THE DOVER EXPRESS AND EAST KENT NEWS-FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1901

XXVII.—ELHAM.

Elham is a large village, situated on the western slope of the Elham Valley, about seven miles from Folkestone.

Situation and Surroundings.

Elham village is pleasantly situated on the western slope of the ridge of hills that overlooks the valley. The parish of which this village is the centre, is the largest in eastern Kent, extending three and a half miles down the valley, and about five miles in breadth. As a site for a settlement of a community in ancient times, it must have presented many advantages. When towns and villages on the coast were subjected to sea robbers, who infested the shores of these narrow seas, Elham, lying snugly in the hollow of the hills, at some distance away from the narrow pass that leads out to the Folkestone plain, offered a safe refuge, where peaceful employments might be safely pursued. Hence it was that at a very early period there was a large community. We call it a village to-day, but in ancient times it was a town, with a regular weekly market, its fairs, and long before the Conquest it had a church. Its Market Square, and regularly laid out streets, indicate that for many centuries it must have been a centre of commerce and public business. Being the head of a Petty Sessional District and a Poor Law Union, it had its regular Sessions, its gaol and Workhouse, and even now Elham Union and Elham Petty Sessional Division still exist although the business of the former is transferred to the Workhouse at Lyminge and for convenience, the Magisterial business is, for the most part transacted at Hythe. The ancient Manors of this parish are now thriving farmsteads, occupying the uplands, which on each side of the road slope up from the valley, and in Elham itself industries of various kinds are pursued; there are numerous shops and stores; carpenters’, wheelwrights’ and smiths' establishments; tailors, bootmakers, butchers, bakers, millers, surgeons, assurance agents, it has its railway station; its inns seem to flourish, and a considerable amount of work has been done in boring for coal. This brief review indicates that although Elham, compared with other places that are of modern growth is shorn of some of its ancient importance, it is still a centre of varied interest.

History of Elham.

It would be a very long story to recount the history of all the ancient Manors which lie in Elham parish. But before dealing in detail with Elham Manor, the outlying places may be enumerated. There is Shottlesfield on the south-east boundary the inheritance of Thomas le Grubbe in the days of Edward II; the Manor of Bowick or Boyke in the eastern part, that was for many centuries the possession of the Ladd family, earlier written de Ladd; Bladbean, long associated with the Cosentons; Mount Court, a seat of Thomas Papillon; Oxroad, anciently the property of the Countess of Eu; Wigmere, long associated with William de Wigmere and his descendants, whose name was preserved by the light of Wigmere, kept burning for centuries in the parish church; and the Manor of Clavertigh, on the north-west, held for some time by Sir James Hales, whose arms are still carved in an ancient house in the High Street. These we must be content with mentioning. The Manor of Elham, at the time of the Domesday Survey, was part of the lands of the Bishop of Bayeux, Earl of Kent, and when his great estate was confiscated and broken up, Elham Manor was granted to William de Albineto, one of the Conqueror’s warriors, and it descended to his son, the first who bore the title of Earl of Arundel, The Earl, leaving no male heir, the Earl of Arundel’s daughter inherited Elham, and conveyed it by marriage to John, Earl of Eu, of Normandy. That Earl too, had no male heir, his only son having been killed at the siege of Ptolemais A.D. 1217, the Manor went to his daughter, Alice, and she dying in the reign of Henry III, as appears from a deed in the Surrenden library, the property passed to Prince Edward, the King’s eldest son. The Prince took great interest in his Elham Manor, and obtained for it the grant of a market, which made Elham a centre of local commerce in the Thirteenth Century. The Prince held the Manor during the long reign of his father, but a few years before he ascended the throne as Edward I, he conveyed the Manor to Archbishop Boniface, but he held it only a very short time for his acquisition of great estates aroused the enmity of the nation. The next owner of Elham Manor was Roger de Leybourne, and it continued to descend to heirs of the same name till Thomas de Leyborne, dying without a male heir, went to Juliana, his daughter, who was called on account of her great wealth, the Infanta of Kent. She married three husbands all of whom she survived, and she dying childless, and without any heir, the Elham Manor went to the Crown in the days of Edward III. where it remained until Richard II gave it as an endowment to St. Stephen’s Chapel, Westminster. Elham, therefore, in the Fourteenth Century, had the distinction of being an endowment of the Chapel which became the home of the legislature of the British Empire. Owing to this royal patronage Edward IV granted to Elham the privilege of holding a fair annually, on the Monday after Palm Sunday, which grant, although now of no value, was of great importance to the place in the Fifteenth Century. The Manor of Elham remained in the possession of the Dean and Canon of Westminster about eighty years, and when Edward IV took the collegiate Chapel of St. Stephen’s and its possessions into his own hands he granted the Manor of Elham to Lord Clinton and Saye, but the latter re-conveyed it again to the Crown, and a Crown lease of it for eighty years was granted to Sir Edward Wotton, who sold his interest to Alexander Hamon, of Acrise, and from the Hamons’ by marriage, it passed to the Lewknors’, but the Crown lease falling in, the Manor was sold to Mr. John Aelst, and in the year 1681, it became the possession of Sir John Williams, who seems to have resided on the Manor, taking a kindly interest in the welfare of the people at Elham, and at his death in the year 1725, he, by his will, left a bequest to found a Charity School to educate and clothe six poor boys, and to provide a sufficient sum to apprentice them to some useful trade. After his death, the ownership of the Manor went to his only child, Penelope, who carried it, by marriage, to a Hertfordshire family named Symonds, who sold it to Sir Henry Oxenden, of Barham. The foregoing recital brings down the history of Elham to the range of modern times.

