The town and parish of Lid

LID.

The parish of Lid, the next south-westward from Hope, lies at the south west extremity of this county. It is written in antient records Hlyda, a name probably derived from the Latin word littus, a shore, alluding to the situation of it close to the shore of the sea. It is within the liberty of the cinque ports, being, with its appendages of Orlaweston, or Orwalston, as it is usually called, and Dengemarsh, both within the bounes of this parish, a member of the town and port of New Romney.

The TOWN AND PARISH OF LID lies at the southwest boundary of this county, extending into Walland Marsh nothward, and almost as far as New Romney north-eastward; to the sea towards the south and southeast, and to the west to a boundary called Kent-wall, which separates this county from that of Sussex; being about four miles and an half across each way. The town is now almost three miles distant from the sea, which appears formerly to have come up much nearer to it, for there is at this time a place in Dengemarsh, not more than a mile and an half distant south-westward from it, still known by the name of the Old Haven. The liberty of the cinque ports claims over this parish, being the whole of it within the liberty and jurisdiction of the town of Lid, as well as its appendages, within the bounds of it, and that part of Promehill which lies in Kent, and are together members of the port and town of New Romney, as above-mentioned. It is a corporation by prescription, being at first stiled barons, but it is now governed by a bailiff, jurats, and commons, to which is added a chamberlain. The bailiff, who is coroner by virtue of his office, is chosen annually on St. Mary Magdalen's day, July 22, and, together with the jurats, who are justices within this liberty exclusive of all others, hold a court of general sessions of the peace and gaol delivery, together with a court of record, the same as at Folkestone; and it has other privileges, mostly the same as the other corporations within the liberties of the cinque ports, but it has no mace belonging to it. The town of Lid lies very flat and low. It is but small, and consists of two streets, neither of which are paved, having the church between them. There are one hundred and eighty houses in it, most of which are built of brick and modern, and about one thousand inhabitants, some few of which are of a better situation in life, but the generality of them are such as follow a contraband trade between this kingdom and France, and fishermen, who are employed in the months of April, May, and part of June, in a berring fishery,which extends from Romney sands to the Nesse point, near Rye, in which there are sometimes near two hundred men occupied, from hence, Folkestone, and Hastings; and for the purpose of carrying it forward, they have cabins, and a common dining room, erected on the shore, at the south-east corner of Dengemarsh, where they remain the whole time of the fishing season.

By the account which Leland (fn. 1) gives of Lid in king Henry VIII.'s reign, it seems then to have been in much the same state as at this time,who says, "Lydde (is countid as a parte of Rumeney is a iii myles beyond Rumeney town and is a market. The town is of a prety quantite and the towneseh men use botes to the se, the which at this tyme is a myle of. The hole town is conteyned in one paroche, but that is very large. In the mydde way (or their abowt) betwixt Rumeney town and Lydde the marsch land beginneth to nesse and arme yn to the se and contynueth a prety way beyond Lydde and runnyng ynto a poynt yt standeth as an arme, a foreland or a nesse. Ther is a place beyond Lydde wher as a great numbre of holme trees groueth apon a banke of baches throwen up by these and there they bat sowle and kil many birdes."

Camden calls it a prety populous town, whither the inhabitants of Promhill betook themselves after the inundation which destroyed that village in king Edward the 1st.'s reign.

There is a market held in this town on a Thursday, and a fair yearly, which was formerly held on the 13th of July, the day of St. Anacletus, but it has been altered to the first Monday in September yearly, for the convenience of graziers, butchers, and buyers and sellers of cattle, &c.

There is an establishment of the customs here, under the out ports of Dover and Rye. At each end of the town there is a long common, or district of pasture ground, each of which is called the Rype. That on the east belongs to the corporation. That on the west belongs to such inhabitants as occupy their own houses, each of whom have the privilege of putting four sheep on it. The former is supposed to have been a grant made antiently by one of the archbishops to the corporation, and the latter, which is somewhat larger, is held by the corporation of the manor of Aldington. The lands throughout the parish are for the most part pasture, and are very rich 2nd fertile.

