CHALLOCK
LIES the next parish westward from Godmersham.
It is, the greatest part of it, in the lower half of the
hundred of Felborough, and the rest in that of Wye.
The manor of Godmersham claims over the former, in
which the Lees, the eastern and south-eastern parts of
this parish are included; and the liberty of Wye manor
claims over the remaining part in the latter hundred.
There are two boroughs in this parish, those of pested
and Challock.
THIS PARISH lies on high ground, in a healthy,
though rather an unfrequented country. The soil is
in general poor and barren, the upper part of it is covested with slints, and the rest of it a stiff clay. In the
middle of the parish is a large common, called Challock lees, so called from the Saxon word leswe, which
signifies a pasture, which extends itself, in two branches,
near two miles in length. At the end of the lees is the
principal village, in which is a good house, called the
Clock-house, from a square tower and clock in it, adjoining to the house; it belongs to, and is inhabited by
Mr. Thomas Young, who some years ago erected a
windmill near it, for grinding seeds, the first of the kind
erected in these parts. In 1779, a flash of lightning,
which was instantaneously succeeded by a very loud
clap of thunder, set fire to this mill, and it was burnt
down, but it was immediately afterwards built up again.
Nearly at the opposite part of the lees is another hamlet of houses, where it is called Lorendens forstall; in
the whole there may be upwards of sixty houses in it.
On the sides of this parish, (excepting the south) there
are great quantities of coppice-wood; great part of
that on the north and west parts being called Longbeech-wood, which contains about eleven hundred
acres, most of which is within the bounds of this parish, and belongs to the archbishop, Sir Edward Dering, bart. being lessee of it. Archbishop Parker, in
1570, was sued in the court of exchequer, for selling
some part of this wood, under pretence of its being
the queen's, and the council determined it in his favor;
yet the archbishop was obliged to relinquish his right
to it; but archbishop Whitgift, on his first advancement to the see, found such favor with the queen as to
recover the possession of it, and turned out Sir James
Crosts, who then held it under the crown. (fn. 1) The
church stands at the bottom of the hill, along which
there are several very large sand-stones, about three
quarters of a mile from the village, and close adjoining
to the pales of Eastwell-park, the greatest part of which
is within this parish. The high turnpike road from
Faversham through Sheldwich to Ashford, crosses this
parish. Before the present trust was created by parliament for this road, the old road through this parish
went still more southward close to the park; but the
last lord Winchelsea procured it to be turned more to
the north, and rather than have his farm cut through
by the new making of it, as was intended, gave the
woodland to the public, in order for it to be made
where it now goes; as does another branch of it along
the north side of it, from Faversham to Charing and
the Weald of Kent. At Blacks-sorstall, in this parish,
the ground is so exceeding high, that both the seas may
be seen from it; that is, on one side, the Thames'
mouth, and on the other, the harbour before Rye.
William the Conqueror, on his foundation of the
abbey of Battel, in Sussex, granted a fair to it, to be
held in that part of this parish in the hundred of Wye,
on the day of St. Cosinus and Damian, Sept. 27, for
one day; the privileges and profits of which belonged
to the abbey at the suppression of it, in the 30th year of
king Henry VIII. when it came, with the manor of
Wye, to which it seems to have been an appurtenance,
into the hands of the crown, and was afterwards, from
time to time, granted as such with that manor;
George Finch Hatton, esq. of Eastwell, the present lord
of Wye manor, being now the proprietor of this fair
as appurtenant to it. This fair is now held, by the alteration of the stile, on the 8th of October yearly, and
is accounted a great fair for the sale of cattle of all
sorts.
OTTERPLEY is a manor here, the mansion of which
has been for many years pulled down, and the scite and
demesnes of it, which lay near Eastwell, included in
the upper park there, which was formerly from it called
Aperfields garden. This was one of the seats, of which
there were several in this county, belonging to the antient family of Appulderfield, called by contraction,
Apperfield, whose original arms, Ermine, a fess vaire,
or, and gules, as well as their augmentation, granted by
king Richard I. to Henry de Apulderfield, Sable, a
cross, or, voided of the field, are in several places on the
roof of Canterbury cloisters, and in the windows of
several churches in that city. Henry de Apulderfield,
who resided at Apulderfield, in Cowdham, was possessed
of it in the reign of Henry III. and is said to have had
a grant anno 38 of that reign, of a market and fair at
his manor of Otterpley, but if ever they were held, they
have been long since disused. His descendant Henry
de Apulderfield held his shrievalty at Otterpley, in the
50th year of king Edward III. being the last of that
prince's reign. From him it passed to Richard, lord
Poynings, who died possessed of it in the 11th year of
king Richard II. His grandson Richard left a sole
daughter and heir Eleanor, who married Sir Henry
Percy, afterwards earl of Northumberland, and he in
her right became afterwards possessed of this manor.
