FARNBOROUGH
ADJOINING to Keston, eastward, lies FARNBOROUGH, called in the Textus Roffensis, FEARNBERGA. It most probably took its name from the
natural disposition of the soil to bear fern, the latter
syllable, berge, signifying in old English a little hill;
an etymology well suiting the situation of the place.
This parish lies on high ground, the soil of it is but
thin and poor. The village is situated on the high
road from London to Sevenoke, having the church on
the south side of it; about a mile north-east from it
is Tubbenden. The north-west part of the parish is
much covered with coppice wood, among which is a
hamlet, called Brasted-green. The fair is held here
on September 12, yearly.
The liberty of the duchy of Lancaster claims over
this parish, the manor of Farnborough having belonged to that duchy from the first erection of it.
FARNBOROUGH, in the reign of kingHentry kinfIIappears to have been one of the fees belonging to Simon
de Montfort, the great earl of Leicester, who being
slain at the battle of Evesham, in the 49th year of
that reign, fighting on the part of the barons, his estates and honours were seized on, and given by the
king to his second son, Edmund Plantagenet, earl of
Lancaster, father of Thomas earl of Lancaster, of
whom, in the reign of king Edward I. it was held
by the eminent family of Grandison, Otho de Grandison then making it the principal seat of his residence. (fn. 1) In the 18th year of king Edward I. he obtained licence to hold a market every week, upon a
Tuesday, here; and a fair yearly, on the feast of St.
Giles the abbot, Sept. 1; and had at the same time
a grant of free warren in all his demesne lands at
Farnborough. (fn. 2)
After having had summons to parliament, in the
27th year of that reign, he died, s. p. leaving William de
Grandison his brother, his next heir, who had likewise summons to parliament both in that and the
succeeding reign of king Edward II. By Sibilla his
wife, youngest daughter of John de Tregoze, he had
three sons; and a daughter, Agnes, married to John
de Northwood. Of the sons, Peter, the eldest, was
made a knight banneret, and resided in Herefordshire,
being summoned as a baron to parliament, and died
without issue, anno 32 king Edward III. leaving his
brother, John bishop of Exeter, his heir; and Otho,
his third son, resided at Chelsfield. (fn. 3)
In the 18th year of king Edward III. Henry earl
of Lancaster was in the possession of this manor, and
had then a renewal of the liberties above mentioned,
and an additional privilege of holding the fair on the
eve and feast of St. Giles, and the eight days following.
After the execution of his brother Thomas, who
had been beheaded at Pomfret, in the 15th year of
king Edward II. he had been restored to all his titles,
being lord of Monmouth, and earl of Lancaster, Leicester, Derby, and Lincoln. He died in 1345. (fn. 4) His
son Henry succeeded his father in this manor, in whose
life time he had been created earl of Derby. After
his death, he had the earldoms of Lancaster and Leicester, and the stewardship of England; anno 23d
king Edward III. he was created earl of Lincoln; and
at a parliament held at Westminster, in the 25th year
of that reign, duke of Lancaster. He died of the
plague, in the 35th year of that reign, leaving by Isabel his wife, daughter of Henry lord Beaumont, two
daughters his heirs, of whom Maud, the elder, married William, the fifth of that name, duke of Bavaria, &c. but dying without issue, Blanch, her younger
sister, became her heir, being coheir of her father, and
sole heir of her sister, she was fourteen years old at
her father's death, having been married before to John
of Gaunt, then earl of Richmond, fourth son of king
Edward III. (fn. 5) who, anno 36 king Edward III. had a
grant of the dukedom of Lancaster, and obtained the
royalties of it; the king, his father, advancing the
county of Lancaster into a palatinate for his benefit,
and his possessions, in whatever county they were
situated, were afterwards esteemed as part of the duchy
of Lancaster, and were under the jurisdiction of the
court of that duchy. He died anno 22 Richard II.
leaving his estates and honours to his son, Henry of
Bolingbroke, at that time in banishment, who was
possessed of both the dukedoms of Hereford and Lancaster, and having deposed king Richard II. he afterwards obtained the crown, taking upon himself the
title of Henry IV. He conferred the honour of duke
of Lancaster upon Henry his son, (afterwards king
Henry V.) and that he might entail it upon him and
his heirs for ever, dissevered it from the crown of England, and had it so confirmed by parliament. Afterwards king Henry V. by act of parliament, annexed
a very great estate to this duchy, which had come to
him in right of his mother, who was the daughter and
coheir of Humphry Bohun, earl of Hereford. After
which king Edward IV. in the 1st year of his reign,
when he had attainted king Henry VI. in parliament,
of high treason, annexed it to the crown, i.e. to him
and his heirs, kings of England. King Henry VII.
broke into this entail, by an act in his 1st year, and
the duchy of Lancaster afterwards followed the succession of the crown, and as such was in the possession
of king Charles I. at his death in 1648.