At no great distance from the town south-westward, where the soil for many feet deep is wholly a mass of pebbles and sea-beach, there grows the great number of the sea holly, or holm trees, as mentioned by Leland, like a little low wood, for the space of two miles in length, and a quarter of a mile in breath, whence the place is now called the Holmstone. They thrive exceedingly among these pebbles, which is accounted an extraordinary circumstance. The sea shore, about a mile eastward from the town, is called Stone-end, where no doubt was placed the stone at the extremity of the land, mentioned as the southern boundary of the estate given in the year 774, by king Offa to archbishop Janibert, mentioned below, (ubi nominant Dengemersc usq. ad lapidem, appositum in ultimo terre); near this place there was once a great heap of stones, which the people called the tomb of St. Crispin and Crispianus, whom they said were shipwrecked, and then buried here; but nothing further was known than its having been a report time out of mind. Dr. Battely, in his Antiquitates Rutupinæ, conjectures, that they might antiently bear something of the name of, or by tradition be reported to have been set up in memory of, some of the family of the Crispini, among the Romans who had command here in Britain, but that in process of time, by the ignorance and superstition of the Saxons, who had heard of some martyrs of saints of this name, they might have the memory of St. Crispin and Crispianus annexed to them. At the further part of the cape, or point of land of Dengemarsh, next the sea, usually called Dengeness, there has been for many years a light-house, built for the safety of ships from the flats and shoals of sands which surround it It was first projected by Mr. Allen, a goldsmith, in king James the 1st.'s reign, and a patent was intended to have been got for it for the benefit of the corporation of Rye, but it was begged of the king by another. The old light house has been lately pulled down, and a new one erected in its room, one hundred and ten feet high, built after the model of the Edystone lighthouse, under the direction of Mr. Wyatt, the architect. Near it a sort has been built to annoy the enemy, and four sets of barracks for the accommodation of the soldiers doing duty in it. At Dengeness there is a spring of fresh water, which is covered by the salt water at every tide.

Urtica Romana buccifera, the berry bearing Roman nettle, grows plentifully in the church-yard here.

Pisum marinum, sea pease, grows among the beach stones on the west side of Dungeness, in great plenty.

Brasica Marina, sea colewort, and Helenium Elecampane, both plentifully on the sea shore. (fn. 2)

The MANOR OF ALDINGTON claims over great part of this parish. The manors of Bilsington and Wye claim likewise here, the latter especially over that district in it called Dengemarsh, mentioned before. Besides which, there are several subordinate manors within the bounds of it, of which the most eminent is that of OLD LANGPORT, which as such gave name to the whole hundred in which it lies. This manor, situated at the eastern part of this parish, near New Romney, is held of the manor of Aldington, and seems to have been included in the grant which king Offa made in 774, of three ploughlands or sulings at Hlyde, to archbishop Janibert, for Christ-church; (fn. 3) and it appears at the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in 1080, to have been held of the archbishop by knight's service; accordingly it is thus entered in that record, under the general title of Terra Militum Archiepiscopi, i. e. the lands of the knights of the archbishop:

In Lamport hundred, Robert de Romenel holds of the archbishop, Lamport. It was taxed at one suling and an half. The arable land is six carucates. In demesne there are two, and twenty-nine villeins, with nine borderers having nine carucates. There are seven saltpits of eight shillings and nine pence. To this manor belong twentyone burgesses, who are in Romenel, of whom the archbishop has three forfeitures— theft, breach of the peace, and robbery on the highway. But the king has all service from them, and they have all customs and other forfeitures for the service of the sea, and they are in the king's hands. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth ten pounds, now sixteen pounds.

By a record cited by Somner, it appears that this manor, before the conquest, was held by earl Godwin, and at the conquest came into the possession of the bishop of Baieux, from whom it was recovered by archbishop Lansfrance, among several other antient pos sessions of his church, at the famous assembly held at Pinnenden-heath, anno 1076.

