The Deanery Chartham

'THE DEANERY', OHARTHA.M By M. J. SPARKS and E.W. PARKIN I MoNASTIO UsE OF THE MANoR 'The Deanery' site at Chartham came into the possession of Christ Church, Canterbury, in the ninth century and, for several hundred years, was perhaps primarily a source of revenue, one manor among many yielding a.n annual rent. But from at least the mid-thirteenth century until the surrender of monastic property in 1540, Chartham had a special importance for the prior and convent, in so far as it was one of those places reserved as a country house for the prior and a holiday house for the monks. The head of a large religious house naturally perambulated his manors in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries like the archbishops and even the king: order must be kept and stores used up; but, as time went on, abbots and priors increasingly spent time in one or two of the nearer manors-Pittington and Beaurepaire (Durham), Mere and Pilton (Glastonbury), La Neyte in Chelsea (Westminster), and, closer at hand, Minster-in-Thanet and Sturry (St. Augustine's, Canterbury). The holiday or villeggiaturar-time spent in the fresh air in the country like later Italian merchants and noblemen-arose from a desire to provide a period of recovery and a 'convalescent home' for the infirmary, and at some monasteries the manor adopted for this purpose became a regular holiday house in almost continual use. At Redburne, near St. Albans Abbey, careful regulations were drawn up,1 for example about the saying of offices and mass, and how far the monks might go on their walks. Often the prior's favourite manor became also the holiday house, and the monks stayed with him and ate meat at his table and enjoyed the minstrels provided for their entertainment. Not only monks visited, but also the archbishop, and even occasionally the king. Ohartham, Eastry, and Monkton were three such manors of Christ Church, and Caldecot was their official convalescent home. MEnmvAL PROSPERITY AND OOORTANOE As yet nothing is known of the earliest buildings at Chartham; but by the mid-thirteenth century there must have been a complex: of domestic as well as farm buildings on 'The Deanery' site, grouped 1 GeBta Abbatum Mcmasterii S. Albani (Rolls Ser. no. 28, 1867), ii,_203-205. 169 M. J. SPARKS and E.W. PARKIN round the Prior's Hall. In September and December, 1279, Archbishop Pecham was staying there, carrying out the administrative work of the diocese, instituting clergy to benefices, writing letters, receiving the homage of tenants.2 His successor, Winchelsey, came frequently, and, in April, 1294, King Edward I was in residence. He took an interest in the building of the new chancel in Chartham parish church,S where his arms, and those of Clare, are still to be seen in the stained glass. From 1285, the Prior was the formidable Henry of Eastry. Although the hall was adequate for the hearing of matrimonial cases (e.g. Michaelmas, 1295), and even for two months' residence by Archbishop Winchelsey and hisfamiUa during his temporary disgrace in 1297,4 in 1303 it was taken down. A new hall was made with two stone chambers adjoining it, provided with fueplaces.6 This.hall is still the basis of the existing house and retains its original roof. Almost as soon as it was finished, in September, 1303, Archbishop Winchelsey was again in residence, this time making a visitation of the religious houses in Canterbury. He used Chartham as his headquarters, and made journeys out, sometimes staying the night away, and sometimes returning in the evening.6 A large kitchen was necessary for all this entertaining, and Henry ofEastry built a new one in 1304, almost certainly separate from the hall and chambers because of the danger of fue.7 Prior Eastry left the buildings in good repair: a cursory glance at the pages of the Day Book of his successors, Priors O:x:enden and Hathbrand, shows mostly small sums for 'expenses at Chartham'.:.presumably incurred while staying there; but Prior Oxende:μ too had to build a new kitchen, in 1333, probably as the result of fire. Apart from this, 5d. for new hinges for the door of the Great Chamber and other