Letters

25 October 2000

Dear Editor,

I am in the process of writing a history of Hollingbourne similar to my books on Borden and Bredgar. I am making good progress but was disappointed to find that the earliest churchwarden’s account book at the Centre for Kentish Studies begins in 1742. So I assumed that earlier ones for the parish had not survived.

However on reading a pamphlet published in 1963 entitled 'Hollingbourne' by Brian Gipps, I learned that Maidstone Museum had in their collection an account book dated 1618-63. I wrote to the Curator but he has found no trace of the book and suggested that perhaps it was in K.A.S. Library, however this has been checked and is not the case. Nor is the book amongst the many, as yet uncatalogued documents, deposited at the Centre for Kentish Studies by the museum.

So my appeal to members is has anyone seen the volume or have any other suggestions as to where it might be?

Helen Allinson

10 October 2000

Dear Editors,

Earlier this year you kindly printed my letter seeking information about how the Rev. John Bedle, an Essex clergyman from Barnston, near Great Dunmow, came to be preaching at Harbledown near Canterbury in 1638. On that occasion he fell foul of Archbishop Laud who noted that he “preached very disorderly three hours at a time, and got himself many ignorant followers”. I was very pleased to hear from two members who wrote to me suggesting a possible connection with Richard Culmer, the well known Puritan and cathedral iconoclast who had links with Harbledown. I am writing again to update those interested, and to ask further help.

Culmer graduated from Cambridge University in 1619 with a reputation for “football playing and swearing” and was clearly only a partly reformed character by the time of his first preferment to the living of Godstone in 1630. Four years later he was suspended by Archbishop Laud for refusing to read the Book Sabbath Sports (which encouraged games playing on Sundays). After a run-in with the suspended informant he spent some time in Fleet prison, “remaining silenced for four years”. It is not clear what he was doing between 1638 and 1642, though he was probably living at Harbledown where two of his children were baptised in 1637 and 1640. He may even have heard Bedle’s sermon in 1638. However, by 1642 he appears to have been living in Canterbury, as a declaration stated that “Richard Culmer of the said city is a man of exemplary life and conversation”. Various preferments followed - Chartham (1642/43), St. Stephen’s Hackington (soon after), Minster in Thanet (1644) and Harbledown (some time after 1647). He was also appointed by Parliament in 1643 to “detect and demolish” superstitious inscriptions and monuments in Canterbury Cathedral, where he destroyed much of the offending stained glass with his own hand. He was reported to have required a military escort back to his lodgings to protect him from the anger of the crowd.

His other connection with Harbledown was an invitation in the early 1640s from the Rector, Dr. Robert Austin, to assist him in the parish. However he is noted to have violently antagonised the parishioners by his efforts to suppress Sabbath sports and drunkenness.

It seems unlikely that Culmer would have been in a position to invite Bedle to preach in 1638, though he might have put his name forward. It seems more likely that Dr. Austin, Rector from 1628 to 1643, was responsible. Judging by his latter invitation to Culmer, he must have had puritan sympathies. I would be very grateful for any information about Dr. Austin, as the puzzle of how Bedle’s reputation reached Harbledown remains unsolved.

Michael Leach

17th November 2000

Dear Sir,

TEBBUTT RESEARCH FUND
This fund was established as a tribute to the life and work of the late C.F. Tebbutt, OBE., FSA., and applications are invited, from individuals and groups, for grants towards research, including associated expenses, into any aspect of the Wealden Iron Industry.

It is anticipated that approximately £100 plus will be available from the fund and any interested person should write a suitable letter of application giving details of themselves together with relevant information concerning the research envisaged. Please bring this fund to the notice of your tutors and lecturers concerned with archaeology/history as we are anxious that the money available should be used fully.

Applications should be sent to me not later than 31st March 2001 so that I can pass them to the Panel for consideration.

Shiela Broomfield (Mrs)
(Hon. Sec. WIRG)