Parishes: Waltham

WALTHAM

LIES the next parish southward from Petham, taking its name from its situation among the woods. It is written in antient records, Temple Waltham, from the knights templars, early possessors of it. This parish is only part of it in the hundred of Bridge and Petham; another part, that is, so much as is in Town borough, is in the hundred of Wye; and the residue is in the hundred of Stowting. There are four boroughs in it, viz. of Waltham, Town Borough, Yoklets, and Bere.

WALTHAM lies still further in the same wild and dreary country, obscutely situated among the hills, and interspersed with woods, having a deep valley running through the midst of it, along which is the road from Canterbury through Petham to Elmsted and Hastingleigh. The soil of it is very chalky, poor, and covered with sharp slint stones; at the eastern boundaries is the Stone-street road, and near it, among the woods, Wadnall. On the other side of the valley, on the opposite hill, stands the church, with the village called Kakestreet, at a little distance from which is the hamlet and green called Hanville, so called after the family of Handville, or Handfield, whose habitation, (now belonging to Mr. Lade, of Canterbury) was close to it. Several of them lie buried in this church; they afterwards removed to Ulcombe, Ashford, and Canterbury, at the former a descendant of them still remains. They bore for their arms, Argent, a lion rampant, within an orle of nine crosses, formee, sable. (fn. 1) Southward from the church is Grandacre, for many years the habitation of the Proudes, alias Prudes, now belonging to the Rev. Mr. Marsh, of Bredgar; Yoklets, now belonging to Mr. Browning, who lives in it; and still further, at the southern boundary of the parish, in a wild, heathy country, is the once more noted habitation of Ashenfield, situated near the end of the ridge of hills which extend themselves above Crundal and Eggarton. Mr. Dodsworth is the present possessor of it.

THE MANOR OF WALTHAM, alias TEMPLE, was once part of the possessions of the see of Canterbury, and was given to the knights templars by archbishop Theobald, in king Stephen's reign, as appears by the inquisition of their lands, taken anno 1185, now in the exchequer, at which time Hamo de Chilham held this manor of them. Upon the dissolution of that order anno 17 Edward II. this manor, among the rest of their possessions, was given to the knights hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, with whom it continued till their suppression in the 32d year of Henry VIII. when it came into the king's hands, who granted it in his 34th year, in exchange, among other premises, to the archbishop, (fn. 2) by whom it was again exchanged with the crown, where it lay till queen Elizabeth granted the scite of it, in her 8th year, to Thomas Manwaring, (fn. 3) and in the latter end of her reign, the manor itself to his descendant John Manwaring, esq. by whose daughter and heir Hope Manwaring, it went in marriage to Humphry Hamond, whose son Mr. Manwaring Hamond, alienated it to Mr. Robert Stapleton, his mother's second husband, (fn. 4) who owned it in 1660, and his heirs passed it away to Sir William Honywood, bart. of Evington, in whose descendants it has continued down to Sir John Honywood, bart. now of Evington, the present owner of it.

WADENHALL, or Wadnall, as it is usually called, is a manor, situated on the eastern boundary of this parish, next to Stelling. It was antiently parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury, and continued so till archbishop Lanfranc granted it in see, to be held by knight's service, to two of his knights, Nigell and Robert; and he afterwards gave the tithes of the demesnes of it to the hospital of St. Gregory, in Canterbury, on the foundation of it, as will be further mentioned hereafter. After which it came into the possession of a family of its own name, and in the inquisition taken of knights fees in this county, anno 12 and 13 king John, returned into the exchequer, Thomas de Wadenhale then held it as one knight's fee. After which it became the property of the eminent family of Haut, who held it of the archbishop, and they frequently resided at it, as one of their principal mansions in this part of Kent. William de Haut, who resided here, and anno 5 king Edward I. founded a chapel at this seat. Nicholas was knight of the shire anno 18 Richard II. and the next year kept his shrievalty at Wadenhall. He left two sons, Nicholas, of Hauts-place, in the adjoining parish of Petham, and William, who was of Bishopsborne, and on his father's death became possessed of this manor, which continued in his descendants down to Sir William Haut, of that place, who in Henry VIII.'s reign, leaving two daughters his coheirs, Elizabeth, the eldest, carried it in marriage to Thomas Colepeper, esq. of Bedgbury, who in the 32d year of that reign, exchanged it with the king for other premises, and the fee of it remained in the crown till queen Elizabeth, in her 42d year, granted it to Sir John Sotherton. baron of the exchequer, whose heir sold it to Mr. Benjamin Pere, of Canterbury; from which name it afterwards passed to Richard, and from thence again to Butler, of Sussex, in whose descendants it continued down to John Butler, of Warminghurst-park, knight of the shire several times for that county, and he died in 1767, as did his son James in 1785, possessed of the fee of it, which now belongs to his heirs; but the rents and possession of it have been for some time vested in George Gipps, esq. M.P. of Canterbury, who has since sold them to Sir John Honywood, bart. and he is now entitled to them.

