The Documents of the Manor of Rusthall

We were very pleased to be asked by Roger Farthing (well-known as a local expert and author of an excellent book on Tunbridge Wells) if we would like to assist him in sorting and cataloguing the remaining records of the Manor of Rusthall. Ibbett Mosely, the Agents to the Manor (which included much of present-day Tunbridge Wells), were moving office and would not have space to house the collection in their new building. The listing and sorting proved to be a formidable task because of the enormous number of documents, and the limited time available before the entire collection was to be deposited at the Centre for Kentish Studies, Maidstone.

This residual collection proved to be by far the largest and most varied of any we have encountered, relating to a Manor at such a late period. Perhaps the most important documents are the records of the Manorial Courts - the Courts Leet or Views of Frankpledge still held in the early 19th century, and the Courts Baron, which were held up to 1917, when the typed account of the proceedings ran to 48 pages. Other items such as rentals, lists of Quitrents due and received, claims as Freehold tenants and so on are there in abundance. Among unusual records are perambulations of the bounds of the Manor, the last of which took place as late as 1919, while because the Manor has such extensive Commons there is much correspondence about encroachments, whether or not licensed by the Lord and the freehold Tenants.

It must be said that Frank Osborne Baird, the reclusive bachelor Scot living in Hove who was the Lord of the Manor as Tenant for life for almost 50 years until his death at the age of 94 in 1949, was a remarkable man who would not let anything pass which might be taken as weakening his legal position. The yearly bundles of correspondence bear eloquent witness to the close interest he took in everything to do with the Manor and the town, particularly the Pantiles, much of which he owned. It is clear, for example, that he scanned the local press every week to see if any Manorial Tenants had died, writing to mention this to the Agents so that they could pursue the matter of a Heriot. Naturally he preferred a live beast, because the alternative 'dead' Heriot if the Tenant had no live animal was a small cash payment which had not been adjusted in line with inflation since the Middle Ages.

Despite mutterings about 'the shackles of feudalism' in the local press, Mr. Baird was successful in claiming live Heriots down to the mid-twenties. In 1908, for example, Heriots including a Yeomanry NCO's charger, a pony, a sow and three young pigs were reluctantly yielded up in respect of three different properties in Rusthall. In one exchange Mr. Baird was seriously contemplating claiming a fox terrier, and only desisted when the dead Tenant's housekeeper insisted that the animal was hers, not her master's.

As we listed the documents we became quite attached to Mr. Baird; definitely not a lovable man, but what a character - "Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells" personified. Basically, he was opposed to change, but if it was inevitable then his guiding principle was to make a reasonable profit and to maintain the legal standing of the Manor. On the other hand, he could be enterprising in seeking ways of exploiting his ownership of Tunbridge Wells and Rusthall Commons, exploring for example the possibility of excavating and selling sand, and also of boring for coal, although fortunately both these ideas proved unfruitful. He was ready to go to law at the drop of a hat, and there are many opinions of Counsel on all sorts of topics, and huge bundles of printed legal papers.

The influence he maintained over Tunbridge Wells and district in so many ways was exerted from a distance, and through his Agents and the other manorial officials, but it was nevertheless real and, generally speaking, for the good of the town.

In the very limited time available to make even the basic 30 page catalogues which we and Roger Farthing each produced, it was not possible to look in detail at more than a small selection of documents, but we had great pleasure in putting in a thumb and pulling out a pltua here and there. As an example, we found the bundle of correspondence about opposition to the Tunbridge Wells Gas Bill in 1874 most entertaining. It had apparently been proposed that the new gas works should be situated on land at High Rocks, the property of Lord Abergavenny who - as he wrote frostily from the safe distance of Eridge Castle - was quite happy with the proposed transaction. Residents of the expensive houses in Nevill Park, Hungershall Park and nearby objected vigorously to the way in which the "noxious fumes" would affect them and circulated a petition. In the true spirit of "not in my back yard" they suggested that a far more suitable site would be near the brickworks at High Brooms. Such was the strength of the opposition that the gas works were eventually built in that area.

Although F.O. Baird is the person who dominates the Manorial records for over fifty years - even before coming onto the property he had sued the previous Lady of the Manor for having allegedly prejudiced his position as the next Tenant for life - there are interesting figures in the earlier period. Colonel T.M.M. Weller was the Lord for many years, and he too was distinctly litigious; unlike Mr. Baird, he did live in the town, and took a leading part in local activities. He also owned Kingsgate and other property at Rolvenden, hence some interesting papers about a dispute over the Faculty for re-pewing Rolvenden Church in 1899 / 1900. We felt quite bereft as we saw the hardworking Archives staff taking the documents down several flights of narrow stairs, on their way to Maidstone. The collection - some in their original deed boxes, some in new cardboard boxes - filled a large van. However, it was very satisfactory that Ibbett Moseley, with the consent of the Trustees of the Manor have deposited the entire collection. For our part, helping to list the documents was a time consuming, cold, dirty, dusty job, but a most enjoyable one - an episode to which we look back with great pleasure.

Geoffrey and Brenda Copus February 2000