THE DOVER EXPRESS AND EAST KENT NEWS—FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1901

XXIV.—TILMANSTONE.

Tilmanstone is a village, situated on the north side of the Dover and Sandwich road, bounded on the north and east by Knowlton and Betteshanger, and on the south and west by Waldershare and Eythorne.

Situation, Scenery, and Extent.

The parish of Tilmanstone comprises about 1,100 acres, and is about a mile wide, that is, from east to west, and about two miles from north to south. The country is mostly open, gently undulating, the soil varying with the altitude, the valleys being more fertile than the elevated ground. The village is divided into two parts, the Upper, and the Lower Streets. The former is on the higher ground, where the church stands, and the latter adjoins the main road. The principal residence is Dane Court. The parish register, which dates from 1558, bears witness to the fact that the parish is remarkably salubrious, many persons having been buried at the ages of 80 to 100, and the births exceeded the burials by upwards of one third. This state of things brought about a steady growth of population in the early part of the century, but in the latter part of it has declined, owing to the younger members of the families migrating to the towns. The following table shows the variation of the population:-

Year                          Population.

1801 ........................ 229

1821 ........................ 303

1831 ........................ 407

1841 ........................ 445

1891 ........................ 365

In 1821 there were 41 inhabited houses, and in 1841 there were 88. Hence, it may be taken that the 20 years between those two dates represents the zenith of development at Tilmanstone.

Early Parish History.

In Saxon times, the lands at Tilmanstone were part of the possession of the See of Canterbury, and at the Domesday Survey they were held of the Archbishop by William Folet,, for Knight’s services, and they continued to be held by the Folets’ and others for similar services for two centuries after the Conquest. About the year 1220, the lands of the parish were divided, Sir John de Tiddenden holding one moiety, and Sir Roger de Tilmanstone the other, both holding Knight’s fees under the Archbishop, but, subsequently, they came to be holders in fee simple. The portion of Sir John de Tiddenden descended to William de Tiddenden, and that held by Sir Roger de Tilmanstone was carried on by his sister, Matilda, in marriage, to John de Sandhurst, and both families held their estates down to the year 1330. After that period these Manors acquired the names of North and South Courts, and although they were strongly connected as regards Manorial rights, their ownership was divided until the year 1598, when the possession of both Manors was united in the person of Sir Thomas Peyton. Prior to the union of the property William de Langley had been an intervening owner of North Court between the Sandhurst’s and the Peyton’s, and at South Court, after the extinction of the Tiddenden’s, there was an owner named Warden. Next came Sir John White, a Canterbury merchant, then the Cocks family, who also for a time owned Betteshanger, and lastly, in succession, two Richard Fogge’s, the last of whom sold the estate to the Peyton’s. From the Peyton’s, the united Manors passed to Sir John Narborongh, an Admiral, whose two sons Sir Join Narborough, and James, on October 22nd, 1707, were both lost on the rocks of Scilly, with their kinsman, Sir Cloudesley Shovel, and the estate went to the husband of their only sister Sir Thomas d’Aeth, Bart., who came from a Dartford family of eminence. They had a son, Francis, who was Rector of Knowlton, and his son, Sir Narborough d’Aeth, owned North and South Courts. Tilmanstone, and his son, the second Sir Narborough d’Aeth, succeeded him, and held estates at Tilmanstone during the early part of the nineteenth century. During the time that the d’Aeth’s were proprietors at Tilmanstone, their principal seat having been at Knowlton, the two Manors of North and South Courts declined in importance, and Dane Court became the principal mansion in the parish of Tilmanstone. The Manor House of South Court has, in part, disappeared, its present representative is South Court House, a pretty cottage, near the church, while North Court is now a farm-house. Dane Court, the seat of John de Sandhurst in the reign of Edward III, was held successively by the Langley’s, the Fennel’s, the Cocks’, the Fogges’, the Harvey’s, the Hayward’s, the Hatton’s, the Lilly’s, and the Aislabye’s. Of the foregoing there is no history to relate, but the last owners of Dane Court, the Rice family, deserve special notice. The other Tilmanstone Manors of Great and Little Barville must be mentioned. Situated in the southern part of the parish, they originally formed one Manor, called Barfield. In the reign of Edward IV, this Manor was in the possession of the Harvey family, this being the original residence of Harvey’s, who spread themselves over the County of Kent. Richard Harvey died in possession of the estate in the year 1472, and was succeeded by his son, John. On the death of the latter his two sons, Robert and Nicholas Harvey, possessed it in moieties, hence the distinctive names of Great and Little Barville. A generation after the division the land was sold, and after passing through several hands, was purchased by Sir Robert Furness in 1720, and was carried by his daughter, Caroline, in marriage, to the Guilford estate.