Elham as it is.

In taking a survey the quaint, town-like village of Elham as it exists at the present day the foregoing historic sketch explains much that would otherwise be inexplicable. In Elham as it is to-day and as it must have been a century ago, there could have been nothing to cause it to be chosen before Hythe or Folkestone as the head of a Petty Sessional Division or of a Poor Law Union, but for the prestige attaching to its earlier condition. That prestige also caused the whole valley from Folkestone Plain to Canterbury to bear the name of Elham Valley, and to give the same name to the railway which has one of its stations at this village. The idea of the historic importance of the place becomes still more palpable as we walk up the road from the railway station and see what an imposing Church it has been thought necessary to build for this community, and passing the Church and turning to the right into the neat and regularly arranged quadrangle surrounded by well built houses, this ancient market square recalls the time, seven centuries ago, when Prince Edward, afterwards King Edward I, being the owner of the Manor, procured for the then flourishing East Kent town the privilege of a market, which was a centre of legitimate local trade when the communities at Hythe and Folkestone were mainly dependent for a precarious existence upon fishing, wrecking, smuggling, and occasionally helping to man the Cinque Ports Fleet. Amongst the houses abutting on the Square is the one in which was established the Charity School, established a century and three-quarters ago by the bequest of Sir John Williams, and is still the residence of the National School Master, who now trains the Williams Bequest boys in the larger establishment, and after their bookish days have passed many of these have received the technical training necessary for the battle of life by apprenticeship at Mr. Frederick File’s wheelwright and smith’s establishment hard by, as well as in the other workshops in the parish. At the present day the Square is not largely given to business-establishments, the most important house being the King’s Arms, an hotel dating from the Georgian period, which shares with the Post Office the principal part of the north side of the area. Of modern places of business we find more in turning up the short street which connects the Square with the High street. Here is the grocery establishment of Mr. Stephen Pilcher File, who is also the Deputy Registrar of Births and Deaths. Near by is the baker and confectioner, and turning the corner to the right we come into the High street, which three centuries ago must have been the fashionable “West End” or Elham, for the skilfully carved row of heads projecting from and supporting the upper part of the old mansion on the west side of the street proclaim this to have been the residence of some important personage in, bygone times. Hearing that there was something still more interesting to be seen within, we knocked at the second door (the ancient building being now divided into separate houses), and Mrs. Carswell, the occupant, showed us a grand old mantelpiece elaborately carved with a series of scriptural subjects. A fine head occupies the centre of the piece, and other sections are occupied with Jonah being disgorged from the fish’s mouth, Elijah fed by the ravens, &c., the subjects being in duplicate each side the central bead. This work is on the lower part of the front, and higher there are a series of panels of ornamental work surmounted by a finely carved cornice, and in the centre of the whole the arms of Sir Richard Hales, which fixes this carving as being the work of the Sixteenth Century. Sir James Hales, one of the Justices of the Common Pleas, having been possessed of a Manor on the north-west of Elham in the days of Edward VI, and previously. As this estate went out of the Lands of the Hales family nearly 300 years ago, it is probable that this old mansion must have stood more than three centuries. At this point the street is wide and fair, quite wide enough for a Market Place, and from hence northward are some of the principal parts of modern Elham. At the head of the High street is the Elham Valley Stores, an imposing modern emporium, and on the east side at the entrance the place of honour is occupied by the Rose and Crown Hotel, the principal hostel of the place, where is the Sessions Rooms, where the Elham Division Sessions are held. It is a fine apartment on the second floor overlooking the main thoroughfare. Passing onward, we come to the New Inn, the Forge, the site of the old Workhouse, a large Wesleyan Chapel with an imposing frontage with the date 1839, previous to which the adjacent premises were used as a Wesleyan Place of Worship. Passing shoemakers’ and saddlers’ places of business on one hand and a carpenter’s on the other, we approach some very pretty villas and some picturesque old houses on the confines of the village, but evidently Elham has not made up its mind to stop here. There are two or three handsomely built new houses, and a notice board on the vacant land beyond, indicates that for building purposes these plots can be obtained on application to Mr. Joseph Cresswell, Mr. A. M. Bradley, or Messrs. Terson and Son, Castle Street, Dover. Making a sharp turn to the left, an upper