Rev. Lambert Blackwell Larking: ‘Let us now praise famous men’ Ecclesiasticus xliv
Before memories of our 150th anniversary fade, let us remember our founder, the Rev. Lambert Blackwell Larking, cleric and antiquary.
In September 1957 a group of our members laid a wreath on his memorial in St Martin’s Church, Ryarsh, before gathering at Maidstone’s Royal Star Hotel for their centenary dinner. Fifty years later Larking was not singled out for special celebratory attention; indeed, it seems that not much at all was said about him, so we must resort to Archaeologia Cantiana Vol. 70, published in 1956, in which Frank W. Jessup, our Hon. General Secretary at the time, paid his respects in a detailed account of the origin and the first one hundred years of our society.
He reported that it all began on September 19, 1857, when '11 noblemen and gentlemen of the county met at Mereworth Castle at the invitation of Viscount and Viscountess Falmouth, and decided to form a Kent Archeological [sic] Society.'
'Thus the origin of the Society is chronicled in the official records,' wrote Jessup. However, a less official journal, kept by the Rev. Lambert B. Larking, Vicar of Ryarsh and the Society’s first Hon. Secretary, shows that he, in fact, was the only author and true begetter of the Society and that the initiative in its formation lay elsewhere than with Lord Falmouth.'
Larking was born at Clare House, East Malling, Kent, on February 2, 1797 and baptized there at St James’s parish church. He was the eldest son of John Larking, who became High Sheriff of Kent in 1808, and Dorothy (née Style) Larking, daughter of St Charles Style, Bt, of Wateringbury Place.
Dr Shirley Burgoyne Black’s biography in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (which can be read online at www.oxforddnb.com) reveals that Larking was a learned and diligent scholar who found time to combine his pastoral work with deep and serious academic research.
He lived for most of his life in villages close to the one in which he was born. He was curate at St Michael’s, East Peckham, from 1820; vicar of Ryarsh from 1830 to 1868 and, during the last year of his life, also vicar at St Michael’s, Burham. He was also chaplain to Viscount Falmouth, which explains his presence at Mereworth Castle on that important day in September 1857.
Larking died at Ryarsh Vicarage (now The Old Vicarage) in Roughetts Road on August 2, 1868, aged 71, and was buried at St Martin’s. His widow, Frances (née Twysden), eldest daughter of Sir William Jervis Twysden, Bt, of Roydon Hall, East Peckham, died on March 25, 1873, aged 86. They were married in 1831, when he was 34 and she was 44. They did not have any children.
Larking’s achievements, over and above founding the KAS, include collaborating with Rev. Thomas Streatfeild in collecting material for a new history of Kent; working on a revised and updated version of Hasted’s History and Topographical Survey of the county (part of which, edited by Dr Henry H. Drake, was published 20 years after his death); a facsimile, translation and transcription of The Domesday Book of Kent (published in 1869); many articles in Archaeologia Cantiana (including more than 200 pages of Volume 1); and editing three volumes of records for the Camden Society.
In his volume on Kent in The King’s England series, Arthur Mee wrote that Larking was 'probably unmatched in the county for his mastery of the Saxon language and his understanding of ancient manuscripts'.
HIS MEMORIALS
Larking is commemorated in several ways in Ryarsh. There is a plaque in his honour at the main gate to The Old Vicarage, which stands a few yards south of the road to St Martin’s.
His grave and that of his widow is in the churchyard, between the south wall of the nave and the church path.
On the south wall of the chancel there is a fine brass memorial, erected by Larking’s widow and by John Wingfield Larking, his brother. Beneath the memorial another brass plaque informs us that 'To the Glory of God and in Memory of Rev. L. B. Larking the interior of this church was restored AD 1872'. The restorations included installing new benches, choir stalls, a screen and a tiled floor. The nave and chancel are most impressive when seen under the church’s new energy efficient subdued lighting.
A booklet, published about ten years ago and on sale in the church, gives a brief outline of St Martin’s history and architecture. However, visitors will learn much more if they are fortunate enough to be accompanied by the churchwarden, David Parkins, who has known the building for 60 years and is familiar with its every nook and cranny.
With acknowledgements to various KAS members and to Rob Wright (www.ryarsh.info) and David Parkins (churchwarden). Our likeness of Rev. L. B. Larking is from a lithograph reproduced in Dr Henry Drake’s edition of Hasted’s History of Kent.