After the family of De Rumenel, or Rumene, was become extinct here, this manor came into the possession of that of Ikin, one of whom, John Ikin, was found by inquisition, taken anno 32 Edward III. to hold it of the archbishop by knight's service at his death that year. From this name it passed into that of Hund, a good old family, one of whom, Sir John Hund, resided here in king Henry VI.'s reign, and lies buried in Lid church; from whose descendant it was passed away by sale to Henry Belknap, esq. of Beccles, in Sussex, who died anno 2 Richard III. leaving one son Edward Belknap, esq. who dying s.p. in the 12th year of king Henry VIII. his four sisters became his coheirs, viz. Elizabeth, married to Sir Philip Cooke, of Giddy-hall, in Essex; Mary, to George Dannet, esq. Alice, to Sir William Shelley, and Anne, to Sir Robert Wotton, and they entitled their respective husbands jointly to the possessions of this manor, of which Sir William Shelley seems soon afterwards to have passed away his share to the other three. Sir Robert Wotton's third part of this manor descended down to Edward, lord Wotton, (fn. 4) who with dame Margaret his wife, and Sir Thomas Wotton his son, in the 20th year of that reign, conveyed it to Thomas Godfrey, esq. of Lid, who was become possessed of another third part of this manor from the heirs of Dannet. The family of Godsrey was originally of Old Romney, and afterwards removed to Lid about the reign of Henry V. They were originally called Fermor, and afterwards Fermor, alias Godfrey, but at the time above-mentioned, though there were several branches of them in this parish and neighbourhood, which still retained the name of Fermor, this principal branch used that of Godfrey only. And it appears by their several wills, that they were possessed of lands in Lid from the earliest mention of them, and that they were from time to time buried both in the church and church yard of Lid. Thomas Godfrey above mentioned, had three wives, by his first he was ancestor to the Godfreys, of Heppington, in Nackington. By his second, of the Godsreys, of Hodiford, in Sellindge; of Woodford, in Essex, and of Norton, in this county; and by his third wife he was ancestor of the Godsreys, possessors of More-court, in Ivechurch, who were of London, and lie buried at Wye. Which branch, as well as every other of them, is now extinct. They bore for their arms, Sable, a chevron, between three pelicans heads erased, or. (fn. 5) The remaining third part of this manor was conveyed by the heirs of Cooke to Mann, whose descendant William Mann, esq. of Canterbury, died possessed of it, s. p.in 1616, and by his will devised it to his brother George Mann, gent. of Canterbury, who dying likewise s. p. gave it to his nephew Sir William Mann, of Canterbury, (son of Sir Christopher) who seems to have become possessed of the whole of it. How it passed from him I have not found, but after some intermediate owners, it came by purchase into the possession of Mr. Robert Mascall, of New Romney, who at his death in 1756, s. p. devised it to his kinsman Mr. John Mascall, of Ashford, who died in 1769, leaving one son Robert Mascall, esq. of Ashford, the present owner of it. A court baron is held for this manor.

The MANOR OF BELGAR, alias BELGRAVE, as it is sometimes written in antient deeds, lies at no great distance from Old Langport, eastward from the town of Lid. It was in king Henry III.'s reign the property of John Mansell, clerk, a man of much note at that time for his wisdom and abilities, as well as for his great riches and preferments, who on his foundation of the priory of Bilsington, in 1253, settled this manor among other estates on it, in free, pure and perpetual alms. (fn. 6) But not long before the suppression of the priory in king Henry VIII.'s reign, it was exchanged for other lands with Sir Anthony St. Leger, of Ulcombe, whose son Sir Warham St. Leger alienated it, anno 3 Elizabeth, to William Middleton, whose son Edward Middleton, in the 25th year of that reign, passed it away by sale to Sir Thomas Shirlye, and he in the latter end of queen Elizabeth's reign sold it to Roger Abdy, of London, merchant, who died possessed of it in 1595, in whose descendants of the elder branch (the younger settling in Essex, being created baronets) bearing for their arms, Or, two chevronels, between three trefoils slipt, sable, (fn. 7) it continued down to Sir Christopher Abdy, of Belgar, and of Streatham, in Surry, who died s. p. and by his will gave this manor to his kinsman Anthony Bramston, esq. of Skreens, in Essex, son of Sir John Bramston, K. B. by Alice, Sir Christopher's cousin-german. This family, who bear for their arms, Or, on a fess, sable, three plates, derives its origin from William Bramston, sheriff of London anno 18 king Richard II. whose direct descendant John was a man of great eminence, and was at length promoted to the high station of lord chief justice of England. He died in 1654, having had three sons, Sir John, K. B. knight of the shire for Essex; Sir Mondeford, a master in chancery; and Francis, first a sergeant-at-law, and afterwards a baron of the exchequer. Sir John, the eldest son, was father of Anthony Bramston, the possessor of this manor as above-mentioned. In whose de scendants it continued down to Thomas Berney Bramston, esq. of Skreens, M. P. for Essex, in five successive parliaments, who sold this manor in 1785 to William Deedes, esq. of Hythe, who had married his sister Mary, and their eldest son William Deedes, esq. now of Hythe, is the present possessor of it.