return road leads back towards the village centre, and en route there are some well-built and pleasant houses, a small but neat Chapel of the Bible Christians while o'er against the square is the Mill Dam with the now disused Wind Mill on the top, and not far below some more houses of evident antiquity. In excavations about this part of the village, the foundations of much older buildings than those now existing, have been disclosed. Further south-west under the crest of the hill are the Kennels of the East Kent Foxhouuds and a little lower down we come to a very useful modern establishment, called the Elham Institute, where various recreations are provided for the men of the village. Near by are the Schools, connected with there is a little history, which commences with the bequest of Sir John Williams in 1725 for the founding a Charity School to educate six poor boys, and to clothe them once in two years. A considerable sum was left for this purpose, as in addition to the allowance for education there was, and still is, £64 17s. 6d. available for apprentice fees. That was called the Charity School and it was carried on in the house provided for the purpose, the last master who carried on the school separately was Mr. Thomas Tipper. The educational funds from this endowment are still used in connection with the National School, which was first established in 1814, and enlarged in 1871. There was a British School also established in 1844, and at that time the Charity School, the British School, and the National School, were separate establishments. Now the whole of the schools are voluntary, and are practically under one management, the National School, built in 1871, being for the boys, and the other school, which has been enlarged, is used for girls and infants. The parish is also contributory to the United School Board of Acrise and Paddlesworth. The National School is on the site where formerly stood the Town Gaol, which some of the old inhabitants still remember. There were, until about 1807, four small tenements used as almshouses, given by an unknown donor, but at that time the houses were sold, and the money used to provide a Workhouse for Elham and adjoining parishes. In 1840, the Workhouse was transformed into small houses, and a new Workhouse was built at Etching Hill, in the adjoining parish of Lyminge. Near the Schools is the Rectory, just across the road on the south side of the churchyard. It has a rather remarkable entrance gateway, and the gate itself has been embellished by the painter’s art. The Vicarage, which occupies pleasant grounds, is conspicuous for its whiteness and its many windows. A path from the Vicarage leads across the field to the Railway Station, which lies very convenient for the village. Across the Station yard, under an archway, lies the bed of the Nailbourne stream, which here, as at Barham, is now dry, but here we learned that no winter passes without the stream running to some extent, but except in very wet seasons the water disappears into the ground before it reaches Barham, and very rarely indeed does it now run through the Stour at Bishopsbourne. As to the source of this curious intermittent stream, we gather that it originates at Lintwell, near Etching Street, and part of it goes towards the sea and the other part runs through the vale to north Lyminge, and joins another constant spring from a source called St. Edbury’s well, making a stream, which in summer time is lost, but at other times the water bursts forth copiously, and runs to Brompton’s Pot, a deep pond above Wigmore. This “Pot ” occasionally overflows, sometimes continuing down a part of the valley, and at other times with such force that it makes a junction with the Stour finding its way to the sea in Thanet. We have now completed our tour of the village, and have only to add a few words about its industries. They are not so large or so thriving as could be desired, but there does not seem to be much want of work or destitution. The Railway finds employment for several hands, and this, of course, is a new source. There is a Brick and Tile Manufactory on the east side of the valley, but it has done nothing this summer, evidently the building boom has not yet begun here. There are two mills, both wind, one now out of work and the other doing fairly. There is a grinding business near the Railway employing an oil motor. The ordinary trades, the carpenter, the smith, the shoemaker, the tailor, and the saddler, supply local needs. There does not appear to be any buildings now actually in progress, and we were told that land is not easy to get in good situations, but the estate at the northwest of the village is well situated, and probably will be developed ere long. At Ottinge, in this parish, nearly a mile nearer Folkestone than the Railway Station, there was a boring commenced about three years ago, to ascertain if the coal measures found at Dover, and at the Half Way House on the Dover road, reached as far as this valley, but the experiment was not carried on long enough to definitely settle the question, although it is probable that the whole area north of the chalk hills, which branch off from the sea at Folkestone, has coal underneath, hence the day may come when Elham will have its collieries, and when this valley will teem with modern industries.