WHITACRE is a small manor in the southern part of this parish, which once likewise belonged to the see of Canterbury, and was granted by archbishop Lanfranc, with Wadenhall above-mentioned, to Nigell and Robert, his two knights, to hold in fee by knights service; and he afterwards gave the tithes of the demesnes of it to the hospital of St. Gregory, in Canterbury, on his foundation of it, as may be seen further hereafter. After which it came into the possession of owners of the same name, one of whom, Nigellus de Whiteacre, probably, by the similarity of the name, a descendant of that Nigell to whom archbishop Lanfranc first granted it, held it in like manner. After which it came into the name of Hilles, descended from those of Ash, near Sandwich, one of whom, William Hilles, gent. died possessed of it in 1498, s. p. and devised it to feoffees, who, in pursuance of his will, sold the mansion and adjacent demesnes of this manor to Simon a Courte, who at his death in 1534, gave them to his son-in-law John Gayler, who had married his daughter Dionise, and they alienated them to Moyle, as he did to Proude, in which name they continued for some time, together with two other estates in this parish, called Upper Andesdoor and Cernells, which have been since sold off, and now belong to Mr. Goddard, of Westenhanger, and to Mrs. Sutton, and till they were at length alienated to alderman William Cockaine, afterwards knighted and lord-mayor of London in 1619, descended from a family very early seated in Derbyshire, and son of William Cockaine, citizen and skinner of London, and bore Argent, three cocks, gules, crested and jelloped, sable, a crescent, or, a crescent for difference. (fn. 5) He passed them away to Sawkins, and James Sawkins, gent. of Liminge, died possessed of them in 1628, whose descendant sold this estate of Whitacre, since called the WALNUT TREE FARM, to Beacon, who was possessed of it in 1660, whose heirs afterwards conveyed it to Sir William Honywood, bart. of Evington, whose descendant Sir John Honywood, bart. of Evington, now owns it.

BUT THE MANOR OF WHITACRE, alias CRANESBROOKE, as it was then stiled, with the courts, rents, services, &c. continued in the name of Hilles some time longer, but at length it was alienated to William Boys, who did homage to archbishop Morton for it anno 7 Henry VII. and his descendant Sir John Boys; of St. Gregory's, by his will in 1612, settled it on the warden and poor of his new founded hospital, called Jesus hospital, in Canterbury, and they sold it lately, (under the powers of the land-tax redemption act) to Mr. R. Kelly, of St. Dunstan's, Canterbury, the present possessor of it. A court baron is held for this manor.

ASHENFIELD, as it is now usually called, but more properly Eshmerfield, is another manor, lying at the southern boundary of this parish, in Wye hundred, which was formerly part of the possessions of St. Augustine; accordingly it is thus entered, under the general title of their lands, in the survey of Domesday:

In Wy hundred, the abbot himself holds Esmerefel, and Anschitil of him. It was taxed at one suling. The arable land is one carucate, and there is in demesne. . . . with five borderers and six acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of ten hogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth forty shillings, and afterwards twenty shillings, now forty shillings.

