THE DOVER EXPRESS AND EAST KENT NEWS-FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1901.

XXI.—LYDDEN.

Lydden, a small but interesting village, lies snugly amid the chalk uplands which surround it on all sides, except a ravine through which comes the road from Dover to London, up an incline well known to cyclists as Lydden Hill, and from the top of which there is a fine view of Dover Castle, five miles distant.

Village and Parish.

As a parish, Lydden is compact, and to a great extent independent. It has a Church, a National School, a Wesleyan Chapel, a Post Office, a General Shop, and there are two Public Houses, for although the village is small, the main road traffic is considerable. The village is the centre for farming operations carried on from five farms, the total area of the parish being 1,444 acres. The Church benefice is a vicarage, which has been held by the Rev. J. Larking Latham, M.A., since 1865, during whose term the Church has been restored, and the National School built. The parish is represented on the Board of Guardians and the Rural District Council, by Mr. Henry Woodland, of Lydden Court, whose close attention to the public business, and the ability and good judgment he brings to bear upon it, make him one of the leading men of the parish and district. Although this parish has a population of 177, there was, according to the Lady Day returns, only one recipient of out-door relief, a widow of 78 years, and two persons from the parish are in the house. Few parishes can show a better record, and although the place is small and quiet, it is evidently above the level of rural prosperity. The growth of the population appears to be fairly steady, though slow. In the year 1801 the number was 103, in 1831 it was 124, in 1841 it was 148, in 1861, when the making of the railway had attracted outsiders, the number was 198, in 1871 the number had fallen back to 188, in 1891 there was a further decrease to 170, and the present census of 1901 shows an increase to 177, or for the century an increase of 74.

The History of Lydden.

In writing the history of Lydden, to treat it exhaustively, we should have to consider its hills and natural features which give it a romantic aspect. That, however, is beyond our scope, for the causes that scooped out this valley and built up the natural amphitheatre of surrounding hills, lie in pre-historic times. Leaving that part of the subject, and looking at the name of the village, we find that the Lydden of today was spelled Liddon at the beginning of the last century, and that in ancient times it was Leddenne, “Denne” is, of course, a valley, and “Led” in Saxon means “to lead away,” hence the etymology of the word indicates a valley that leads to some special point, and that is just what the valley of Lydden does,—it leads to the point on the coast which has been the destination of millions of travellers who have, age after age, passed from the metropolis to the coast, and it is from Lydden Hill that the first view of Dover, its Castle, and the sea, is obtained. The records from which the history of the parish can be definitely gleaned, do not go further back than the Conquest. At that time there were three principal manors, Lydden Manor, which was the possession of William de Auberville, who held it for Knights’ service from Hamo de Crevequer as part of the Manor of Folkestone to which it is still subject. This William de Auberville was one of the Knights’ entrusted with the defence of Dover Castle, but was evidently of a religious or ecclesiastical turn of mind, for in the year 1192 he founded Langdon Abbey, and established there a community of white canons. Being enriched with other lands at Oxney and Westenhanger, Sir William gave the Lydden Manor as an endowment of Langdon Abbey, and it was so held until Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries and then this Manor was given by the King to the See of Canterbury, and that is why it is, to this day, the property of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The next Manor is that of Cocklescombe, which includes that part of the parish which lies northward in the Bewsborough hundred. This, too, was at the Conquest apportioned as a Dover Castle Knights’ fee, but in the reign of Edward I. it became the property of the Knights' of the John of Jerusalem, and was so held till the Reformation. At that time, the lands, falling into the hands of the Crown, they were sold to Mr. Edward Monins, of Waldershare, from whom they passed to Sir Henry Furness, of Waldershare. Afterwards they went, by marriage, to Viscount Bolingbroke, and in 1791 the lands of Cocklescombe were sold to Peter Harnett, in whose family it remained until recent years. Swanton Manor is in the west of the parish in the Folkestone hundred, near Swingfield. This, at the Conquest was part of the possession of Bishop Odo, but after he was disgraced the possession passed to a family who took their name from the place, the owner in the time of Henry III being William de Swantone. Owing to the property descending to female heirs, the name of the owner has changed from Swantone to Lutteridge, and then to Greenford, but there was no alienation from the family. John Greenford, dying in the year 1472, the Manor passed by marriage to the Monins family, with whom it remained until 1663, when it passed to Viscount Bolingbroke who sold it to Messrs. Nutt and Walker, and they sold it in 1792 to Samuel Egerton Brydges, of Denton, and is at present attached to the Denton estates, owned by Willat’s Trustees. There is a tradition that Swanton was once a monastic establishment, but although the ancient residence which gave place to the present one some fifty years ago was stone built, and very curious in its architectural features, there is no evidence that it was ever anything more than a manorial residence. Mr. Smith is the present occupier of Swanton Court and farm. There was a Manor of Penryn in this parish, held for Knights services in connection with Dover Castle. That is believed to have been part of Swanton, but its situation is unknown.