Elham Church.

The Church at Elham is a conspicuous object, consisting of a Nave, north and south aisles, a Chancel, and a north Chapel, north and south porches, although the latter is only of wood, and there is a western Tower, above which rises a metal sheathed steeple. According to Domsday Book there was a Church at Elham in Saxon times, but whether the present one has been built since on the same foundation, has not been satisfactorily determined, but even though some of the rubble of the ancient walls may be left, it seems to be accepted as a fact that the fabric of the existing Church dates from about the year 1200, the only changes supposed to have been made after that date being the insertion of the Perpendicular and Decorated windows, and the extension of the north Aisle to form the north Chapel (now the organ chamber), which has an arch of a later period, that opens into the Chancel. On each side of the Nave, the Aisles are separated therefrom by uniform arcades of four arches, resting on piers of Normandy stone, having square abaci with the corners cut off, and the arches, with the exception of a simple moulding, are quite plain. The flat surface between the arches has the remains of coloured decorated geometrical work, and on the west side of the last pier of the north arcade are the remains of a double canopy, with tabernacle work carved in chalk illuminated with colour, probably the special ornamentation of one of the shrines or lights, for which this Church was specially remarkable in the Fifteenth Century, when there must have been a large staff of priests engaged in saying the prayers at the different altars and keeping the many lights burning. In many parts of the Nave are still left the projecting stones on which the images and lights were fixed. There are records of numerous bequests to maintain these lights. For three centuries the Lord of Leybourne's light burned in Elham Church. There was one called “The light of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist,” which burnt at the shrine under the double canopy, above mentioned. Juliana Cooper, in her will dated 1468, left two-pence to each of the other lights in the Church, but to the lights of the other two St. John’s she left sixpence. One light in particular was very remarkable, probably peculiar to Elham. In the will of Thomas Gednor, of Elham, in the year 1465, he bequeathed sixpence to the light which commonly at Elham is called “Trylle upon my harpe,” and again in 1471. John Goldfinch left two-pence to the light “Trille upon my harpe.” In 1473 Thomas Taylor left half a bushel of barley to the light of “Tryll on myne harp.” In 1474 William Sompuer left two-pence to the light “Trylle on myne harpe.” No explanation of this peculiarly named light has been left. Another light called “Heyre light” received bequests in the years 1473 and 1474 The “Light of Nicholas ” received several bequests. The “Light of the Holy Trinity” had six bequests between 1466 and 1476. The “Light of St. Michael” had three-pence from Thomas Gendon in 1465, and the “Light before the Holy Cross” had a curious notice in the will of William Taylor in 1475, when he bequeathed three quarters of barley to find one lamp to burn in Elham Church before the High Cross in accordance with the compact made between Thomas Wright, of Elham, and myself.” There were ten lights maintained at the end of the 15th century, and with each probably altars and chantries, necessitating a larger staff of priests and clerks than are usually kept in a rural parish church, Wills still extant show that there were two parish clerks—chief and sub clerk—and two clergymen or chaplains in addition to the vicar. Ten marks per annum (£6 13s. 4d.) was the general fee for masses for the departed. In mediaeval times