Recollections of Edward Royd Rice, M.P.

Dane Court is associated in the minds of many people with recollections of Mr. Edward Royd Rice, who resided there from the early part of the nineteenth century, and who represented the Borough of Dover in the House of Commons from 1837 till 1857. As a noble residence, Dane Court owes much to Mr. Micheal Hatton, a Commissary in the Army, who, in the latter part of the Eighteenth Century resided there, and greatly improved the mansion, which is now surrounded by a beautiful park, and is the seat of Sir Edward Bridges Rice, K.C.B., a retired Admiral, and eldest son of the late Mr. Edward Royd Rice, who was a freeman of the Borough of Dover, although he resided for more than sixty years at Dane Court. Mr. Rice was a Liberal, and the last Freeman of Dover who represented the Borough in Parliament. His Conservative opponents being jealous of his enjoying that, distinction, they, in the Registration Court, contested his claim to exercise his Freeman’s rights, owing to his residence at Dane Court, but a straight line being drawn from the Dover boundary, it was found that it was exactly seven miles from there to the door step of the residence of Mr. Rice, at Dane Court, therefore, he remained on the list of Dover Freemen until his death, in the year 1878. Mr. Rice first came forward as a candidate for one of the Dover seats in 1835, but, being then in a bad state of health, was unable to canvas the electors, and to that he attributed his defeat, although he was but 21 votes in the rear. In 1837 he again stood for Dover, when he headed the poll and held the seat until he retired, owing to advancing years, in 1857. It will be interesting to mention a few of the good things that Mr. Rice did for Dover during the time he sat in Parliament for the Borough. His maiden speech, in the autumn of 1837, was on the subject of the French encroachments on the Channel Fisheries, and at a levee he presented the Dover Corporation’s loyal address to the Queen on her accession. In the Session of 1838, he returned to the Channel Fishery question, making a strong speech complaining of French encroachments and violence, moving a resolution that was carried unanimously. In the same year he made a speech in Parliament, urging the necessity of building a Government Harbour in Dover Bay. He did not move any resolution on that occasion, but gave notice of a motion for the Session of 1839 which he moved, and it was carried, the result being the appointment of a Commission, which recommended a full enquiry into the matter. After five years, during which Mr. Rice never ceased his importunity on behalf of Dover, Sir Byam Martin’s Commission was appointed, and after two years’ enquiry the Commission issued their report in favour of building a Harbour of Refuge in Dover Bay. In pursuance of that recommendation the first stones of the Admiralty Pier were laid in 1848, it being the intention of the Government at that time to enclose the whole Bay, but, although the work was stopped, for the time, when the Admiralty Pier was finished, that noble structure has been a great boon to Dover, having afforded since 186l a landing place for Continental passengers, without which Dover’s ancient boast of being the gateway of the Kingdom would have been vain, for most certainly, if Mr. Rice had not brought about the building of the Admiralty Pier the Channel traffic would have been lost to Dover. Happily the effect of Mr. Rice’s Act did not end with the Admiralty Pier. The large work for the construction of the National Harbour is but a continuation to final completion of the great work that he advocated sixty years ago. The initiation of the building of the Dover National Harbour was the chief and crowning work of Mr. Rice’s Parliamentary career, and the massive masonry of the Admiralty Pier may be regarded as his monument. After retiring from Parliament Mr. Rice spent the remainder of his life at his seat at Dane Court, seeing his children taking honourable positions in the Country, and a goodly host of grand-children following them. In the autumn of 1878 his diamond wedding festivities took place at Dane Court, when Mr. and Mrs. Rice to celebrate their sixty years of married life gathered round them their children, their grand-children, their tenants, and their work people, dispensing their hospitality in good English fashion. But a few short weeks after that festive gathering Dane Court was bereft of its old master. The late Mr. Edward Royd Rice was buried in the South-west part of Tilmanstone Churchyard, the ceremony being simple yet remarkably impressive. Mr. Rice had especially directed that there should be no ostentatious display, and had expressed a wish that instead of the usual plumed hearse and horses his little bay pony that used to take him about the estate in a bath chair, should draw his coffin to the grave, and it was so arranged. The heads of all the great country families were at the funeral, the leading men from Dover, and the surrounding towns were there too, and a large number of his own family followed him to the grave, but everyone was on foot. On a light frame on four wheels, constructed for the occasion, the coffin was placed, the little bay pony, led by the old coachman who had grown grey in Mr. Rice’s service, took their master through the Park to the grave, the chief men of the county walking beside as pall bearers, and many hundreds following in the rear. When the mortal remains had been deposited by the bearers in the quaint old Tilmanstone Church and the assembled mourners seated in silence, the words of the opening Psalm came with more than human significance and authority from the lips of the officiating clergyman, “Thou sayest: Come again ye children of men.” Yes, he who lay there, in accordance with the common lot, after the changes of a long and useful life, had “come again”; and there he lay, recalled from the stage on which he had been acting, his part finished, and the curtain dropped.