How long it continued in his descendants I have not
found; but in the reign of king Henry VII. it was become the property of Moyle, whose descendant Sir
Thomas Moyle, of Eastwell, chancellor of the court of
augmentation, dying in 1560, without male issue, Catherine his daughter and coheir carried it in marriage
to Sir Thomas Finch, of Eastwell, whose son Sir Moyle
Finch, of Eastwell, having in 1589 obtained licence to
inclose his grounds in Eastwell and the adjoining parishes, for a park, this manor and the scite of the antient mansion of Otterpley, were included by him
within the pale of it, in that part of it called the upper
park, near Eastwell, and the mansion of it, pulled down.
Since which it has continued in the same succestion of
ownership with that park and manor, down to George
Finch Hatton, esq. now of Eastwell, the present proprietor of it. (fn. 2)
LORRINGDEN AND DEAN are two manors in this
parish, the former of which is written in antient deeds,
Lourding, alias Lurdingden, and was formerly possessed
by a family of that name, the place on which it stands
being yet called Loringdens forstal; and Philipott
says, that there was a tradition very frequent among the
country people in these parts, that Loringden was once
the mansion of gentlemen of this name, one of whom
had a combat with one of the Apulderfields, of Otterpley, about the building of a chapel in the valley, which
was pretended by Loringden to have been erected on
his land. The latter manor antiently belonged to
owners likewise of its own name, who stiled themselves
from their residence here, as appeared by several antient
deeds without date, At-Dean, and sometime A-Dean,
and at last Dean. When the Loringdens lest their possessions here, I cannot find; but from the earliest deeds
remaining, which reach no higher than the reign of
king Henry IV. that manor was become the property
of Cadman, a family which had been long before resident in this neighbourhood, and who in the reign of
Henry VI. became, by purchase from the Deans, likewise possessed of the manor of Dean.
These manors continued in the family of Cadman
till the beginning of king James I.'s reign, when by a
sole daughter and heir Mary, they went in marriage
to William Plumer, gent. of Cranbrooke, (fn. 3) who died
in 1622, and by will devised them to his second son,
William Plumer, who was likewise of Cranbrooke,
and he afterwards alienated them to Peers, one of whose
descendants John Peirs, at his death in 1685, devised
these manors by will to his only daughter and heir Elizabeth, (fn. 4) who entitled her husband Thomas Brisley, of
this parish, to them. Their two sons, William and
Thomas Brisley, succeeded to them as coheirs in gavelkind; and on a division of their inheritance, the
latter became possessed of the whole property of these
manors, which he conveyed in 1737 to Mr. Edward
Watts, of Bersted, who on his death devised them to
his great-nephew Mr Edward Watts, gent. of Gravesend, the present owner of them.
There were formerly several families of good account resident in this parish, and possessed of considerable estates in it for a long series of years, the Lewknor
resided at Bodshead, in this parish. Richard Lewknor
was resident here in the reign of queen Elizabeth, as
was his son William; soon after which this estate came
in to the possession of the Moyles, by one of whom it
was laid into Eastwell park. The house is on the west
side of the avenue leading from Challock lees to Eastwell house. They bore for them arms, Azure, three
chevrons, argent, an annulet for difference. The Gyles's,
who had been long settled in this county, and were
owners of Lords, in Sheldwich, as early as Richard II. resided here, but they are now extinct. Several
of them lie buried in this church, and their wills are
in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury. The Hawkers, as appears by their wills in the same office,
were settled here as early as the reign of king
Edward IV. and that they were resident here till
the middle of the last century. The family is, I believe, now extinct, the last of them being Mr. Gibbon
Hawker, gent. of Sittingborne, who died unmarried
some years ago; they bore for their arms, Sable, a
back standing on a perch, argent. And the Thurstons,
written likewise in their several wills, Thurstyn and
Thursian, likewise were resident here as early as king
Edward IV.'s reign, when they were possessed of estates
here called Baylis, Propchauntis, and Parvoche. Several of them lie buried in this church and churchyard, the last in 1632; soon after which they became
extinct here, their arms being, Argent, on a bend, gules,
three mullets, or. The familes of the Gyles's, Hawkers, and Thurstans, had continued intermarriages one
with the other, as appears by their vills, all of whom
have been removed from hence many years.
