THE DOVER EXPRESS AND EAST KENT NEWS—FRIDAY, JUNE 21, 1901.

V. EAST LANGDON.

Leaving the bleak open country north of Guston, a charming lane, snugly hedged, lures us onward, a quaint old church looks down over the left hedgerow, a sharp corner is rounded, and then we are right in the midst of East Langdon.

A First Glance at the Village.

Standing by the broad steps leading up into the Churchyard a rustic cottage with a little lawn in front forms a sort of buffer state between God's Acre and the farm buildings of Manor Court Mansion, standing on the rising ground to the north. Over the way are more farm buildings, beyond which the road zigzags its course through the village, passing the Rectory, and other farmsteads, the Four Bells Inn, cottages on either side, the Post Office, the Primitive Methodist Chapel, and then a continuation of the deeply hedged lane which leads to Martin and Martin Mill Railway Station. Such, briefly sketched, is East Langdon. Now let us retrace our steps and take a more detailed view of the situation.

Up the Villiage Street.

Near the entrance of the village is a Primitive Methodist Chapel, built, so says a stone on its frontal gables, in the year 1875. Near by are the workshops of the tradesmen of East Langdon, the smith and the carpenter, in the hands of a branch of the Finnis famlily, which has long been established here. The cottages which line the road appear to be mostly more than a century old, and some probably much older; but East Langdon Post Office is of a distinctly different period, constructed mainly of modern corrugated iron, and standing in a garden, wears a pleasing aspect of rusticity. A little further is the farmstead of Mr. Prebble, with its substantial residence, remarkable for its army of windows. The farm buildings round about it seem to have been undergoing extensive repairs. The Four Bells Inn, presenting an inviting roadside porch and a fresh appearance, for which the painter is in some degree responsible, is a decidedly better looking hostelry than most villages can boast. Its host is Mr. E. Jones, and its owner Messrs. Thompson and Son, of Walmer. This house evidently has a history. Its name, the “Four Bells,” has reference to the four bells in the tower of the Church, and probably it dates from about the period when those four bells were introduced in the reign of Charles I. Next we came to the Rectory standing in a pretty lawn, nicely shaded with trees. Attached is a 2½ acre glebe, a part of the ancient endowment. There has been a change at the Rectory recently, the late Rector, the Rev. James Lindsay, M.A., having resigned a few months since, and the new Rector, the Rev. H. Price, although in residence, has not yet been formally instituted. After passing the Rectory we come to the village well. East Langdon, like other parts of this chalky district, had to laboriously draw water for domestic use from deep wells until the East Kent Waterworks offered a better alternative. This well is still public property. Over it is a notice dated 1801, intimating that the well is the property of the Rural Sanitary Authority, and that any person found polluting or damaging it will be prosecuted. Another later notice, dated 1898, Indicated that in spite of the foregoing warning the pollution has by some means boon effected, for the notice states “The water in this well is unfit for drinking purpose, and the public are warned against using it,” so that at the present time East Langdon would be in a dilemma if the Water Company had not come to their aid. We have now reached the head of the village, where stands the Church, East Langdon Court, the School, the house of the School Mistress, a pretty residence belonging to Mr. Prebble that is waiting for a tenant, and four new cottages recently built by Mr. Lewis, of Dover, for the Earl of Guilford’s labourers. To this detailed account of East Langdon of to-day, let us add a little history.

Early Village history.

Ancient records have the name of this place written East Lange Dune, being the eastern end of the long down. How long there has been a community settled here is not definitely recorded, but in the Saxon days of Edward the Confessor four occupiers of the land are mentioned by name, Lefftan, Lewin, Eluret and Sired, and there were two others not named. The liberty of frank pledge was enjoyed here in the early Norman days, that is, a head man was chosen as answerable for the rest, and to secure them their freedom, as long as they were of good behaviour. The head man, or borseholder, was chosen annually at East Langdon Manor Court.

History of East Langdon Manor.