History of Lydden Church.

The exact age of Lydden Church is nowhere definitely stated, but it may be safely taken as being partly late Saxon, and partly early Norman; most probably it dates from the decade before the Conquest, when Edward the Confessor built Churches with the aid of Norman architects. Experts in Norman work have traced work of that early period in the tower, the inner arch of the porch has plain early Norman imposts, the three eastern lights are deemed to be pre-Norman, and the small one by the pulpit, while the plain round arches on the north of the nave are also without doubt pre-Norman in design. This Church has since the Conquest been appendant to the Manor of Lydden, the Court house of which, now occupied by Mr. Henry Woodland, adjoins the Churchyard. William de Auberville was the owner of the Lydden Manor in 1190, and two years later he founded Langdon Abbey, and gave this Church and the lands of the Manor to the Abbey as pure and perpetual alms. The probability is that the edifice has seen changes in its structure in early times, but the general style has not been changed. For instance, there is evidence in the corbels left in the north and south walls of there having been a rood loft in front of the chancel arch, and probably the stairs to it were in the corner where the pulpit now stands, and the little ancient window at the back of the pulpit lighted those stairs. There appears to have also been a similar loft across the west end of the church, from which, no doubt, there was an approach to the tower. The Church is built of unwrought flints, and the walls are 2½ feet thick, and thicker in the tower. The Church at present consists of a nave and chancel, south porch, and western tower, with one bell. Generally, the interior is very plain, the windows being lancets devoid of tracery. These are two side by side and one above at the east end of the chancel, and there are two side lights, one each side, but not opposite, in the chancel. The nave has on the north two lancet windows high up, but not far from the level of the ground without, and lower down there is a curious Leper window near the chancel end of the nave. On the south there are two fair lancet windows, also placed high, and the oak door which is between the two windows is of very ancient oak, curious in shape, but very sound still, in spite of its being abused for centuries by having public notices nailed to it prior to the conception of the happy thought of having a notice board on the side. There is a small window looking east at the south side of the nave behind the pulpit. The most noticeable feature of the interior is the arcade recessing, which seem to have been designed mainly to relieve the blank wall below the high windows, and also to provide seats of the sedilian order for the beads of the congregation similar to those for the clergy in the chancel. In all probability when the Church was first opened these were all the seats deemed to be necessary, the ordinary worshippers being left to stand when they were not kneeling. Two of these arched recesses on the south side are ornately decorated with carved lilies round the arches, while the pillars are sculptured in a fanciful style, halfway down the pillar a figure of a child lies sideways, one hand holding the carved decorated branch above, and the other holding the decoration below. These ornate arches if intended for seats, must have been uncomfortable ones, as the coat of arms in relief would have been rather uncomfortable to sit upon. The probability is that the arcades were all constructed when the church was built, but that the two canopied arches in the south wall were decorated at a later date, the rich decorated work being in striking contrast with the plainness of the other architectural features of the building. We believe it is a fact that the Swanton pew in early times occupied the space adjoining these decorated arcades, and that the shields are those of the Luttridges. the Greenfords, and the Monins, who were the successive owners of Swanton Court. It is assumed, therefore, that these two arches received their elaborate decorations about the close of the Fifteenth Century. The length of the nave is 45 feet, and the chancel 30 feet. The chancel is remarkable for so small a church. The four equal arcades in the chancel walls, two in the north and two in the south vis-a-vis, and the two smaller ones in the south wall, nearer to the altar, are all early Norman or late Saxon work. There is also a piscina of ancient work in the south wall near the altar, and a small stone credence table on the north side. There are but two mural tablets in the Church, the one which is on the north side of the chancel being in memory of Peter Harnett, one of the later owners of Cockescombe Manor, and his descendants. The first person mentioned on the slab is Peter Harnett, who died 1818, aged 76, next, Peter Harnett, his son, who died 1820, aged 51 years. Then follows the record of the death of Peter Jennings, son of the above, who died 1822, aged 3 years. Next, Elizabeth Harnett, wife of Peter Harnett, sen., who died 16th April, 1837, aged 89. Next, George Jennings, of the Shrubbery, Buckland, who died 17th February, 1861, aged 84 years, and Mary Jennings, his wife (daughter of Peter and Elizabeth Harnett), who died 14th July, 1863, aged 83 years. The other mural tablet is in the nave, near the pulpit in memory of Mary Tompkins, daughter of Captain Darcy Todd, of Spennthorn, Yorkshire, who died September 16th, 1830, aged 22 years. In the Churchyard are a great many interesting headstones erected about a century and a half ago, which have curiously carved ornaments on the top. The oldest of these appears to be that of Anthony Weston, who died 1st April, 1733. His stone is ornamented with three death’s heads. Sarah Weston, widow of Anthony, has a stone close by, headed by two cherub's heads, each side the Book of Life. She died 29 years after her husband, June, 1762. John Weston, of Swanton, who died 1756, aged 76, has a well-preserved stone to his memory. There are several others of about the same period—in fact, we have seldom seen so many well preserved old stones in one graveyard. At the east end of the Churchyard is a tomb inscribed to the memory of the Rev. Christian Borckhardt, who was Vicar of Lydden 27 years, dying in the year 1865 at the age of 70. Before coming to Lydden he had been at Maidstone. Another headstone is to the memory of John Tunbridge, who died October, 1876, having been upwards of 40 years clerk of the parish. There are many stones to the memory of the Worsfolds, the Belseys, and the Reynolds in this Churchyard.