merrymakings for church and for other charitable purposes were held here, and were called "Ales." There was the “Church Ale,” the “Whitsun Ale,” the "Clerk Ale,” and the "Bid Ale,” as well as others. These merrymakings were held in the Church and the churchyard, but in the beginning of the sixteenth century these social gatherings were apparently prohibited by authority, there being this entry, "Thomas Rigdon letteth the parishioners from their offerings because drinking in the church is put down.” In addition to the various shrines and lights there seems to have been a sub-altar at the top of the south aisle, there being still left there intact a piscena. Perhaps the most unique part of this Church is the ancient wood work of the roof. The three western bays of the lean-to roof of the north aisle are said to be the identical timbers put there in the fourteenth century, and the carved stone corbels on which the supports of the roof rest are very grotesque and curious. Respecting the body of this interesting church, much more may be written. Its bold proportions, its grand Norman arches at the east and west ends have a noble effect, and the clerestory windows throw a clear light on the scene, which light rather shows up the fact that the interior of the old edifice would be all the better for a few thousand pounds being spent in restoration. The boarded floor from long use is growing thin and in places dilapidated. Many of the windows have a good many years ago been enriched with stained glass, and they still look well—better, in fact, than their surroundings. The seats are rather old-fashioned, and it is stated that some of them in the north aisle are in substance if not in form the original fourteenth century furniture. The chancel, which is large and fair, has a cold appearance, owing to its floor of red tiles. The eastern window of three lancets is filled with good stained glass depicting Scriptural subjects. There is on the south of the church a stained glass window with a brass under it having this inscription: "This window was inserted by the parishioners in memorial of the fifty years of the incumbency of the Rev. Walker Wodehouse, M.A., March, 1896.” A mural tablet on the opposite side of the church shows that the aged vicar did not long survive his jubilee. The tablet has this inscription: "I.H.S. In memory of the Rev. Walker Wodehouse, M.A., 53 years vicar of this parish, died Christmas Eve, 1899, aged 80 years. Erected by parishioners and friends.” The Rev Scott Robinson mentioned to the Kent Archaeological Society a curious circumstance, that the second lancet window on the south side of the chancel is continued lower than the other, and that the lower portion formerly contained a casement which probably was enclosed with a shutter to get to which from the inside a step had been formed in the wall by cutting away the masonry of the window sill. The step is there still, but the casement was probably removed when the stained glass was inserted. It has been conjectured that this step was to enable a man to stand to ring the Sanctus bell or to communicate with persons in the churchyard, or it might have been an opening to send out the Sacrament to keepers in the churchyard according to ancient custom. Of the memorials in this church there are but few to be mentioned. Hasted mentions ancient brasses now gone, including one for Michael Pix, Mayor of Folkestone, and Nicholas Moore, of Wyngmer, 1577. There is now in front of the altar in the floor a slab of Pu beck marble, to the memory of John Somner, son of the learned William Somner, of Canterbury, dated 1695. There is a great array of ancient monuments in the large church yard, many of which testify to the great age to which the inhabitants have lived.

The Vicars of Elham.