The Monastery at Canterbury founded by Augustine had at an early part of the Saxon period this Manor of East Langdon as a part of its endowment. About the time of the Conquest this possession was wrested from the Convent by some powerful men, but in the year 1110 Hugo the Abbot recovered it in the King’s Courts against one Manassas Arsic, who was then in unjust possession. When East Langdon Manor came back to its original owners the revenue from it was allocated for the clothing of the St. Augustine Monks. This Manor remained in the possession of St. Augustine Monastery until it was dissolved by Henry VIII, and then the revenues were granted by the King to Archbishop Cranmer. Soon after, however, the Crown took the Manor back in exchange for other lands, and the King then granted it, together with the advowson of the parsonage, to John Master, who held it together with property in Guston for Knight’s service. This gentleman resided at East Langdon Court, where he died in the year 1588, having dwelt in the village 46 years. His eldest son, James Master, rebuilt the Mansion of Langdon Court, and carried out other works for the benefit of the village. In the year 1631 he made a will, by which he bequeathed “to the Churchwardens and Overseers £10 as a stock for the poor, to be bestowed on wool and hemp to set them to work towards their maintenance, they to receive such benefit as should arise from the working of it; and as he had repaired the house belonging to the clerk, that it might be a help for some poor body, being unprovided of a house and not able to hire one, his will therefore was, and he thought it very reasonable in respect of the charge that he had bestowed, that it should be for some person to dwell in rent free, and so from time to time as it should become void, and when the house should want reparations, that he that dwelt in the Mansion House at East Langdon should sufficiently repair it at all times.” This stock is apparently now lost, or it may have been transferred to the Workhouse that was established for similar purposes at Martin Street rather more than 100 years later. The house for the “poor body” probably has some connection with that now reserved for the School Mistress. The Manor Court remained the residence of the Master family two generations longer, James Master being succeeded by Sir Edward Master, and then another James Master, Richard Master, and the last of the race, James Master, who about the year 1701 alienated the Manor to Vice Admiral Matthew Aylmer, who in the year 1712 sold the lands and Court to Sir Henry Furness, of Waldershare, from whom it passed by the marriage of his grand-daughter Catherine to the Earl of Guilford. The glories of Langdon Court passed with the last of the Master family, and since 1701 it has been let as a farm house attached to the Manor ‘Farm, its present occupant being Mr. William Eastes, and the Earl of Guilford, its owner.

The Manor of Pising.

This is another manor in East Langdon parish possessing a long and interesting history. The Manor of Pising, or Pineham, as it is now called, was the property of the Crown in Edward the Confessor's time, and at the Conquest it was seized by Bishop Odo, Earl of Kent. It was held afterwards by Hugo de Port, which probably meant Hugo of the Port of Dover, there being a Hugo at Dover at that time who held several estates in this neighbourhood on condition that he should supply a certain number of men-at-arms for the defence of Dover Castle. These lands were held for similar service by a succession of knights until the thirteenth century, when they became attached to St. Radigund’s Abbey, where they remained till its dissolution. Then Pising Manor passed to the See of Canterbury.

History of the Church.