Notes from the Parish Register.

But these notes are but of yesterday compared with the records contained in the parish register. We are indebted for the following facts on this portion of our subject to a manuscript book compiled by the Rev. T. S. Frampton, who is doubtless one of the most experienced decipherers of parochial records now living. We gather from his notes that the register of Lydden Church commenced within the year 1540, just two years after the date of the Ordinance directing such records to be kept. At first, those registers were made in paper books, but they so soon became worn by usage that in 1597 it was ordered that vellum books be used, and that the old paper books should be transcribed on vellum. The first Lydden register, now extant, is therefore the vellum transcription of the first old paper book. It measures 9in. by 5¼in., and contains 38 leaves of entries, and two fly leaves. The first entry is the baptism of Thomas Watter, 30th May, 1540, and the entries ran from that year till 1685. In many years the entries are omitted altogether, while in some years it is noted that no deaths took place here. The year 1512 was a deathless year at Lydden, but the following year made up for it, for it is stated of the year 1543, “The plague was in Lydden, and most in the parish died of it.” That plague visitation, whatever may have been its exact nature, was severely felt in Lydden, and that it hung about for a considerable time is evident from the numerous burials, apart from the statement that “most in the parish died of it." One of the first deaths registered in the visitation was “Jone a stranger 1st Sept., 1543,” and it is supposed that that stranger introduced the infection. At any rate the scourge then began to claim its victims, there being six burials that month, and the same number in October, on the last day of that month there being three funerals, the Vicar of Lydden being one of them. As the cold weather came on, the epidemic subsided, but it broke out again in the summer of 1544, eight burials taking place in the August of that year and also in the early part of the year 1545, and finally disappeared early in 1546. The Vicar who died when the plague visited the village was Sir John Baklar, who had been Vicar of Lydden 23 years, and was the last appointed by the Abbot of Langdon, but although he was instituted in the days of the Papacy he seems to have been of the Vicar of Bray order, for he held on nearly ten years after the Reformation. Amongst the miscellaneous entries in the register is the statement that on the 6th April, 1580, an earthquake was felt at Lydden, and it is presumed that it was that shock that cracked the Church tower and rendered it necessary to lower its height. It is mentioned that Thomas Hoddman, servant to Leonard Pylcher, was killed by a harrow on 11th April, 1621, and that Richard Tisseills was the first that was buried in woollen, March 17th, 1678, in accordance with the new Act of Parliament. The fly leaf of this old book contains an entry of the particulars of the parish lands dated May 1st, 1614, as follows:-

“Lands belonging to the Church of Lydden, called the Church land, and now in the occupation of George Pylcher, an acre and a half lying in the hornes parke, half one a half acre and the acre lyeth and joineth to Sir Will. Moning Barnet his land, in the field below Sumperie Hill in the hand and occupation of John Pilcher, half an acre lying at the foot of Whyting Waye, bounding to the land of John Pilcher on one side and to the land of the land on the other side. This land was set down in the Register Book for remembrance. Edward Parke, minister; and signed Nicholas Ladd, churchwarden (his mark), George Pilcher, churchwarden. John Pylcher (his mark), Leonard Pylcher. (his mark), and Edward Clement."

