church as in the chapel of St. John, at Newhythe in this parish, and all other places within it then or in future. And the tithes of businesses of profit, of butchers, of carpenters, brewers, and other artificers and tradesmen whatsoever, to this church in any wise belonging; and likewise the residue of the paschal loaf after the breaking of the same, and legacies then or which afterwards might be left to the high altar, and the rest of the altars or images. And he decreed that only the tithes of the two mills in this parish belonging to the religious, and also the great tithes of sheaves and of hay whatsoever, arising within the parish, should in future belong to the abbess and convent. And he taxed this portion of the vicar at ten marcs sterling, yearly value, according to which he declared that the vicar should pay the tenth whenever the same ought to be paid in the future, and that the vicar for the time being should undergo the burden of officiating in this church, either by himself or some other fit priest, in divine services, and in finding of bread and wine for the celebration of the sacraments, and of the two processional tapers as heretofore; and that he should receive and undergo all other profits and burthens otherwise than as before mentioned."

The vicarage is valued, we are told by Hasted, in the king's books at £10 8s. 4d., and the yearly tenths at £1 Os. 10d.

In 1349 Hamo de Heth, going on a visitation, found the monasteries of Lessness and Malling were so decayed as to be hardly restorable.

It may be worth while to mention that Lessness Abbey, near Belvedere, in Kent, did not last till the Restoration; but Henry VIII. granted it to Cardinal Wolsey (with the sanction of Pope Clement), who gave the abbot a small sum of money and turned out the monks to shift for themselves. We subjoin a list of the abbesses of Malling so far as we have succeeded in finding them during this period:

Avicia, the first abbess, who was appointed by Gundulf (and took the oath we have mentioned) in Henry I.'s reign.

De Badlesmere: this abbess was the one who was dethroned by Hamo de Heth, or de Hythe, at the desire of Edward II.

Agnes de Leybourne, chosen by Hamo in 1322; she died in 1324. Laura de Retling, chosen as her successor and refused a corrody. Elizabeth Grapnel, a nun of Malling, so described, and custodian of St. Leonards in 1343, may possibly have been abbess.

Guester de Bonasge, appointed 1344.

Isabella de P(ar)h(a)m was appointed in the year 1349 by Haymo de Hethe-the only one of the three abbesses said to be appointed in this year in William de Dene's Life of Haymo de Hythe that I find in the Rochester register.

In addition to the abbesses, the abbey had a dignitary who officiated in the abbey church, named the Prebend of the High Mass;

of those that belonged to this period the following have been preserved :-Thomas de Alkham, 1328; Radulph Roach; John Watson, 1392, also Vicar of West Malling; John Graunger, 1392; Colne de alba Clara; Thomas Gerard, 1398.

Besides the abbey of Malling, we have at this time various notices of certain chapelries that had sprung up in the neighbourhood, which we subjoin:Gregorie de Elmham, Vicar of Aylesford, in 1285 was ordered to say prayers at Cosyngton, which chapel is declared to belong to St. Mary's Hospital in Strood. In 1330 John Tredelant was licensed to the Hermitage of Longsole (long pond), near Barming Heath; he was succeeded by Robert de Kilnardeby, 1337; he by Galfridus Hert de Debenham, 1341; and he by Stephen Fynamour in 1351. Besides these we have mentioned, John Mold was chaplain in 1391, Reginald Herbe in 1453, and John Rodes in 1462.

In 1422 an inquiry was made as to whether this chapel belonged to Aylesford or Allington. Thorpe tells us that a manor pound of Allington is fixed near it, through which the inhabitants of both parishes go to beat the bounds, and one rut of the road leading from Aylesford to Barming Heath is repaired by Allington, and the other by Aylesford. The lords of Allington Castle were the patrons of this chapel. In Thorpe's days the old chapel was used for a barn; the walls had great breaches in them, and were damaged by putting in barn doors. The door-case of the chapel, at the west end, was still remaining, and the farmer remembered there was a door like a church door in the framing and finishing. There was also another old door-case still visible inside the barn, in the east wall on the north side of the altar of the chapel. A barn now occupies what remains of the ancient building. This chapel gives a protest against the foolish arrangement of this year, by which Allington has been transferred from the Malling to the Sutton deanery; a transaction contrary to geographical and all historical and ecclesiastical considerations.