The most interesting history attached to East Langdon is undoubtedly that of the Church. It is not a very large edifice, and the building of it could not have been a very costly affair. Hasted, who wrote of it just two years over a century ago, described it as “small and mean, consisting of a nave, small aisle on the south side only, a chancel, and a wooden tower at the west end, with a spire much out of perpendicular, in which are four bells, none of which are ancient.” The bells, none of which are ancient.” The wooden tower and its leaning spire have now given place to a handsome square tower built at the restoration of 1892, under the able supervision of Mr. Loftus Brock, architect. In that gentleman’s opinion the Church had many points of interest. The tower that he built, which was intended to be altogether a new creation, he found on digging was on the foundation of an ancient tower that had long disappeared. He also discovered on the removal of the west gallery, two small windows, which he judged to be of Saxon origin, and he found a built-up doorway in the wall of the south aisle, which he regarded as of Saxon date. Other parts of the building seem to be of various dates from early Norman down to the days of Elizabeth. The interior, to which the Rev. H. Price, the new rector, kindly acted as guide, has many points of interest. There is, for instance, the curious piece of gold embroidery described by some as a pulpit cloth, and by others as a cope. It is of crimson velvet. The embroidered work, one writer says, represents the Annunciation, and another more particularly describes it as embroidered with the words Jesu, Maria, and two large female figures in gold embroidery kneeling before two altars with a book on each, with a scroll issuing from their mouths, and underneath an imperfect inscription in Latin. This ancient embroidery at the time of the restoration of the Church was carefully repaired, mounted on an oak frame, and is enclosed in a glass case, which is placed against the wall of the south aisle. A copy of it was worked on an altar cloth by Mrs. Bliss, the wife of the Rural Dean, and presented to the Church a few years ago. There is, fixed on the wall near the pulpit, an hour-glass stand, which held the glass by which preachers in former times measured the length of their discourses. There is a story told of one long-winded rector, who, when the sands were run out, would turn it over and say “We’ll have another glass.” There was formerly a brass plate in this Church to the memory of the Master family but it is now lost. There is a mural tablet to the memory of Thomas Marsh, of Martin, who died in the year 1634. The bowl of the font lay for a long time in the churchyard, but it has recently been replaced in the Church on a handsome cluster pillar, the gift of Mrs. Banks, of Oxney. There are also two stained-glass windows, the gift of Messrs. W. and R. Coleman, in memory of members of their family. The four bells which are now hung in the new tower formerly were in the wooden turret which was probably specially erected for their reception when they were first hung in the year 1627. That was about the time when James Master rebuilt the Manor House and repaired the Clerk's house; and as this Church was attached to the Manor it is probable that he, at the same time, carried out a restoration of the Church, adding the bell turret and the four bells. Some two years ago, the Rev. T. S. Frampton, F.S.A., compiled a complete list of the rectors and patrons of this Church from the year 1300. During that period of 600 years there have been 35 rectors, averaging a tenure of about 17 years each. Some of the terms were very short, and amongst those who were the longest stayers were Thomas le Coupere, instituted in 1310, who held the rectory 40 years; Valentinus atte Gate, who resigned in 1405, after holding his office 43 years; William Osborne, M.A., was rector 33 years, he was instituted during the Civil War, and held the office during the Commonwealth time, and died in office 14 years after the Restoration; Thomas de Lannoy was rector 12 years in the eighteenth century, and 30 years in the nineteenth, making a term of 42 years; and William Dugdale Astley was rector from 1852 till 1886, resigning after a term of 34 years. The patronage of the living was in the gift of the Abbot and Convent of St. Augustine from the beginning down to 1524, except that in 1420 Henry VI. took a turn and presented Thomas Dovor. In the last year but one of the reign of Henry VIII. Richard Wallar made one presentation. The living was in the gift of the Master family from 1550 to 1679. Then Admiral Aylmer, Sir Robert Furness, and the Earl of Rockingham presented one each, covering the period from 1701 to 1738, and since then the patronage has been exercised by the Earls of Guilford. The living is no great prize so far as emoluments go, the income being barely £100 a year, but it is a spot where, as we have shown, several eminent clergymen have laboured for long periods, and it may be hoped that the rev. gentleman last presented will add another long stayer to the list.

In the Old Churchyard.

And now, before bidding East Langdon “Good-evening,” let us linger a-while in the old Churchyard—

Where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap,

Each in his narrow cell for ever laid.

The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.

The churchyard of East Langdon has been a burying place for probably a thousand years. In that long stretch of time how many of the villagers have been garnered here? They that now live in the village are but a handful to the generations that slumber beneath the churchyard turf. Of those who have age after age been gathered side by side, how few memorials are left! Excepting one mural slab inside the church there is not a memorial that, goes back two centuries. Several dumb witnesses stand sentry at the heads of graves, wind and weather having effectually obliterated the records fondly inscribed in loving memory; although some of the cunning ornamentation of the stone-cutter’s work still remains. The oldest memorial we could decipher was in memory of Thomas Hammond, who died in June 133 years ago. The next oldest is of interest to Dover folk, being in loving memory of Mrs. Mary Sankey, wife of Mr. John Sankey, of this parish, who died October, 1771, aged 30 years. It is not usual to put Mr. and Mrs. on tombstones, and it may be inferred that the object of these prefixes was to indicate that the persons named were respected parishioners. Near by there is a more pretentious monument to the memory of William Sankey, F.K.C.S., who on the 5th of March, 1866, died, aged 77 years, at Dover, where he exercised his profession for fifty years. Dr. Sankey was a name well-known in Dover in the last generation, and it may be inferred that Mr. John and Mrs. Mary Sankey, of this village, were his grandfather and grandmother. Other names well remembered in the village are on the moss grown stones around—Laurence 1803, Johnson 1808, Baker 1805, the Colemans, the Prebbles, and others who have toiled through life's little day at Langdon as some of their respected descendants are now doing.

East Langdon a Healthy Village.

Of the salubrity of East Langdon there is ample evidence. It has no slums, and the majority of the life records bear witness to longevity. It is not a place where many fortunes are made, but in this pleasant village long life and health are enjoyed. It is true that some, after a hard struggle in life’s battle here drift into the workhouse or have to depend on outdoor relief; but although poverty has overtaken them, they are hale and full of years. There are four old men from East Langdon in the Dover Union Workhouse whose united ages make a total of 319 years; and there are four old women in the parish receiving outdoor relief, and their united ages add up to 321 years. Those who by good fortune and thrift have passed their lives independent of parish aid, can show even a better age record, for this salubrious and somewhat sleepy village is a place where men seem to live long and—let us hope—die happy.