The words “land of the land” are as they appear in the entry, but their meaning is doubtful.

List of Vicars.

From a list of Vicars of Lydden, compiled by the Rev. T. S. Frampton, it appears that the list is complete from the year 1499, the first vicar on record being the Rev. James Freyle. The whole list contains 26 names, averaging 19 years tenure each. Amongst the vicars who have been at Lydden longest were Sir John Baklar, who died of the plague after hold of office 22 years; the Rev. Edward Park, B.A., 43 years; the Rev. Christian Borckhardt, 27 years; and the Rev. John Larking Latham, 36 years, and long may he continue there amongst a people by whom he is greatly beloved.

Lydden Coal Discovery.

A little north of Lydden Church is the tunnel of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway, which passes under the northern chalk hills, debouching about a mile away at Shepherdswell. While this tunnel was being excavated Lydden was abnormally busy, and during the progress of the work a very curious geological discovery was made in the Autumn of 1859, there having been found embedded in the chalk in the deepest part of the tunnel a pillar of coal about six feet high, about two feet wide, and about one foot from face to back. The coal was examined on the spot by Mr. Walker, C.E., and by the Rev. M. Malden and Mr. A. B. Andrews, two members of the East Kent Natural History Society, and a large piece of the coal was placed in the Dover Museum, where it may now be seen. Various theories have been formed as to how this pillar of coal became embedded in the chalk. Some have supposed it to have been coal washed off a denuded coal bed and deposited there during the time that the stratum of chalk was being formed beneath the sea, but it is concluded that in such a case the coal might have been expected to be found in fragments. The pillar-like shape of the deposit and other considerations led Mr. Godwin Austin, the eminent geologist, to form the conclusion that this column of bituminous coal was the product of coal gas condensed by pressure, and which coal gas had found its way through a fissure in the secondary rocks overlaying the coal measures. It can easily be supposed that there have been, many times since the formation of coal beds, sufficient subterranean disturbances to warrant this supposition—in fact, the earthquake recorded in Lydden parish register as having occurred on the 6th April, 1580, which cracked the church steeple, may have been the very cause. However that might be, it was the finding of this deposit which later on led to the selection of a site in this part of Kent for the first trial boring for coal, which has proved so successful. Further, it was a belief that the coal found there is but a foretaste of something better further down, which caused the Kent Coal Company to secure mining rights so extensively in this part of Kent, and to purchase the estate at Wickham Bushes in this parish. The boring now going on at Ellinge in the adjoining parish is also the indirect result of this discovery.

Lydden Notes.

Much more might be written about Lydden, but we must close with a few notes on the village. Walking through the street we do not find that the building boom that has affected places nearer Dover has affected Lydden much. There are two houses built last year, others of modern date. The most modern large house is the vicarage, situate in pleasant grounds north west of the Church, which was built for the present Vicar by Mr. Edward W. Fry, the former vicarage having been on the main road. The National School, a neat brick and flint building to accommodate 40 children, was built in the year 1870, and the Wesleyan Chapel, just off the main road, was built about 34 years ago by the late Mr. Phillip Stiff, who generously made a present of it to the Wesleyan Society. Amongst the people of Lydden there have been many changes, yet there are families still there that have been in the village many generations. The Colemans, for instance, are a very old family here, and the Golders, we find from a book published in 1841, were keeping the Hope Inn and the general shop, just as they are now. The land in Lydden parish is divided more than in most places. There are twenty-three owners of land and other property in the parish. The principal ones are Mr. Chambers, Mr. W. T. Watson, Emmanuel College, Willats Trustees, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and the Kent Collieries Company. The houses in the parish, separately rated, now number 46, giving, according to the last census, an average of four persons to each house. When the coal and iron boom, just starting on the top of the hill at Ellinge, further develops, it may be anticipated that the existing houses will be fuller and that there will have to be more houses built.