The Carmelites at this time increased considerably at Aylesford. John Ringer desired to give them a priory, but died before doing so; but the friars petitioned for this and obtained it in 1369. In 1396 Richard of Maidstone was buried in the priory, and in 1404 the king granted them a spring and land (from henceforth, no doubt) called Haly (Holy) Garden in the parish of Burham.

The Friars has been turned into a modern dwelling-house. On the gateway we see the crest of the Sedleys, and the date 1590. The drawing- and dining-rooms have their ceilings beautifully decorated. There is a niche where one of the friars is supposed to have been entombed in the walls. The arches of the cloisters can still be traced. On a wall are two paintings: one of the learned monk, which says:

"Richard Maidstone, S.T.P., friar in this priory, died 1396 and was buried in this cloister.

Quid cupit hic servire deo nisi semper et esse
Pacificum, lætum, nilque perire bonum,

Sic Fovet Ecclesiam statuens Statuum moderamen
Sternere ne liceat quod statuere patres."

"Richard

The other is that of the founder, whose inscription runs: Lord Grey de Codnor, founded this Carmelite House 1240, on his return from Jerusalem." In the windows are several shields.

The chapel of St. Laurence at Upper Halling is first mentioned in 1348, when Thomas Glanville was appointed chaplain. In 1369 Thomas Watton, canon of South Malling, changed with Walter Dautre the chaplain; he was followed, it would appear, by John Bromyng, who in 1397 was succeeded by John Hall.

The chief men of this part of Kent had, during this period, two grand opportunities of recording their names: one on the occasion of the payment to knight Henry III.'s son, and the other on the payment to knight the Black Prince. On these memorable occasions the parishes were thus represented :-

On the first occasion: Allington by Robert Longchamp. Aylesford by Richard de Grey; by Richard de Rokesly, representing Tottington for Hamo le Crevecouer, and Eccles for the Count of the Isle; and by John Marsh for Preston. Birling by Robert de Engebergh for William de Say. Ditton by Ralph Schoford for the Earl of Gloucester, and William de Sifleton and William de Brampton for Ralph Schoford. Halling, under Reginald Cobham, was paid for by Adam de Langereche, Peter de Camera, Roger de Bavent, Thomas le Chivaler and William Martyn. Snodland and Trottescliffe were paid for, the former by Reginald Harynges, Henry de Pevenseye, Anselin Lad and Richard Veal; and the latter by Hugh de Cressye for the Bishop of Rochester. Ralph Chetwind paid for Paddlesworth, John Malterre for Offham, Roger Mowbray for Ryarsh, and Walter de Berstede and Roger de Leybourne for the manor of Ewell in Malling.

To knight the Black Prince the assessments were: Lord John Grey for Aylesford, 40s. William de Clinton for Leybourne, 108. The wife of William Lybaude for Tottington and Eccles, 30s. (in Aylesford). Thomas de Aldon for Sifleton in Ditton, 208. John of Cobham for Allington, 20s. Nicholas de Dagworth for Addington, 40s. Thomas de Ditton and John Melford for Offham, 40s. Thomas de Aldon for Brampton and Ditton, 30s. The Parson of Leybourne for Great Comp in Leybourne, 168. John de Huntingfield for Paddlesworth, 168. Lord Wilfrid de Say for Malling and Ewell, 208. Richard Povenashe, John Melford, John Lad and Richard le Veal for Snodland, 20s. John la Doune for Birling, 48. Roger Bavent and John Melford for Malling, 30s.

CHAPTER VI.

WARS OF THE ROSES (1399-1509.)