Anschitil above-mentioned, appears to have held this manor of the abbot in fee, by a certain rent in lieu of all service, &c. as did after him Ralph Fitzbernard, of whom it was again held by Bertram de Criol, who gave it to his younger son John, and he died possessed of it in the 48th year of Henry III. during whose time Richard de Clare, earl of Gloucester, lord of Tunbridge, and founder of the priory there, vir nobilis & omni laude dignus, died, as it was thought, of poison, in 1262, on a visit to him at this manor-house. (fn. 6). His son Bertram left two sons, John and Bertram, and a daughter Joane, who afterwards married Sir Richard de Rokesle, and on both her brothers deaths, s. p. became their heir, and this manor afterwards descended to her two daugh ters and coheirs, Agnes, wife of Thomas de Poynings, and Joane, wife of Sir William le Baud; and upon the division of their inheritance, Joane had this manor allotted to her. After which it passed into the name of Lovel, and from thence to Haut, in which it continued till Alice, daughter of Sir William Haut, of Bishopsborne, carried it in marriage to Sir John Fogge, of Repton, who sold it to Thomas Kempe, bishop of London, who devised it to his nephew Sir Tho. Kempe, K. B. of Ollantigh, whose descendant, of the same name, dying in 1607, without male issue, Mary his daughter and coheir entitled her husband Sir Dudley Diggs to the possession of it, and he sold it to Thomas Twysden, esq. of Wye, the younger brother of Sir William Twysden, bart. of Roydon-hall, whose son, of the same name, passed it away to Sir John Ashburnham, of Ashburnham, in Sussex, who died in 1620, (fn. 7) leaving Elizabeth his widow, daughter of Sir Thomas Beaumont, of Leicestershire, surviving, who held this manor in dower. She afterwards married Sir Thomas Richardson, speaker of the house of commons, and afterwards chief justice of the king's bench, and was in 1627 created baroness Cramond, in Scotland. After her death, her heirs, in king Charles II.'s reign, alienated it to Francis Barrell, sergeant-at-law, who died possessed of it in 1679, as did his grandson Francis, Barrell, esq. of London, whose third wise Frances, daughter and coheir of William Hanbury, esq. of Herefordshire, surviving him, held it in jointure till her death, when it came by his will to his two daughters and coheirs, and on the division of their estates, this manor has been allotted to the youngest, Catherine, married to the Rev. Frederick Dodsworth, S. T. P. and canon of Windsor, who is the present owner of it.

By the remains of the mansion-house of this manor some years ago, it appeared to have been a castellated mansion of some size and consequence. It is now a modern built farm house.

The chapel of Eshmerfield was one of the four appendant to the church of Waltham, to which the tithes of this manor were given in very early times, as will be further taken notice of hereafter.

There are no parochial charities. The poor constantly relieved are about eighteen, casually the same.

WALTHAM is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Bridge.

The church, which is dedicated to St Bartholomew, consists of one isle and a chancel, having a low pointed tower between them, in which there is one bell. The church, which seems antient, has no monuments or inscriptions in it, worthy of notice. There was a chantry in this church.

This church was antiently appendant to the manor of Waltham, and probably continued so till archbishop Lanfranc separated them, by giving the former, as well as the tithes of the manors of Whitacre and Wadenhall, to his new-founded hospital of St. Gregory; and archbishop Hubert in king Richard I.'s reign, confirmed to it, among its other possessions, the church of St Bartholomew, of Waltham, with the land called Joclet, and the tithes of knights and husbandmen, with the four chapels of Elmsted, Esmeresfield, Wadenhall, and Dene. Of these, Elmsted has been long since a separate independent vicarage, in which the desecrated chapel of Dene is merged, being in that parish, and the chapels of Ashenfield and Wadnall, in this parish, long since likewise desecrated, are merged in the church of Waltham. Soon after which, the church of Waltham with its appendages, became appropriated to the above priory; in which state, together with the advowson of the vicarage, it remained till the dissolu tion of the priory in king Henry VIII.'s reign, when they came to the crown, where they did not stay long, before they were granted with the scite, and other possessions of the priory in exchange to the archbishop, part of the revenues of whose see they continue at this time, Sir John Honywood, baronet, being the present lessee of this parsonage; but the advowson of the vicarage, his grace the archbishop, who has now only the alternate presentation to it, reserves in his own hands.

In 1698 this vicarage was united to that of Petham, with the consent of the patrons of both, the archbishop, as patron of this vicarage, to have one turn, and the family of Honywood, patrons of the vicarage of Petham, the next turn, and so on in future alternately, in which state the advowson of them still continue.

This vicarage is valued in the king's books at 7l. 15s. 5d. and the yearly tenths at 16s. 0½d. Archbishop Juxon, in 1660, augmented this vicarage with twenty pounds per annum, to be paid out of the great tithes. In 1588 here were one hundred and forty-six communicants. In 1640, one hundred and twenty, and it was valued at sixty-five pounds. (fn. 8)

Church of Waltham.