Of the vicars of Elham we have no complete list. The most remarkable thing which the list discloses is the great show of interchanges with other parishes; and it is probable that few vicars on the list hold the benefice so long as the last one, the Rev. Walker Wodehouse, whose term extended from 1846 to 1899. In the archives of Canterbury Cathedral there is a record of the Countess of En in the years 1234-42 granting the patronage of Elham Church to the Archbishop; but the right of presentation was apparently only temporary, for in 1268 the patronage was given by Archbishop Boniface, then Lord of the Manor of Elham, to a college then founded by Canon Walter de Merton (of St, Paul’s), with whom it ever after remained, there being attached to the gift an obligation to pay to the vicar of Elham for ever 30 marks (£20) per annum. The archives of that College show that very soon after they became patrons, that is in the year 1290, they spent £88 16s. on this church and £1 8s. 10½d on the church clock (orologium). Of course that must have been a clock long previous to the present one, or, as clocks then were rare, it might have meant a sundial. Referring to the list of vicars we find that the eleventh on the list was William de Canterbury. He went into a Monastry in 1289, and his successor was William de Arrundel, concerning whom there is a curious record to the effect that after he had held the office of vicar of Elham 35 years. Archbishop Reynolds appointed a "curator" to act for the vicar owing to his great age and infirmity. This "curator” was a chaplain (Capellanus) named William de Ottinge, probably of Ottinge in this parish. This instance A.D. 1324 furnishes one of the earliest instances of the title of a curate. There used to be a crossed coffin slab in the south porch of Elham Church supposed to have been the tomb of this aged vicar. The Rev. Thomas Rigdon, the vicar in the year 1511, excused the parishioners from making offerings because they were deprived by authority of their quid pro quo—the privilege of drinking ale in the church. There used to be a brass in the church to the memory of the Rev. John Hill, dean and vicar of Elham, who died in the year 1730. The present vicar, who has been in office rather more than a year, is the Rev. Allard Charles Debourbel, M.A.

The Bells of Elham.

There are eight bells in the tower, some of which it is suggested were brought from Sandwich, the number of the peal having been increased since the days of Edward VI., when the number was only five. These bells are rung from the bottom of tee tower, the belfry being on a level with the church floor, and on the wall is a record that on the 23rd May, 1772, there was rung for the first time in this steeple a complete peal of 540 changes of grand sire triples in 3 hours and 8 minutes by J. M. Cullen, William Rigden, George Downe, Richard Down, Richard Foreman, William Ruck, Dan Cullen, and George Ladd. There is another record that the Kent County Association of Bellringers, on the 5th December, 1892, rang in this belfry a "date touch" consisting of 1892 bob triples in one hour and thirteen minutes. These bells were cast in the year 1763 by Messrs. Lester and Pack, Whitechapel, the founders of the great bell (70cwt.) at Canterbury Cathedral. The following are the particulars of the Elham peal:

Tenor       16 cwt.       F

7               11½          G

6               9               A

5               8               B flat

4               6½            C

3               6               D

2               5½            E

Treble       5               F

The ringers at Elham are governed by a set of rules adopted in 1888.

Elham Notes.

The large basin-like font at Elham Church is the original one put in when the Early English Church was built. It is large enough to baptise infants by immersion.—The parish chest was formed by hollowing out the trunk of a tree.—There is at the Record Office a curious certificate to the effect that one Thomas Nevett, of Elham, who had been granted arms was a carpenter earning his living by his trade. This record, dated 1625, is supposed to refer to a scion of the Knyvett family.—The Elham register dates from 1566. Amongst the names often given to children in the first years of the register are Aphra and Victorie. "Repentance" was the name given to a natural child.—In 1640 the number of communicants was 600. In 1809 Mr. Lee Warley made a bequest of books to Elham on condition that they be kept in the church for the use of the parish. A library was in consequence formed by partitioning off the last bay of the south aisle, and the books are kept there still, numbering 400, and they include Durant’s Repertorium Dureum (which is a reference book on Canon Law printed about 1740), the Latin Vulgate, with curious woodcuts, 1521; Spencer’s Fairie Queen, 1609; Albert Durer’s De Areibus Condendis, &c. These books being rare are kept under lock and key, but may be seen on application to the vicar.