such trifles in running repairs were their concern indoors, while ·outdoors they were careful to see that the ditches of the moat and, .presumably, in the surrounding fields were kept clear, so as to mitigate the constant danger of floods on .such a lo,v-lying site. Prior Hathbrand seems to have preferred Eastry manor as a residence, and built a stone chamber there.a · · 'The Deanery' received attention from Prior Chill􀃋nden, perhaps an 2 F.N .D avis (Ed.), Register of John Pecha,m, Canterbury and York Society:, Torquay, 1969, i, pp. x-xiv, 13, 14. Regist'l'um JJJpistolarum Fratris Johannu Peckham (Rolls S er. no. 77, 1882-5), i, 63, 235; iii, 998, 1014, 1018. 3 Oal. Pat. Rolls, Edward I (1292-1301 ), 69; 70; · • William Thorne's Ohronicle of Be. Augustine's Abbey, Oanterbury, trans lat ed by A. H. Davis , Oxford, 1934, col. 1966. R. Graham (Ed.), Register of Robert Winchelsey, Can terbury and York Society, Oxford, 1952, i, p .x i, l?· xxxvili, 45. • .. 6 NO'Va aula cum duabull cameris lapid-eis cum ca,riinis 1% ali'I-I! pertinemibU8: HenryofEastry'sbui ldinglist, B. M. Cot t. MS. GalbaE iv, fol.103r. 6 Reg. R. Winchelsey, ii, 1304-6. . ' . 7 Nooo coquina: bu ilding list;-see note 5, 8 Cathedral Archives and Library, Canterbury, MS. D . El. 3-kitohen, fol . 3 v.; h.inges, fol 80 v.; ditch es, fol. 22 r.; chamber at Eastry, fol. 72 v. 170 'THE DEANERY', OHARTHM.I even more compulsive builder than Henry ofEastry. The list of his good works says only that he repaired almost the whole manor at Chartham and built a new barn; but the Christ Church chronicle of the time states that the buildings of the manor of Chartham were repaired at a cost of £133 6s. Sil. in 1393-4.9 The roofofthe upper chamber, or solar, at the dais end of bhe hall belongs to this work, and the room when newly finished must have been very handsome. THE LAST CENTURY OF MONASTIO USE Stone's Chronicle records that in 1446 Prior John de Sarisbury died at his manor of Chartham, where he had presumably enjoyed the comfortable quarters which his predecessors had built. Stone also mentions the chapel. A large chapel must have been built on the site quite early, since a, parish church did not welcome the sudden arrival of groups of monks, and still less the archbishop and his entourage. The Bishop of Ross, acting for the archbishop, consecrated 'an altar in the chapel of the Lord Prior in his manor a.t Chartham', on 6th March, 1446-7.10 Accounts reveal that he was paid 5s. Sil. for doing so-expenses perhaps1 Accounts also show that John Nash and Walter, his assistant, were paid 12s. lOil. for a painted reredos for this altar. As well as the Prior and visitors, monks on holiday used the chapel, and they were also entertained in the great hall by minstrels of the Earl of Exeter, by the Duke of Somerset's actors, a.nd the harpist of Cardinal Beaufort.11 There was an 'inner garden' for their pleasure, and a prospect of vines nearby.12 Supposedly, they went for walks in the fresh air, but in the fifteenth century rules about making visits to friends and, possibly, even about going hunting were not so strict. The Prior's mansion at Chartham reached unparalleled splendour in the last forty years of its existence. About 1500, Prior Goldstone II took the place in hand and rebuilt the courtyard. He put up a new house for the man who rented the farm (let at least since 1418). The space in front of the hall and chambers was cleared and enclosed with new buildings in the brick and cement which were now becoming very fashionable: these_ included the Prior's Great Stable, the Gatehouse, and presumably 0 .Apud Ohartham reparatio qucu.i totius manerii cwm novo orrio: Chillenden's building list, printed in Literae Oantuariemes (Rolls Ser. no. 85, 1889), iii, 117. C. E. Woodruff, 'A monastic Chronicle lately discovered at Christ Church', .Arch. Oant., xxi.x (1911), 68-9. 10 W. G. Searle (Ed.), The Ohronicle of John Stone, Cambridge Antiquarian Society Publications, xxxiv, Cambridge, 1902-Prior Sarisbury, 38; chapel, 40. 11 C. E. Woodruff, 'Notes on the inner Life and domestic Economy of Christ Church in the fifteenth Century', Arch. Oant., llii (1941)-ohapel, 11; minstrels 7. 