JAQUES COURT, usually called Jacks court, is a manor here, situated eastward likewise from the town of Lid. It was antiently the demesnes of the Eching. hams, a family of principal note in Sussex, being jure nativo, that is, by hereditary right, seneschals or stewards of the rape of Hastings there, and summoned as barons to parliament in the reigns of king Edward II. and III. (fn. 8) But the first of them who appears on record to have been possessed of this manor, is William de Echingham, who in the 20th year of Edward III. was assessed at the making the black prince a kinght, for lands which he held here and in Walland Marsh, which he held by knight's service, but his descendant Sir Thomas Echingham dying without issue male, Margaret his only daughter and heir carried it in marriage, with the manor of Midley, to Sir William Blount, eldest son of Walter, lord Mountjoy, and it afterwards descended down, together with that manor, as has been already described above, to Sir Edward Scott, of Scottshall, K. B. who very soon after he became possessed of it, passed it away by sale to Edward Wilcocke, jurat, of Lid, who died in 1577, and was succeeded in it by his two daughters and coheirs, of whom Joane married Thomas Bate the elder, of Lid, who bore for his arms, Sable, a fess, between three dexter hands couped, argent; and Sybell married Nicholas Knight, who conveyed his right in it soon afterwards to the former, and he died possessed of the whole of it, which his son of the same name, at the latter end of king Charles II.'s reign, conveyed to Barnfield, from which name it was alienated in 1697 to Marlin, and thence again in 1709 to Joseph Tucker, who in 1711 transferred his interest in it to Samuel Jeake, esq. from whose heirs it was sold in 1752, to George Carter, esq. of Kennington, who in 1782, (fn. 9) by his will devised it to his second daughter Martha, who was married to the Hon. and Rev. William-John Clotworthy Skessington, younger brother of Clotworthy, earl of Masareene, who in her right became possessed of this manor, of which he died possessed in 1788, since which it has been sold to Mr. Edward Norwood, the present possessor of it.

The MANOR OF NEW LANGPORT, alias SEPTVANS, the mansion of which, usually called Seavans court, is situated westward from the town of Lid, acquired the latter name from the eminent family of Septvans, the antient possessors of it. Roger de Septvans held it at his death in the 37th year of king Henry III. as did Sir William de Septvans his descendant, who resided at Milton, near Canterbury, in the 25th year of king Edward III. At length, after it had continued in this family till the reign of king Henry VI. William Septvans, in the beginning of it, passed this manor away to John Writtle, from which name, after it had remained for some years, it was alienated to Henry Fettiplace, esq. of Oxford, whose descendant Edmund Fettiplace had his landsdisgavelled by the general act of the 31st year of king Henry VIII. and died the year after. His descendant John Fettiplace, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, passed it away to Sir Henry James, who being convicted in a præmunire in the 6th year of king James, this manor became forfeited to the crown, whence it was not long afterwards granted to Thomas Emmerson, esq. who passed it away to Thomas, earl of Haddington, and he, in discharge of some debts owing from him, vested it in Martin Lumley, late lord mayor of London, Alice Woodrosse, widow, and Edward Cropeley; the latter of whom afterwards became possessed of the whole of this manor, which descended to John Cropley, esq. whose daughter Elizabeth carried it in marriage to William Gomeldon, esq. of Somerfield, in Sellindge. Since which it has passed in the like series of ownership as that seat and his other estates in that parish, to Heyman, in which name it still continues, being now in the possession of Mr. Peter Hayman.