After which the powers then in being seized on the
royal estates, and the same year passed an ordinance,
to vest them (among which the duchy of Lancaster
was particularly included) in trustees, in order for their
being sold, to supply the necessities of the state. Accordingly the manor of Farnborough, commonly called the duchy court of Farnborough, belonging to
the revenue of the duchy of Lancaster, part of the
late king's possessions, was, in 1652, surveyed, and
returned—
THAT there belonged to it several chief rents or common fines, payable for lands in Farnborough, West
Wickham, Paul's Cray, and Chelsfield, and from several cottages (therein particularly mentioned) holding by copy of court roll, and at the will of the lord;
that there was a court-leet and a three-week court,
belonging to the liberty, with fines, issues, &c. and
the profits of the fair held at Farnborough on the 1st
of September yearly.
That the court leets were usually kept at Farnborough twice in a year, and the three-week court had
been usually held at the same place, but had been discontinued nine or ten years. The liberties of the court
extended to the townships of Farnborough, Chelsfield, West Wickham, Paul's Cray, and Caiston. At
the three-week court, all actions under forty shillings
were tried and determined. That Lewis, keeper of
the courts, went over to the king at Oxford, and carried all the rolls, books, &c. of the court with him,
and the parliament were forced to hold and keep a
court of survey by a jury for the better discovery thereof. (fn. 6)
At the restoration of king Charles II. in 1660, this
manor again returned to the crown, and continued,
among the revenues of it under the jurisdiction of
the duchy court of Lancaster, without any grant being made of it till 1766, when the Hon. Thomas
Walpole obtained a grant of it, under the seal of the
duchy court, the term of which was renewed in 1787,
for thirty-one years, to James Bond, esq. who, in 1788,
passed away his interest in it to Thomas Cope, esq. of
Bexley, who now possesses it.
FARNBOROUGH-HALL is an estate here, which appears to have been held by Simon de Chelesfield of
Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, in the reign of
king Henry III.
John Flemming possessed it in the reign of king
Edward I. whose heirs paid aid for it in the 20th year
of king Edward III. as one knight's see in Farnborough.
This estate went soon afterwards, by purchase, to
Petley, and again to Peche, in a short time. From
him it descended down to Sir John Peche, knightbanneret, of Lullingstone, who dying without issue,
Elizabeth his sister became his heir, and her husband,
John Hart, esq. of the Middle Temple, became in
her right entitled to it; (fn. 7) and in his descendants it
continued till Percival Hart, esq. of Lullingstone,
leaving an only daughter and heir; Anne, she carried it in marriage to her second husband, Sir Tho.
Dyke, bart. of Horeham, in Sussex, and their only
son, Sir John Dixon Dyke, bart. of Lullingstone, is
the present possessor of Farnborough-hall, and the
estate belonging to it.
TUBBENDEN'S is an antient seat in this parish the demesnes of which lie partly in this parish, and partly
in that of Orpington.
In the 21st year of the reign of king Edward I. it
was in the possession of owners of the same name; for
by a deed of that year it appears, that Gilbert Saundre of Croston, in Orpington, demised several parcels
of land to John de Tubbenden of Ferneborough, and
his sons. (fn. 8)
After this family was extinct here, the Belknaps
were owners of this place; of whom Sir Edward Belknap, son of Sir Henry, and privy-counsellor to king
Henry VII. and VIII. dying without issue, his four
sisters became his coheirs; of whom Alice, marrying Sir
Wm. Shelley, justice of the common-pleas, of Mitchel
grove, in Sussex, he, on the division of her inheritance,
became, in her right, entitled to this estate. He soon
afterwards alienated it to Posier; who, after some
years, sold it to Dalton, descended from those of that
name in Yorkshire, in which name it continued till
Anne Dalton carried it in marriage to Mr. Aunsell Becket, whose son, Mr. Matthew Becket, upon
his decease, bequeathed it by will to Mr. John Winterborn of London, who was the son of Cuthbert
Winterborn of Burnshall, in Yorkshire, in which
county his family had been upwards of one hundred
years, and bore for their arms, Argent, three piles sable. He soon after the year 1652, passed it away by
sale to William Gee, esq. of Bishop's Burton, in Yorkshire, (fn. 9) who conveyed it to Thomas Brome, esq. made
a sergeant-at-law in the year 1660, whose arms are in
one of the windows of Gray's-inn hall, viz. Azure, a
dexter hand, couped at the wrist, and extended in pale argent, with a crescent, for difference; and underneath,
his name and addition of title. (fn. 10) He resided at Tubbenden's, and dying in 1673, was buried in this church.