11 See the list of house and grounds in 1418 given in a restriction on the lea􀃾 of the ftrmarius: Oath. Arch. and Lib., Cant., Bunce, Schedule of documents relating to Christ Church, Canterbury, property, iii, 90. 171 M. J. SPARKS and E.W. PARKIN lodgings for visitors and servants.13 The brickwork was patterned with diaperwork in blue 'headers', and there was painted glass in the windows of the hall and chambers showing Cardinal Morton's rebus, and later, the last prior, Thomas Goldwell, set his sign in the stained glass. The carving of an angel bearing a shield with a crowned Tudor rose ( at present on a rockery in 'The Deanery' garden) probably decorated the Gatehouse, as its contemporaries do at the Christ Church Gate in Canterbury. THE DISSOLUTION A.ND THE NEW FoUNDA.'.l'ION A.T CHRIST CHURCH All this gradually accumulated splendour wa.s surrendered to the king in March, 1540. In the spring of 1538 Cranmer had tried to annexe Bekesbourne, another 'house of recreation', and roused the alarm of the prior, who wrote anxiously to Cromwell for help, urging that Chartham alone was not sufficient for them.14 But by 1540 there was no more hope: the prior was pensioned off, and not allowed even one of bis houses as a residence. 'The Deanery' and the manor of Chartham were handed over by Henry VIII to his new cathedral foundation along with many of the other manors. Fairly soon a quarrel began between the Deans and their Chapters as to who had rents and rights of possession at what had been the prior's mansion. At Canterbury the deans lived in the Prior's New Lodging, and it was only reasonable to suppose that Chartham Capital Mansion (as it was later called) was a country deanery. In 1544, the house with chambers, chapel, great stable yard and gardens, orchards and meadows was let to Dr. Richard Thornden, Canon and sometime Bishop of Dover. Dean Wotton (1542-1567) served the sovereign as a diplomat, but there is a legend of his occasional residence at Chartham.15 His successor, Dean Godwin (1567-1584) was unlucky in having a fire in The Deanery at Canterbury, and unsuccessful in living in peace with his chapter. Gostling says he rebuilt the Canterbury Deanery; but Battely records that even after his departure to become Bishop of Bath and Wells 'he was threatened to be sued unless he put the same into Repair' and that 'the Rouse at Chartham belonging to the Deanery' was also dilapidated.16 In his time, in 1572, the large chapel belonging to the mansion was taken down-perhaps it 13 Nam apud Ohartham maMione.m flrmarii ao stabula Prioris cum clau.wra eorwndem ea:: lateribu8 et wemento satis commode constr•ucta: account of the works of Prior Goldstone ll, printed in H. Wharton, Anglia Sacra, London, 1691, i, 148. 14 Oai. of LeUers and Papers of Hewry VIII, 1638, i, nos. 310, 528. 16 See the leases of Ohartham mimor with notes concerning Thornden and Wotton: Bunce, Schedule, iii, 90. ieW . Goatling, A Wailo in and about theOuy ofO anterbury, 2nd edn., 1777, 150. W. Somner, The Antiquitifl8 of OanterburiJ (edited by N. Bo.ttely); 1703, 122. R. Willis, 'Co􀄇yentu!!.l Buildings of the Mone.story of Christ Church, Canterbury', Arch, Oant., vn (1868), 109. 172 'THE DEANERY', CHARTHAM provided stone for eventual repairs. Dean Rogers (1584-1597) occupied 'The Deanery' and quarrelled with the chapter about it: from 1589 it wa.s let, the rent being shared between the Dean and the Chapter.17 In the first half of the seventeenth century there was another period of good order and pleasant life at 'The Deanery' at Chartham. Dean Boys (1619-1625) and Dean Bargrave (1625-1642} refurbished the house and spent time there; a glimpse of their spacious household, and of the desolation, which came afterwards, is found in an Estate Survey of 1675, made by Dr. John Bargrave, who was nephew to both deans.is As a boy John Bargrave had been at the King's School, .and when Dean Boys lived at Chartham he went there one Saturday night, and returned on Monday morning. He remembered the moat full of trout, and a pond with a boat and a net for fishing. Dean Boys had a formal agreement to rent the house, and his