The MANOR OF SCOTNEY, otherwise Bletchingcourt, lies at no great distance northward from Seavanscourt, in this parish and Promhill, and had the former of those names from a family who were proprietors of it in very early times, as they were of another seat of the same name at Lamberhurst, but in the part of that parish which is within the bounds of the county of Sussex; one of whom, Walter de Scoteni, held both these seats in king Henry III.'s reign, and was a person of no small account, for he held fourteen knights fees and an half, in that county, and in his descendants they continued till about the middle of the reign of Edward III. when they passed into the possession of the family of Ashburnham, of Ashburnham, in that county, one of whom, Roger Ashburnham, was one of the conservators of the peace, and resided at Scotney, in Lamberhurst, in the beginning of king Richard II.'s reign. His successor, in the beginning of king Henry V.'s reign, alienated both these estates to archbishop Chichele, who settled that at Lamberhurst on Florence, his niece, and this at Lid on his new-founded college of All Souls, in Oxford, about the 17th year of king Henry VI.'s reign, with whom it still continues, being at this time parcel of the inheritance of the warden and fellows of that college. Robert Cobbe, esq. is the present lessee.

DENGEMARSH is a district in this parish, which is accounted one of the incorporate members of the cinque port of New Romney, being a level of marsh land, which lies on the south side of the town of Lid, and forms here a point or cape of land, extending near two miles towards the sea, which bounds it on the east, south and west sides, this level being under the management of a commission of sewers, granted by the title and description of the level of Dengemarsh and Southbrooks. The royalty of this district, now known by the name of THE MANOR OF DENGEMARSH, was, at the time of the conquest, in the hands of the crown, and esteemed a member of the royal manor of Wye, with which it was given by the Conqueror to the abbey of Battell, in Sussex; and among other privileges and liberties which he then granted with it, he added in particular Dengemaris, which he calls a member of Wi, all customs belonging to the sea, which he possessed there, together with all wreck, &c. (fn. 10) After which this manor continued part of the possessions of the abbey, till the dissolution of it in the 30th year of king Henry VIII. when it came, with the paramount manor of Wye, among the rest of the possessions of it, into the king's hands, where this manor and district of Dengemarsh, with its privileges, among which were the ponds and fisheries called Wigmore, Holm, and Wannesfleet, and all other fisheries, as well in falt as in fresh water, within the jurisdiction of it, seems to have remained for some length of time, and till it was granted, at the latter end of queen Elizabeth's reign, to the family of Tuston, of Hothfield, in the descendants of which, earls of Thanet, it has continued down to the right hon. Sackville, earl of Thanet, the present owner of it. A court leet and court baron are held for this manor.

The FAMILY OF DERING was antiently seated in this parish. In the district of Dengemarsh they had a mansion, called Dengemarsh-place, and at Westbrooke likewise, which lies in this parish, on the opposite side of the town of Lid, they had another seat, and other parts of their estates here were called, from them, Derings-marsh and Derings-dross. Peter Dering was owner of them, and resided in this parish in Henry I.'s reign, as did his grandson Sir John Dering, who was of Westbrooke, in that of king Edward III. and died in the 38th year of it. He was father of Sir Richard Dering, who resided mostly at Hayton, in Stanford, and was lieutenant of Dover castle in Richard II.'s reign. His eldest son John Dering, esq. was of Westbrooke, where he resided till by his marriage he became possessor of Surrenden, where he afterwards removed, and which from that time became the general residence of his posterity. His son Richard Dering, esq. of Surrenden, by his will anno 20 Edward IV. 1680, gave his place and lands, called Dengemarsh, to his younger son James Dering. Not many years after which, John Dering, esq. his nephew, son of the eldest brother Richard, was taken out of his mansion here; then called Derings-marsh-place, and carried into France, whence he was forced to free himself by ransom. (fn. 11) But all these estates have been long since alienated from the Dering family, and Sir Edward Dering has now only a small parcel of land belonging to him in this parish, which lies on the north side of the town of Lid. Philipott, p. 220, says, the family of Dering, for several generations before they removed to Surrenden, was resident at a place called Nod, then reputed to be within the bounds of this parish, which Richard Dering, esq. of Surrenden, sold anno 4 and 5 Philip and Mary to Peter Godfrey, gent. of this parish, who in his will anno 1569, mentions his house called Nodde, with the l2nd belonging to it. This antient mansion, of which I find no other mention whatever, otherwise than as above, has been long since pulled down, and no traces of it are now remaining. But it said to have stood within the bounds of the adjoining parish of Midley, in a field at this time called Nouse field, which has ever since had the same owners as the principal part of the Godfrey estate in that parish, as already described in it; and Weever, p. 295, says, there were two gravestones in the church of Lid, for Richard Dering before-mentioned, and Thomas his son, one of which had fair portraitures with ornaments engraven on it, but that the loss of some of the brass, and the remote absence of his posterity, had given occasion for another name to be superscribed on the stone, although at that time the best, if not the only names of note and gentry here, were Septvans and Dering, which latter name had been of great and antient possessions in this parish, Midley, Promhill, and Old Romney.