HE eventful Wars of the Roses, as we shall see, made some changes in the families of our part of Kent, though no one of its great battles was fought in the county. In fact, an internecine strife which may be said to have decimated the inhabitants of England, and exterminated some of its proudest families, could not have but left its mark upon men who so stood up for their rights and the constitution of England as the gallant squires of Kent. On account of the Reformation times beginning in the reign of Henry VIII., we have taken this chapter from the accession of Henry IV. to the death of Henry VII.; and really, when we examine history, we think that this period should be always dated thus, because the disturbances that began with Henry IV.'s accession never really ended till the commencement of the reign of Henry VIII., Henry V.'s French war being an attempt by that politic king to call off the thoughts of his nobility from home affairs to foreign ones. During this period the first great historical event that attracts our notice, after the battle of Shrewsbury, in which we do not find any of our families, is the rebellion-if it can be so called, since Henry IV. himself had no right to the throne-of Thomas Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham, lord of the manors of Ryarsh, Richard Scrope, Archbishop of York, the Earl of Northumberland, and Lord Bardolph. By the alertness of Ralph Nevill, Earl of Westmoreland, the insurgents were captured, and Mowbray was executed (1405); but Elizabeth his wife died in possession of Ryarsh. Their son John married Katherine the daughter of the said Ralph Nevill, and serving in France was restored to the family honours and estates by Henry V. in 1416, and died in 1432. His son John died in the first year of Edward IV. His son, who was created Earl Warenne, died fourteen years afterwards (1475), leaving an only daughter, Anne. At her death the vast possessions of the Mowbrays fell into the hands of the Howards and Berkeleys, who were descended from this family, and we soon after find Ryarsh in the hands of the Nevills.

Calais Court, or, more correctly, Carew's Court, in this parish, was a manor held by the Carews of Beddington in the reign of

Henry VI., and obtained its present nomenclature from a corruption of the name of that family.

Addington in the beginning of this century was, as we have already seen, in the hands of William Snayth, who was sheriff in 1408. He died in 1441, and was buried in the Church of Addington. Round his brass, which is that of himself and his wife with a lion, runs the inscription: "Hic jacet Willielmus Snayth, armiger quondam dominus de Adynton, ac vicecomes Kanciæ et Alicia, uxor ejus qui quidam Willielmus, obiit XII.o die Martii, anno domini MCCCCXLI. Quorum animabus propitietur Deus. Amen." Snayth left an only daughter, who married Robert Watton, who succeeded to the manor of Addington, which continued in his family till the year 1775, when the last of the Wattons died, leaving an only daughter. She carried this in marriage to the Bartholomews. In the year 1797 the manor went to the Stratfords in the same way. The Wattons who possessed Addington during the period we speak of were Robert, then William, whose will was proved in 1466, who gave directions for his body to be buried in the chapel of the Assumption of the Blessed Mary, in the parish church of Adyngton-his brass has gone; he was succeeded by his son Robert, whose brass still remains, on which we read: "Hic jacent corpora Roberti Watton, armigeri filii et hereditarii Willelmi Watton et Alicia, uxoris predicti Roberti filiæ, Johannis, clerk unius baronum saccarii domini regis qui quidam Robertus istius villæ dominus et hujus ecclesiæ, verus patronus, obiit die Novembris, anno domini MCCCCLXX. Quorum animabus propitietur Deus. Amen"; Robert was succeeded by his son Edmund,* who stands first on the Watton monument to his memory are inscribed the words: "Juxta hunc locum jacet sepultum corporis Edmundi Watton, hujusce loci armigeri qui adjunxit sibi Elizabetham filiam Roberti Arnoldi de Gillingham, in comitatu Cantii armigeri, obiit anno domini 1527.” None of these Wattons appear to have distinguished themselves.

Hasted tells of Addington that the church here was built at this period, to prove which he quotes the rhyme :

"In fourteen hundred and none
Here was neither stick nor stone;
In fourteen hundred and three

The goodly building which you see,"

Had Hasted consulted Domesday, or had he honoured Addington with a visit, the tomb of Mr. Charles would have proved to him that this rhyme could not apply to Addington in Kent; since Mr. Charles' monument is of older date, and Addington Church is mentioned both in Domesday and Textus Roffensis, together with the other churches of the neighbourhood.

The castle of Allington was in the hands of Thomas de Cobham,

* See registers of Watton family, pp. 228-9.