widow, Dean Bargrave's sister, lived there after him.19 It was presumably this family who made 'The Deanery' more domestically pleasant in the early seventeenth century. A chimney was put in, spoiling the splendour of Chillenden's large solar, but making two rooms up.stairs and downstairs, of more useful size for family life. The great hall was celled over against the rafters, and a painted patrern decorated the upper part of the east wall. Woodwork from a staircase of this date has been re-used on the stairs at the back of the house. Dean Bargrave set shields of painted glass, probably in 􀄍he long windows of the hall, with the quarterings of his family alliances, and no doubt surrounded with curling strapwork and flourishes. THE CIVIl, WAR The fair prosperity of 'The Deanery' at this time was halted by the Civil War and the Commonwealth. Dean Bargrave was imprisoned and subsequently died, and no new dean could come to Oa.nterbury until 1660. Chartham wa-s let to Mr. James Kent, and when Dr. John Bargrave made his survey he recorded that Mr. Kent had taken down a good part of the building which joined to the main house-Prior Goldstone's courtyard buildings-and carted away the timber to London to build the Falcon Inn in Purple Lane, near Gray's Inn. The hall was suffering from.the effects of removing the tie-beams, which had been sawn off, and the large window, presumably at the dais end, was giving way under the weight of the roof. The moat was dry, and the bridge over it broken. Dr. Bargra.ve remarks that 'it will cost £100 at lea.at to repair it' meaning presumably only the house, for to put all into order would have oost a good deal more, even in 1675. 17 See the leaae dated 1689: Bunce, Schedule, i, 96ii. 18 0. E. Woodruff, 'A seventeenth Century S1ll'vey of the Estates of the Dean and Chapter of Oa.nterbtlry in east Kent', Arch. Oan,t., xxxvili (1926), 39. 10 See the lea..ses cia,ted 1616 and 1626, Bunce, Schedule, ill, 96. 173 M. J. SPARKS and E.W. PARKIN Tim ElGlITlllENTH-OENTURY REBUILDING At present, it ia not known what repairs were done immediately; but the answer to f;he problem of 'The Deanery' was found in letting the property to a different class of tenant. The Dean and Chapter agreed once more to share the rent, and John Whitfield, of Canterbury, bought a lease, and was succeeded by his son Robert and his family.20 About 1740, a major building programme was carried out, making a regular garden front on the north-west side of the house, joining up the projecting wings of the original chambers at each end of the hall, and running across the staircase and other rooms between (probably put up by Dean Boys). The rooms were handsomely panelled, and the staircase was given a round-headed window, as had recently been made at the Deanery at Canterbury. An ornamental garden was laid out, incorporating part of the old moat as a 'canal', and provided with brick walls and a garden house. The Whitfield family made 'The Deanery' again a pleasant place, though they perhaps found the hall rather draughty and uncongenial. The Whitfield family sold their lease in 1772, and fairly shortly afterwards it was bought by William Stacey Coast, who, as Hasted remarks, greatly augmented and improved this mansion.21 He took down the front or south-east wall of the hall, with its long windows, and took out Dean Bargrave's shields of painted glass, which he kindly gave to Bargrave's descendants at Eastry. He rebuilt the front wall of brick, put a new front-door in the centre instead of at the eastern end, and set two Venetian windows on each side of it. Outside, he made a handsome porch with Dorio pillars. Within, a new flat ceiling was made, hiding Dean Boys' frieze. Opposite the new front door, Coa-st had a new staircase built, leading up to the drawing room, once Prior Chillenden's new solar. NINTEENTH-OENTtrRY TENANTS Early Victorian tenants made a French door and a little wroughtiron balcony to the upstairs drawing-room; but, fortunately, they preserved the pleasant panelling in the eighteenth-century rooms on the garden front. The coming of the railway caused trouble as it cut through what had been the farmyard, between the barn and the granary; and also out off the way to the house from Chartham village. Charles Spurrell, in 1851, asked the Dean and Chapter to join him in making a. new road across the meadows to meet the Ashford-Oa.nterbury turnpike road; but they would not agree to this. They objected to cutting up the 20 See the Whitfield leases, 1677-1740, Bunce, Sched,ule, iii, 96. 