The large old mansion of Westbrooke is still remaining. It stands about half a mile northward from Lid; and was lately in the possession of the heirs of the late Sir F. Head, bart. Derings-marsh-place lies south westward from Lid, and belongs to the widow of the late Saville Finch, esq. and Derings Droff, or Drove, as it is now called, is situated on the south side of the East Ripe, and is in the possession of the guardians of the infant son of the late Mr. Thomas Shoosmith, of Lid.

Charities.

THOMAS HARTE, bailiff of Lid, by will in 1577, devised his lands and tenements in Dengemarsh to Peter Godfrey, and seven others therein mentioned, in trust. The prosit of one part of them to the use of the chamber of Lid; and the yearly profits of one other part of them to the use of the church; and the third remaining part to the use of the poor of the town, to be distributed at the discretion of the bailiff and jurats twice a year.—This estate, now called Harts farm, lies in Dengemarsh, and is of the yearly value of 30l.

JOHN KEMPE, of Lid, fisherman, by will in 1563, devised that his little tenement, next adjoining to his principal one in Lid, should for ever be used as dwelling-house for some honest poor body of Lid to dwell in, by the oversight and consent of the bailiff and jurats; and that such person should freely dwell therein, without paying any rent for it. And he ordered that it should be kept in repair by such as should be heirs or owners of his said principal tenement; and if it should be ruined or decayed, then the bailiff, jurats, or chamberlain, should enter, and there distrain for such reparations. (fn. 12)

THOMAS GODFREY, ESQ. of Lid, by will in 1624, devised nine acres of land in Lid, in a place called the Wick, to William Wilcocks, gent. late bailiff of Lid, and seven others, upon trust, that they should yearly, at the discretion of the collectors and overseers of the poor of Lid, distribute the entire annual rents yearly on Candlemas-day, to such men and women, inhabitants of Lid, of the age of threescore years and upwards, whose labours were done; and if there should not be so many, that the annual rents should be yearly distributed, among other poor people, at the discretion of such overseers. These lands are now of the annual produce of 10l. 8s. which is yearly paid into the hands of the overseers for the use of the poor.

CLEMENT BARLING, clerk, of Ashford, by will in 1688, devised out of lands and tenements in Dengemarsh, one annuity of 3l. to be paid on the second Tuesday in November yearly, in the church of Lid, into the hands of the bailiff, or the churchwardens or overseers of the parish, in money and coarse cloth; 10s. of the money for a sermon to be preached on that day, and the other 10s. to be given to twenty poor people, above the age of forty years, who should be present at it, or to such as should be there, and for the cloth to be brought to church on that day, and distributed by the bailiff after service, for the cloaths of two poor widows and four poor children of this parish, and if any was left, the same to be given to other poor. His heirs, or owners of his lands, to dispose of half the cloth to such as aforesaid, whom they should nominate to the bailiff, &c. with liberty of distress, &c. (fn. 13)

The poor yearly relieved are about fifty-four.

This PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Limne.