Charities.
THOMAS BAKKE, of Challock, by will in 1485, ordered possession to be delivered to the guardians of the church of Challock, and to ten or twelve principal or senior men of the same,
of and in his two tenements called Bretts and Haiors, with eight
acres of land in this parish, to hold for ever, with a renewal of
the feossment. And he ordered that the guardians should ever
provide one good fermour to hold the premises of them, in the
name of the church, and of the money received thence, and he
ordered certain services to be performed in this church.
WILLIAM OURE, yeoman, of Challock, by will in 1618, devised to the poor of Pest-street, in this parish, after the manner
of Almesland, two acres of land called Priecrast, provided it
should be always occupied by those who should occupy his then
dwelling-house at Pest-street, who should yearly for ever pay to
the poor, as a rent, five bushels of wheat yearly for ever, to such
poor as by his feoffees should be appointed, with power of distress, &c. on non-payment. And if it happened that his feoffees
at any time should die, or leave the parish, that then the churchwardens and overseers should have the like authority to order it
for the poor.
A house and two acres of land, near the church, seemingly the
above-mentioned land, was heretofore allotted to the parish clerk's
use, who lived in it; but that being burnt down about 12 years
ago, the overseers, &c. have taken the land, and applied the profits to the general use of the poor of the parish.
The poor constantly relieved are about twenty; casually the
same number.
THIS PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of
Bridge.
The church stands at the boundaries of the hundred
of Felborough, part of the church-yard, being in the
hundred of Wye. It is said to have been founded by
one of the family of Apulderfield, and consists of three
isles, a high and a north chancel, having at the west
end a tower steeple embattled, with a beacon turret
at the south-east corner, in which hang four bells.
There are several memorials in this church for the
Gyles's, Hawkers, and Thurstans. In the north chancel, on the south side, there is a plain flat tomb, very
antient; and on the north side, a low plain tomb, cos
fin-shaped; and on the pavement, an antient gravestone of the like shape, with five or six letters, in French
capitals, remaining on the upper side, but illegible.
There has been much good painted glass, as appears
by different fragments in the windows. In the north
isle still remain the arms of Apulderfield, Ermine, a
bend vaire, or, and gules; and in the east window of it
a shield, 1st and 4th, as above; second, Azure, fretty,
argent; third, Azure, a lion rampant-guardant, double
tailed, or. The north chancel is now repaired by the
parish. Part of one of the isles is said formerly to have
belonged to the Lewknors to repair. In the churchyard are six yew-trees, of a remarkable large size. The
lessee of the parsonage now repairs the chancel; but
in the endowment of the vicarage, the repair of it was
allotted to the vicar.
The church of Challock is esteemed only as a chapel
of ease to that of Godmersham, and as such is not rated
separately in the king's books.
The parsonage or great tithes of this parish, like
that of Godmersham, was parcel of the possessions of
the priory of Christ church, in Canterbury, and on the
dissolution of it, in the 31st year of king Henry VIII.
came into the hands of the crown, where it staid till
queen Elizabeth, in her 3d year, exchanged it, among
other premises, with archbishop Parker, when it was
valued at 14l. 13s. 4d. per annum. Since which it
has continued to this time parcel of the possessions of
the see of Canterbury. Mr. John Hilton, of Sheldwich, is the present lessee of it.
This church being a chapel of ease to that of Godmersham, constitutes a part of that vicarage, though it
had a separate endowment, (fn. 5) and the vicar of Godmersham is presented and instituted to that church, with
the chapel of Challock annexed. It is separated from
the jurisdiction of the archdeacon. Archbishop Juxon,
in conformity to the king's letters mandatory, anno 15
Charles II. augmented this vicarage with a pension of
ten pounds per annum, to be paid by the lessee of the
parsonage. The lessee of the parsonage claims all
tithes in this parish, (except turneps, hops, potatoes,
gardens, and of lands pastured, which belong to the
vicar) and are worth to him about twenty-six pounds
per annum. There are no tithes payable from woodland in this parish.
In 1588 here were communicants one hundred and
seventy-seven. In 1640, only one hundred and twenty.