11 See the lease de.ted 1775, Bunce, Schedule, iii, 96:E. Hasted, History of the Oo-unty of Kent, 1st edn., iii, 147. 174 'THE DEANERY', OH.ARTHAM meadows, and the tenant had in any case been behind with his repairs.22 Other tenants planted the splendid treea now in the garden, and built a vine house, reviving a tradition of long ago. In the later years of the nineteenth century most of the estates of the Dean and Chapter passed into the hands of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. Towards the end of that century major building work was undertaken at 'The Deanery'. The medieval buttery and pantry and chamber above were pulled down as being dangerous and beyond repair.23 The present brick kitchen wing in vicarage style replaced them. About this time the Finn family came to the farm, and for some years Arthur Finn lived at 'The Deanery'. Mr. and Mrs. B. Wacher moved in in 1913, and they and their family cherished the house as its last tenants, until in 1958 house and farm were sold to Mr. and Mrs. D. G. Day, to whom the writers are grateful for allowing many visits and for their kind hospitality. TIDD PRESENT BUil,DINGS 'The Deanery' at Chartham is situated 6 km. (3¼ miles) to the south-west of Canterbury, in a low lying part of the valley of the River Stour. The·site was in the possession of Christ Church, Canterbury, from Saxon times; the present buildings there being of special interest, as many of the additions and alterations to them can be accurately dated from the Cathedral, and other records. II THE OLD RALL The oldest surviving part of the house is the hall. This still retains its roof and three walls built by Prior Henry of Eastry, which, with two stone chambers, were finished by September, 1303, at a total cost of £70 18a. 9d.2' The roof of the hall, though much patched and repaired, is still largely intact, and at a time when crown-post ro:.>fs were already beginning to appear, this must have been one of the last roofs built by Christ Church without any purlins. Court Lodge, close to the church at Great Chart, was built by Christ Church in 1313, only ten years later; this has a steeply-pitched roof with a tall, slender crown-post supporting a. collar purJin,25 At Chartham the hall roof has paired rafters only, wiih two collars, the lower one being supported by raking struts. The original walls here are of stone and flint rubble, and measure 0·71 m. (2 ft. 4 in.) thick. 11 Ca:th • .Arch. and Lib., Cant., The Dean's Book, 1822-1854, 452. 18 C. Igglesden, A Saunter through Kent with a Pencil and, Pen, ix, n.d., 61. usee note 5. 15 B.M. Cott. MS. Galba. E iv, fol. 104 v. 175 -􀀎o:.,,-==--==s􀀏o:,,-==---==-...,100m Fxo. 1 Site Plan of the Deanery, OharthD,m. KEY TO PLAN (Fig. 1) A Road from Ohartham Village, M R-emains of Moat. B Brick Barn. LM Former line of Moat, BR Bridge and present Entrance. OP Old Privy. C Site of Ohapel. P . Remains of Monk's Pond, CY Central Courtyard. R-R Line of old Appronoh Ro84, D Blocked Stone Doorway. RY Ashford to Canterbury Railway. DI 016 Diaper Work in Briok Barn. SY St<;,ok Yard. . . G Garden with ornamental Trees. TB Site of Timber Barn. GR Site of Gatehouse. VO Victorian Conservatory, R Main Rouse. W Wee.Iden House. K Site of Medieval Kitchen, WL Old Flint-Wall and Stone-Jamb, PLATE I A. The 1775 Porch and Front. B. Prior Eastry·s 1303 Roof. [fact p. I iO Pr.A'l'E l[ A. Prior Chillondcn's 1394 Roof. B. Tho "'ealdcn House, c. 14!):,. 'THE DEANERY', OHARTH.AM They are surmounted by two wall plates, the base of each rafter being reinforced by a sole plate and ashlar post (Fig. 3). The hall had a large stone window at the dais end, which remained in good condition until Commonwealth times, but when visited by Dr. John Bargrave, a nephew of a former Dean, in 1675, it was in a dangerous state.26 A small octavo notebook in his handwriting, still to be found amongst the Canterbury archives, describes the house as it was then. 