THE DOVER EXPRESS AND EAST KENT NEWS—FRIDAY, JULY 12. 1901.

VIII.—WEST LANGDON.

There are many ways to West Langdon, all more or less primitive. The nearest approach of the railway is at Martin Mill, and from thence a walk across the fields is pleasant.

Langdon Abbey.

Passing East Langdon on the right, and ascending the rising ground, Langdon Abbey comes in view, or, rather, the congregation of ancient trees where the Abbey formerly stood. Viewing the place from the opposite upland, one is able to take a rapid excursion to the days of Sir William de Auborville, who varied his martial life, as defender of Dover Castle, with planting and tending a community of White Canons in this lovely rural spot, just as nowadays a city merchant makes it his hobby at this, his country residence, to keep a line herd of Jersey cows. The trees, tall and luxuriant, form an effective screen around the spot where Sir William chose to build his abbey in the year 1192, and it is easy to imagine the Prior and his monks living their simple lives in that lovely spot,—yet not so very simple either. They had visitors from the great world without occasionally. Probably the place looked much as it does now, with perhaps just a touch more of Autumn tint about it, when on August 3rd, 1320, the young Prince of Wales visited this place after returning from France, where he had given away a part of his father’s French possessions to purchase a force to enable him and his mother to oust his weak and vacillating parent from the throne. It would be easy to make a fancy sketch of what happened down amongst the trees yonder when that prodigal son arrived. He was a rising son just then and would, in a few months, be on the throne therefore, it is more than probable his unfilial conduct was condoned by the White Canons who very likely killed for him the fatted calf and ate, drank, and were merry. In later years there were other visitors at the abbey some who, according to the strict rules of the order, should not have been there, and it was owing to irregularities of this sort that the Abbot at the time of Henry VIII. hastened to surrender his house and lands to the King a little in advance of the general dissolution of monasteries, in order that the deeds and the members of his household should not be submitted to too close scrutiny. After the surrender of the abbey, the manor remained in the possession of the Crown till the days of Elizabeth, when it was granted to Samuel Thornhill, who built, or rather rebuilt the mansion, giving to it the Elizabethan style it to some extent still retains. The manor house, after the days of the Thornhills, was held by the Master family of East Langdon. Since then there have been several changes in its ownership, and now it is the property of Mr. W. P. Hampton, city merchant, who has come down into East Kent with the idea that pastoral pursuits properly carried on, can be made to yield both pleasure and profit.

An Up-to-date Dairy Farm.

As we look at Langdon Abbey from the adjoining fields, and count between fifty and sixty splendid looking cows waiting to be milked, and notice in the adjoining padded cows that are the proud possessors of calves, there seems to be primu facie evidence that the problem of successfully conducting  a dairy farm has been solved. Following the path through the farmstead, further evidence appears of an up-to-dateness which indicates an abundance of capital expenditure on convenient, roomy and hygienic cowsheds. The machinery and methods employed all seem new and this quiet rural spot, in spite of its ancient associations, is quite modern in all that it essential to the promotion of pastoral prosperity.

Around the Village Green.

A short walk over another field brings us to West Langdon village, which lies in a hollow, with the village green in the centre, surrounded by the houses, which include several cottages, the Rose Inn, and the Congregational Chapel. On the north side of green is the village well, under the special protection of the Rural District Council, its apparatus for raising the water so precious in these parts being in good order. The chapel is on the north-east of the green, a neat little building. A resident stated that the services here were for many years conducted acceptably by Mr. Wadsworth, a much esteemed evangelist from Dover, but he, being now unable to come so far, several preachers from Dover come in turns to conduct the services, there being usually a good gathering of worshippers.

The Church and Churchyard.