His grandson, Col. John Brome, who resided here,
married Elizabeth, daughter and only child of George
Berkeley, prebendary of Westminster, second son of
George earl of Berkeley, and had by her several chil
dren. He died in 1747, being succeeded in the inheritance of his estates by his two surviving daughters;
one of whom married ......Clarke, M.D. and the
other Mr. John Hamond, surgeon, at Chatham, and
he, in her right, became intitled to Tubbenden's, of
which he died possessed in 1774, leaving two daughters his coheirs, one of whom married ...... Brown,
and the other James Primrose Maxwell, esq. of Lynn,
in Dorsetshire, the latter of whom, in his wife's right,
is become the present proprietor of it.
Charities.
GEORGE DALTON by will, in 1566, gave 3s. 4d. annually to
the poor for ever, to be distributed on the next Sunday after the
feast of St. Peter, charged on the Tubbenden estate, vested in the
church-wardens, and the annual produce of the above sum.
STEPHEN BRAZIER by his will, left a tenement, garden, and
orchard, in this parish, the profits to be equally divided between
the poor of this parish, and of Chelsfield for ever, and vested it in
five feoffees for that purpose.
FARNBOROUGH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL
Jurisdiction of the diocese of Rochester and deanry
of Dartford. The church, which stands at the southeast end of the village, is dedicated to St. Giles the
abbot.
On Dec. 26, 1639, it was so rent and torn by a
violent storm of wind, that the inhabitants were forced
to take it down and rebuild it, as appears by a brief
granted for that purpose in the 17th year of king
Charles I.
In this church, among others, are the following monuments
and inseriptions. In the body, two grave stones for Eliz. Wyatt
and Francis, son of Mr. Rich. Wyatt, who both died young. In
the great chancel, a memorial for Elizabeth, wife of John Brome,
esq. of this parish, ob. 1730, æt. 38, leaving five children; she
was daughter and only child of George Berkeley, prebendary of
Westminster, second son of George earl of Berkeley, and also for
John Brome, esq. who died in 1747, æt. 53; above a shield of arms,
being quarterly, of two coats, first and fourth, a dexter hand,
couped at the wrist, and extended in pale; second and third, ermine on a cross quarter pierced four per de molines, impaling
Berkeley. On the north side of the altar is an elegant mural mo
nument and inscription for T. Brome, esq. sergeant, ob. 1673, æt.
68; beneath, on a tablet, is an inscription, shewing that the above
monument was put up by Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Sir Walter Mansel, knt. and bart. on the top of the monument, two
shields, the first Brome, the second Mansell, a chevron between
three maunches. Within the alter rails, an inscription for Sergeant Brome above mentioned, and Margaret his second wife, by
whom he had six children. At top, the arms of Brome, impaling
a lion rampant. A monument for Wm. Brome, esq. late of Tappendence, in this parish, ob. 1730, æt. 67. (fn. 11)
This church is only a chapel to the adjoining parish
of Chelsfield, the rector of which is instituted to the
rectory of Chelsfield, with the chapel of Farnborough
annexed.
By virtue of a commission of enquiry into the value of
church livings, in 1650, out of chancery, it was returned, that Farnborough had been a chapel of ease
to Chelsfield, and was already fitly divided; it had
only one acre of land, and an old house, belonging to
it, the parsonage being worth, at most, thirty pounds
per annum, one master John Montagu the minister. (fn. 12)
John King, rector of the parish church of Chelesfield, with the chapel of Farnberg annexed, brought
his suit in the consistory court of the bishop, against
John Bertone, alias Botelere, of Farnberg, possessor of
Diceris-croft in Farnberg, for withholding an annual
spiritual pension due from the profits of it to the rector
of Chelesfield, in right of his church, which had always
been paid beyond the memory of man, excepting by
him, who neither appearing nor making any defence,
the official passed a desinitive sentence in favour of
the rector. (fn. 13)