'The large house on the outside looketh well, but the Bridge that leadeth to it over the moat is all to peeces so that we went in by a little back door near the kitchin. The large window in the fayre Hall giveth way to the waith (sic) of the Roofe. Three long beames that formerly went across the Hall to strengthen it, being for decency only taken away, as one may see theire but ends where they were sawn off. The walls are thereby weakened, and nothing can keep it up but twoo stowt Butteresses, at each side of the window one, and that speedely.' We may presume that this bulging wall and window were indeed buttressed, for they stood for just another hundred years before being rebuilt in 1775. Why the three tie-beams were so drastically cut out is at first puzzling, as such a heavy roof exerts a considerable outward thrust. The clue to this would appear to be inside the roof-space, where, on the wall at the east end of the hall some frescoes still survive. Nailholes show that a. boarded ceiling was constructed under the lower collars, raking struts and rafters, and inside the ashlar posts, giving almost the effect of barrel vaulting to the hall, and seemingly marred only by the three medieval tie-beams. Which tenant removed the beams, either at that time or later, is not known, but it appears to have been during the time of the Commonwealth. In 1775, one William Stacy Coast came to reside at the house, and carried out a thorough restoration, so much so, that the Old Deanery became one of the show places of East Kent. Coast was a great traveller and lover of art, and the house became noted for its collection of pictures, especially by foreign artists.27 The front wall of the old hall was rebuilt as we see it now, with its two Palladian windows, and imposing porch with fluted Doric pillars. Inside, he inserted iron ties to counteract the outward thrust of the roof, and also the present lower ceiling. This new front wall was set back O · 61 m . (2 ft.) from the old line, and consequently it meets the rafters at a higher level. The rafters then had to be shortened, and the sole plates and a.shlar posts on this side removed. The grand central staircase with its finely turned ballusters-three to each step-was then built in the hall, leading up to the left-hand gallery only. The upper part of this has since been duplicated, and a right-hand 31 kch. Oant., xs:xviii (1926}, 39. 17 E. Hasted, History of the Oounty of Kent, 1st edn., iii, 147. 177 12 M. J. SPARKS and E.W. PARKIN 1111 Prior Eastry 1303 mmmnm Pr Chillenden IIWWlllW 13 94 􀀆 C-16 􀀉 1745 􀀰 Modern 0 Yard Patio 10 FxG,2 Pinn of the present House. 178 ··•····· Kitchen Parlour 15 20m 'THE DEANERY', CHARTH.AM gallery added to match (Fig. 2), ma.king the hall a very fine one indeed. It has never had an upper floor put in. The wide Jacobean fireplace at the east end, with its carved and panelled overmantel appears to be an insertion, but it may have been reinstated when the service-wing was rebuilt at the beginning of this century. The doorway here at the rear is the only surviving one of the original cross-passage; it leads to the handsome seventeenth-century staircase. THE SoLA:R The west or solar wing was built by Prior Chillenden in 1394.28 It had originally one room-the parlour-downstairs, and the prior's chamber or solar above. This latter room must have been a handsome one, open to the roof, with three crown-posts and moulded tie-beams. Two of the crown-posts still remain, the one at the north end being removed when fireplaces were first inserted in the seventeenth century. This wing must have had a separate staircase at that time, probably adjoining the fireplaces where the attractive little panelled closet now is. Later, the rear of the house was re-modelled, probably by Robert Whitfield in 1745, as there is a leaden rain-head with that date on it. It is interesting to note that the larger room at the front of the first floor of the solar-wing continued to be used as a drawing-room. It