Leading up from the Green is a road to the Parish Church, which is on the west side of the village. It is a neat little structure, quite modern in appearance, consisting of a nave only, and a bell loft over the west door. The building is of flints, with masonic dressing of free stone. This church is included in the united vicarages of Whitfield and Waldershare. The churchyard is nicely kept, and the monuments therein are mostly modern, although there are a few of older date, some evidently placed there when the church was in ruins, for this church, which was roofless for centuries, was rebuilt in 1869. The oldest monument is but a fragment, and its inscription is not readable, but it is supposed to be in memory of one of the Thornhills who held Langdon Abbey Farm before the time of the Commonwealth. A monument erected in the time when the church was in ruins, is in memory of Lucy and Robert Morris, husband and wife, who died respectively in 1815 and 1830, There are monuments to the memory of the Taylor family, who held the manor prior to the present owner, a very handsome white marble slab in the form of a partly unrolled scroll is in memory of Benjamin Taylor, born 1820 and died 1891. He was for several years a member of the Dover Board of Guardians, and the last of the Taylors of Langdon Abbey. Near the east end of the church is a headstone on which there is a long inscription of more than ordinary interest. It runs as follows:— “Here lieth the remains of Thomas Ash, who was for 68 years a Local Preacher amongst the Wesleyan Methodists, and who died March 9th, 1871, aged 87 years. This venerable man became a fine example of the early Methodist preachers, disregarding fatigue in the prosecution of his labours, persistently defying the obstructions caused by the fact that he was a cripple. He made the sacred Scriptures his uniform study, and out of them was enabled by the Holy Spirit to minister to the people of his choice the unsearchable riches of Christ. For upwards of sixty years his ministrations were always appreciated and appreciatable in the Deal and Dover Circuits, and nowhere was he more esteemed than in his own native village of Langdon, in which he lived and died, the friend of all and the enemy of none.” The stone hearing this inscription is in a good state of preservation, and is likely to stand as a silent witness to the life and labours of Thomas Ash for many years to come. This churchyard contains two stunted yew trees, which probably are as old as the original church.

The Ancient Church.

The ancient church of West Langdon had a register dating from 1630, but the edifice was was much older, in fact at the earliest date in its existing register it was falling into decay. The origin of this church is not definitely recorded. In consisted of a nave and chancel, and was never much larger than now. It was anciently appendant to the manor, and was in the patronage of the Prior of Langdon. After the last Prior surrendered his rights and privileges to Henry VIII., the patronage went to the See of Canterbury, and the church went to ruin. It was in a ruinous state in the year 1600 when Sir Thomas Peyton, of Knowlton, undertook to repair it, causing to be brought to the spot a quantity of timber for that purpose; but the country people felt no necessity for the rebuilding, seeing that there was a church not more that three-quarters of a mile away at East Langdon, so during the nights they carried off Sir Thomas Peyton’s timber for fire wood, and to the same use they put the pulpit and pews that had been left standing in the old edifice, as well as the rafters and all the other timber that was there. The dilapidated walls remained roofless for more than two hundred years, and amongst the rubbish in the chancel was a grave stone in memory of Sir Timothy Thornhill, once owner of the abbey. But although the parish was so long without a church, it has always had a vicar, the vicar of East Langdon always being nominated by the Archbishop as curate of West Langdon until the rebuilding of the church in 1869.

An Example of Petite Culture.

There is very little to be seen in English villages of the petite culture that contributes so much to the national prosperity of France, but at Church Farm, a small holding adjoining the church, a Frenchman, M. Jarlier, has a poultry and vegetable farm, which, although it has been established less than a year, is making wonderful progress. A large area of strawberry plants put in last autumn has already yielded well, cabbages and cabbage plants of all sorts are there in great abundance, red cabbages being specially fine. Nearly every kind of choice vegetable is under cultivation, and an orchard of new trees is in prospect. The poultry are kept in a large wire enclosed paddock, and include several hundreds of a choice breed. Although there is not much water at West Langdon, young ducks flourish, several hundreds of these being in that interesting and gobbling stage of their existence which lies between the hatching and the market. Of tame rabbits there is a large colony kept in little houses, where they have freedom to scamper. The natural increase is very rapid. Goats, too, are kept, and it is intended to introduce the milk as food for delicate children, for which according to the best opinion of the medical faculty it is well adapted. Church Farm is a novel and interesting venture, which is already picking up a clientele in Dover and deserves to prosper.

West Langdon of To-day.

West Langdon is not a growing place. With the exception of the new farm buildings which Mr. W. P. Hampton erected at the Abbey in 1896, there has scarcely been heard the sound of a builder’s trowel in the place for 30 years, and in the meantime the population has decreased. In 1871 the population was 115, and now it is less than 100. West Langdon must be one of those villages “where wealth accumulates and men decay,” for the holdings of the parish have more money-earning power, more stock and more modern improvements than ten years ago. The area of the parish is 706 acres, and the holdings all told number 25, of which 15 are cottages, 5 houses with land, 4 land, and 1 tithes. The fact of this village being off the railway route, and away from main roads, no doubt accounts for its lack of development, otherwise it is a salubrious place, and the soil, responsive to generous treatment, as well repays the toil of the husbandman as any in the district.