, was required to give security for the maintenance of the footway between Larkfield and East MaUing Cross, the route which northern parishioners needed to take to attend church or for any business in the viUage.23 Twelve parishioners formed the third party to the deed. Their occupations were stated, and these summarize as foUows: Gentleman — 1 Yeoman — 5 Hoyman — 4 Cordwainer — 1 Papermaker — 1 The study has not been carried beyond the middle of the eighteenth century. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am indebted to my friend Dr. Glynn Burton, M.A., D.Sc, of East MaUing, for information about the displacements of early ships, to Mr. A. P. Detsicas, M.A., F.S.A., for his helpful comments on the origmal draft, and to the staffs of the Public Record Office and Kent Archives Office for their indispensable services. I am grateful to the Royal Historical Society for permission to quote from their edition of The Cely Papers. 23 K.A.O., U49-E.3 55