The church, which is exempted from the jurisdiction of the archdeacon, is dedicated to All Saints. It is a large handsome building, consisting of three isles and three chancels, having at the west end a well-built tower, with four pinnacles on it, of unequal size, with gilt vanes on them. There are five bells in it. This church is very handsomely pewed and ornamented. The whole of it is covered with gravestones, many of which have brasses on them, for the principal inhabitants of the town, most of whom have been bailiffs or jurats of it, much too numerous to mention here, among these are the names of Stuppenye, Beresford, Bate, Harte, Dallet, Wilcock, Thomas, Browne, and others. In the middle chancel, and in other parts of the church, were several monuments and gravestones for the family of Godfrey, several of which are destroyed or obliterated; but there remains a monument against the north wall, with the bust of a man bare-headed, dressed with a ruff round his neck, for Thomas Godfrey, obt. 1623. A memorial for John Fowle, gent. of Dimchurch, town-clerk of Lid, arms, On a chevron, three mullets. A figure and inscription on brass for John Montelsont, B. L. vicar, obt. Nov. 6, 1420. A memorial for dame Dorothy Palmer, of the family of the Scotts, of Hertfordshire, widow of Thomas Hernden, since wife and widow of Sir Henry Palmer, of Howletts, comptroller of the navy, obt. 1621. A tomb in the middle chancel, of Bethersden marble, with a figure in brass on it, for Clement Stuppenye, jurat and bailiff several times, obt. 1608. In the north chancel there is an antient tomb, in an arch in the north wall, having on it the essigies of a man in armour, with his shield and sword; on a wooden tablet, hung by it, it is said to be for Sir Walter Menel, of Jaques-court, who lived anno 8 Edward III. as appeared by antient records; but I have not found any mention of him elsewhere. At the west end of the middle isle there is a monument of white marble, with the effigies of a young woman, for Anne, wife of Henry Russell, obt. 1780, æt. 31, and her only child Henry, who died an infant. The churchyard is very large, having many tomb-stones in it, several of which, on the south side, are for the family of Skinner, of this parish. At the south-east corner of the church are the ruins of an antient stone building, having no roof, and open to the church-yard. Vincent Daniel, of Scotney, in this parish, as appears by will in 1520, was buried in this church, before the altar of St. James, and devised legacies to the lights burning in it, of the brotherhood of the Holy Trinity, Our Lady, St. Katherine, Allhalowyn, St. John, St. James, St. Peter, St. George, Our Lady of Pity, St. Barbara, St. Anthony, St. Mildred, and St. Nicholas, (a brilliant company of them !) And he devised a cloth of purple sattin, to lie on the image of our Lord, that lay in the lappe of our Lady of Pitie, and a curtain of sarsenet to hang before her image. Simon Watte, of Lid, by will anno 1515, gave to the making of a new payer of orgaynes within this church 3s. 4d. (fn. 14)

The church of Lid belonged to the Cistertian abbey of Tintern, in Monmouthshire, which was founded by Walter de Clare, to which it was given and appropriated most probably by one of his descendants of that surname, and both the appropriation and advowson continued with the abbot and convent till the dissolution of the abbey in the 27th year of Henry VIII. when, by the act then passed, it was suppressed, as not having revenues to the clear yearly sum of 200l. This appropriation and advowson remained in the crown, the latter till the year 1558, when it was granted, among others, to the archbishop; but the former continued longer in the crown, till queen Elizabeth, in her third year, granted it, then valued at thirty pounds, beyond reprises, (fn. 15) in exchange, among other premises, to archbishop Parker. Since which they have both remained parcel of the possessions of that see, his grace the archbishop being at this time possessed of the appropriation and advowson of the vicarage.

The vicarage was endowed anno 1321. It is valued in the king's books at 55l. 12s. 1d. and the yearly tenths at 5l. 11s. 2½d. In 1588 it was valued at 200l. communications seven hundred and twenty. In 1640, the same. It is now of the clear value of about 260l. per annum. There are twenty-two acres of glebe belonging to it.

There was formerly a chapel, dedicated to St. Mary, at the Nesse, in this parish, and in the wills of king Henry VIII.'s reign there is frequent mention of a hermit, and hermitage, in it.

Church of Lid.