Tilmanstone Church.

The Church of St. Andrew at Tilmanstone is an ancient structure in Norman and Early English styles, with later insertions. But it is probable that the present building, with nave, chancel, and low western tower built in the Twelfth Century style, was not the original Tilmanstone Church. These lands having belonged to the See of Canterbury long before the Conquest, the Ecclesiastical owners of the Manors would doubtless have provided during the Saxon period a place of Christian worship. The original church was given to the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem about the year 1210, and it is probable that that wealthy community subsequently re-built the church in the style and form now existing. We know of no record of this suggested re-building, but the apparent Norman origin of the present church, the fact that the See of Canterbury held the lands in Saxon times, and that a church existed shortly after the Conquest, seem to warrant the conclusion that a church did exist here in Saxon times, and that it was subsequently re-built in the later Norman style and period. Not only are the oracles dumb on this point, but there is in the Archives of the Diocese very little of Tilmanstone Church history on record. It is mentioned, however, that at Archbishop Parker’s visitation in the year 1573 there was a complaint that there had only been three sermons preached in the Church since the previous visitation. This does not give a very glowing picture of Protestant zeal in the aftermath of the Reformation; yet this neglect did not arise from the smallness of the population or congregation at Tilmanstone, for at that time the communicants numbered more than a hundred. The tower of this church was higher, but was reduced in height about eighty years ago. It contains one bell. In the year 1840 the church was repaired at a cost of £150 raised by public subscriptions, and it was restored in the year 1884, affording now accommodation for 130 worshippers. The church contains several memorials. There is a brass for Richard Foyge, who in the Seventeenth Century resided at Dane Court. There were two Richards of that ilk, and one of them, who was the father of fourteen children skilled in heraldry and eminent in poetry, died in the year 1680. There is also a monument for Michael Hatton, a retired Commissiary of the Army, who died at Dane Court in the year 1770, and for his widow, who died in 1791. In the Chancel is a marble tablet to the memory of the late Mr. Rice, of Dane Court, to whom reference has already been made. The inscription is as follows: “To the beloved and honoured memory of Edward Royd Rice, of Dane Court, Esq., whose body lies on the west side of this church, and who died November 27th, 1878, aged 88 years. The following text is inscribed by his desire: "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord." In the same grave rests Elizabeth, his most beloved wife, who died April 29th, 1884, aged 84 years. "Her children shall rise up and call her blessed." Amongst the mural records in this interesting church of Tilmanstone there are several touching tributes to the memory of Mr. Rice’s children who either preceded him, or followed him into rest. The surrounding graveyard, with its ancient yew tree, has many interesting associations, which we cannot now gather up, but it may be mentioned that on the south side of this church is the resting place of the remains of many members of the Ayers family, two of whom have played useful parts in the Borough of Dover—Mr. Parker Ayers, who was a member of the Paving Commission and of the Town Council, and Mr. Alfred W. Ayers, his son, who was a member of the Town Council, of the Board of Guardians, and was also a Justice of the Peace for the Borough. This family appears to have originated at Tilmanstone, and there is a headstone in the churchyard bearing the following inscription: “Sacred to the memory of William Ayers, carpenter, Clerk of this Parish, who died September, 1810, aged 71 years.” The eldest son of the above, also William Ayers, who, according to another inscription, was born in 1705, and died in 1834. He was the father of Parker Ayers, and the grandfather of Alfred. There are still some of the Ayers family left in the parish.

Village Notes.

There is in the village a mixed National School, built in 1857, affording accommodation for 75 children, but the average attendance is barely 60. There is here a very pretty but small Wesleyan Chapel, situated at the north end of the village, built about a quarter of a century ago, and connected with the Deal Circuit. There is a Post Office, receiving and despatching letters through Dover, and there is the additional advantage of telegraphic communication. In addition to the Post Office, which is on the main road, there are two wall letter boxes. Its nearest Railway Station is Shepherdswell, 3½ miles distant, and to Sandwich Station it is five miles. For Police purposes it is attached to the Wingham Petty Sessional Division. County Court eases are dealt with at Deal, and for ecclesiastical purposes it is included in the Sandwich Rural Deanery, and for Poor Law affairs it forms part of the Eastry Union.