THE DOVER EXPRESS AND EAST KENT NEWS—FRIDAY, JULY 19, 1901.

IX.—DENTON.

There are many Dentons. No less than fifteen parishes in England bear that name, but it is the one included in the Dover Union that now engages our attention. Hasted says that the place was written in the Domesday Book Danitone, but from that very little can be inferred, for the orthography of that record was very erratic. Most of the Dentons are in secluded valleys, and the name doubtless means literally an assemblage of dwellings in a dell,—dell and den being, in old English, synonymous. At any rate, the name describes our Denton very well, for the cluster of houses in Denton-street are in as secluded and picturesque a vale as could be imagined.

The Situation.

A few more words as to the situation of Denton will be appropriate. It is an out-of-the-way place, and now that the Elham Valley Railway has drawn off most of the traffic between Folkestone and Canterbury, it is less visited than of old. The village lies in a pretty glade that branches from the eastern side of the Elham Valley, the hilly country surrounding it being some 400ft. above sea level. It is 2¼ miles from Barham Station, on ihe Elham Valley line, and about four miles from Shepherdswell. To Folkestone is 7 miles, to Dover 9, and to Canterbury 8½ miles.

Impressions of Denton.

The road through Denton, which is the high-way from Canterbury to Folkestone, is straight, level, and of fair width. The houses each side of the street are varied in character, some ancient cottages, others well-preserved specimens of the bricklayer’s art a hundred years ago, and a few houses are of the villa type, two or three standing detached in pretty grounds. The Post Office, kept by Mr. Crux, bootmaker and Parish Clerk, is just now enshrined in a setting of rose bloom, which renders it quite charming. A conspicuous object is the Red Lion Inn, a great house of call in the days past for the coaches, and now a haven of rest and refreshment for cyclists. At the northern end of the “street;" partly in the parish of Barham, is Madekin, an ancient mansion, so called from a family of that name who owned it in the fifteenth century. At the other end of the “street” in park-like grounds east of the road, is Denton Court, which in the days of Charles I. was held by Sir Anthony Percival, of Dover Castle, who lies buried in the church. It afterwards passed to the Whorwood family, and the last of that race prepared his last resting place in advance by the erection of a remarkable building as a mausoleum for himself adjoining the garden of the mansion. Denton Court has passed through a variety of hands, and it was rebuilt by a member of the Brydges family about the beginning of the nineteenth century. It now stands stately amongst the ancient trees, somewhat sombre in aspect, yet a fine sample of an English mansion. Its last owner resident was the late Mr. W. Hale Willats, J.P., and it is still in the family, but for the last five years the Court has been occupied by Mr. E. P. Barlows, of the firm of Messrs. Wiggins, Teape and Co. To the regret of the inhabitants of of Denton, it is understood that Mr. Barlow will soon relinquish it, he having purchased a new mansion at Kearsney.

The Church.

Denton Church is practically hidden by a fir coppice in which it is embosomed. It is approached through the lodge gates of Denton Court, and after proceeding a short distance up the drive, a path branching off through the field leads to the fir coppice, and it is not until the belt of trees is entered that the church, with its fine embattled tower, is visible. The short cut to the church through the field was the ancient church path, but it was stopped up at the beginning of the last century, and was re-opened in September, 1891. The church is in the early English style, and consists of a nave, chancel, porch, and a fine square tower. The churchyard, which is small, has a considerable number of monuments, many of the inscriptions referring to persons who passed to their rest more than a century ago. The interior of the church has within recent years been improved, a small baptistry formed, and a very handsome carved oak lectern put in, and also two stoves to make it comfortable for worshippers in the winter. In the chancel is a memorial to Sir Anthony Percival, the Dover Castle knight, who resided at the Court, and died here in the year 1646, and there are brasses and memorials of several other patrons of the living and proprietors of the Court. There is in the north wall a curious stone cross with lettering so time-worn as to be wholly illegible. The living of this church, which is a rectory, has always been in the gift of the owner of Denton Court as far as existing records show, excepting in 1607, when, on the decease of the Rev. Robert Twisden, the Archbishop of Canterbury is recorded as having presented the Rev. Francis Rogers, the son of the Bishop Suffragan of Dover. This looks like what would be commonly called a “job”; for the Archbishopric of Canterbury was at that time vacant, and the Bishop of Dover seems to have taken the opportunity of appointing his own son, who also held another living at Canterbury. The Rev. Clement Barling was presented by Sir Anthony Percival, of Dover, in the year 1644, and he, after holding the Rectory 18 years, including the time of the Commonwealth, was ejected in the year 1662. He was one of the eighty clergymen of the Church of England in Kent who were in that year ejected from their cures owing to their Puritan or Nonconformist principles. The Rev. John Barton, of Barham, and the Rev. Edward Coppin, M.A., of Wootton, were also then ejected. After that time the office was filled by a Crown nominee, and for many following years the living was held by pluralists. The Rev. William Robinson was Rector from 1764 till 1785, and he was pluralist too, being Rector of Burfield in Berkshire, owing the dual nomination doubtless to the fact that he was brother to Lord Rokeby. The present Rector is the Rev. H. C. Evans, M.A., who has done much to endear himself to the people of the parish.

Tappington and the Ingoldbys.

The old manor house of Tappingtnn, lying on the south side of the road towards Folkestone, is remarkable for the fact that it was the home of the Ingoldby family, and it was here that the Rev. Thomas Barham wrote the well-known “Ingoldby’s Legends.” This Manor of Tappingtor was anciently numbered among the estates which made up the Baronry held by Fulbert de Dover for Knight’s service at Dover Castle. It. was subsequently held by Gerard de Tappington, and after passing through a succession of owners, came into the hands of the Barham family, but now belongs to the Willats estates. The present house was originalIy built in the reign of James I. It still contains portraits in oil of the Ingoldby family, and their armorial bearings preserved in the entrance hall, where there is also a richly carved oak staircase.

Denton Past and Present.

Denton is not a rapidly growing place, but it has not been stagnant during the Nineteenth Century. In the year 1801 the population was 187, in 1831 it had increased to 314. During that 30 years there had been considerable building in Denton, especially at Denton Court. The high-water mark of Denton development was reached in 1831. In 1841 the population was but 208, and the houses numbered 35. In 1891 the population had fallen to 144, and at the present time it is 159. There are in the parish 32 houses, of which 18 are described as cottages. The holdings rated number 69, which may be described as 29 private houses, one public house, one shop, one bakehouse, 28 holdings of land, 4 holdings of woodland, 4 sporting rights, and one tithe charge. These holdings are distributed amongst the following owners:— Willats Exors. 30 holdings, G. E. Dering 8, Francis Smith 7, G. J. Murray 4, Sir Henry Oxenden 4, H. C. Evans 3, Plummer, Sir P. Oxenden, Mackinnon, J. Faith, and C. Crux 2 each, Gardner and Co. 1, a Dover Charity 1, and G. Mutter 1. There is a small preparatory school in the village, but no public elementary school. The children of this parish attend a school at Selstead in Swingfield parish, two miles distant. The addition of 15 to the population in the last ten years is not owing to any increase in the dwellings, but rather to the lowness of the death rate arising from the salubrity of the village.