had had a ceiling put in, and a small French window which led out on to an attractive little iron balcony, also an Adam-style fireplace and door. THE SERVICE WING The buttery and pantry at the east end of the hall survived until around the end of the nineteenth century, and this wing was said locally to have been the most picturesque part of the house. It was, however, in a dangerous state, and was rebuilt by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, as we see it now, with its large kitchen range, and storerooms behind. In medieval times, an outside kitchen was probably sited close to the north-east corner of the house, approached by a central passage between the buttery and pantry doors. Of this, nothing now remains, but some thick walling of sixteenth-century brickwork, with a, blocked stone doorway (Don Fig. 1), is thought to have been part of the Tudor kitchen. Tmn WEALDJDN HOUSE A short distance from the main house stands a fine timber-framed Wealden houae (W on Fig. 1). This is, pr􀃫·suma.bly, the house mentioned 88 See note 9. 179 2 M. J. SPARKS and E.W. PARK.IN _ ____ Present ceiling ____ - - - -- -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - _ ,,_ ' -------- --- --------- 􀀆--:.:. 3 4 5 -,:,:tT,\ I I Section )( X 6m Solar Roof Section Y Y FIG.3 Section of the old Hall a.nd the Solar Roof. 180 'THE DEANERY', CHARTHAM as having been built by Prior Goldstone II shortly after 1495 for the ftrmarius. It stands at the far side of the central courtyard, next to the site of the gatehouse, and it measures overall 18·30 m. x6·40 m. (60 ft. x21 ft.). It once had· a central hall open to the fine crown-post roof, and this measured 6·55 m. x6· 10 m. (21 ft. 6 in. x20 ft.) internally, though it is now divided up. The occupant's parlour was at the northwest end. After the Dissolution, the house was used by tenant farmers, and, in the eighteenth century, was re-fronted with red brick, and divided into two cottages. The rear side, however, facing the stockyard, still shows its jettying, and very fine timber work. C:a:il>EL There was formerly a large chapel which is thought to have abutted on to the solar wing at the north-west corner where there is now a patio. As already stated, it survived until 1572, when it was demolished by order of the Dean and Chapter. Tim MOAT AND THE GATElIOUSlll Little now remains of the moat, which once enclosed the site, but a narrow waterway on the east and the north sides still flows, and is fed by a small stream (M Mon Fig. 1). Sections of an old flint-wall, partly hidden by the present farm implement sheds, and the stone-jamb of a former gateway (WL on Fig. 1), indicate the south-eastern limit of the medieval buildings; the moat must have been outside this. The south-western arm of the moat then continued on between the old approach road on the one side, and the group of buildings on the other side (LM on Fig. 1), and it was across this that the main entrance led, through the gatehouse (GH on Fig. 1) and into the central courtyard (CY on Fig. 1). Although now only a right of way, this road once continued in a straight line from the Chartham village road, past the prior's buildings (R-R on Fig. I) and on to the mill, which may still be seen on the River Stour. Old maps, such as one dated 176929 and one of the first Ordnance maps dated 1819,so clearly show this. In 1845, when the South-Eastern Railway built a branch line between Ashford and Canterbury, this cut across part of the property close to the Chartham road. Until 1851, at least, the road to the Deanery went straight over the railway track but, following complaints, the then path was diverted round to the lower corner, where a bridge and a new entrance were constructed. 19 Andrews, Dury and Herbert, 1769, reprinted Marga.ry, 1968. •0 Published let January, 1819, by Col. Mudge, The Tower, Lon􀀿on. 18l M. J. SPARKS and E. W. PARKIN A large timber-framed barn formerly stood near the railway (at TB on Fig. 1), until it was burned down by a spark from a railway engine. The gatehouse is mentioned in various documents, but little is really known a.bout it. It had apparently disappeared by 1675. 182