THE DOVER EXPRESS AND EAST KENT NEWS—FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 1902

XXXIII.—PATRIXBOURN.

Patrixbourn is a small village, and a parish of 1639 acres in extent, half a mile west from Bekesbourne station on the London, Chatham and Dover Railway.

Situation and Surroundings.

Patrixbourn lies in a valley, through which runs (sometimes), the Lesser Stour from its head in Bourne Park, but just now the fountain head is dry, the channel through Patrixbourn is empty, and the bridges which span the course at intervals are but monuments of a stream that was! To the north-east lies the parish of Bekesbourne, on which Patrixbourn village impinges, to the south-east is the Barham Downs, to the south-west is the parish of Bridge, and north-west the Pilgrim’s-road leads to the City of Canterbury, three miles distant. The village has no direct railway or telegraphic communication, but it has a choice of two railway stations with telegraphic communication—Bekesbourne half a mile away, and Bridge barely a mile, so that although Patrixbourn remains as truly rural as it was in the olden time, it is within a measurable distance of the modern sources of civilisation.

The History of Patrixbourn.

The history of this village runs back to the time of the Roman invasion, B.C. 55, for it was just here that the battle raged when Romans and Britons fought the great pitched battle, the Romans advancing from their camp on Barham Downs, and by the sheer force of the weight of their legions swept down into this valley, slaughtering and scattering the British forces, who never again made such a determined stand against the invaders as they did at “Old England’s Hole” on the north-east side of this parish, when the Stour, then a rapid river, was reddened with blood, and the bodies of our British forefathers were buried in impromptu graves which their heroism hallowed. Of Saxon days, the church is the most tangible record left. Most of its fabric and its architectural adornment is now Norman, but the church itself was built in the Saxon period, and the rude but massive masonry of the piers of the south aisle are probably a portion of the early work. The beauty of the situation and the fertility of the land made Patrixbourn attractive to Odo, Bishop of Baieux, who included it in his many possessions. At the beginning of the Norman period it was held by Richard, son of William, under lease from Odo, and there were then attached to the manor six sulings (about 1400 acres), and in addition to Richard’s household there were on the manor 47 other families, 43 being villiens and four borderers—a population quite equal to that of to-day. These facts, taken from the Domesday survey, were recorded in the year 1084, and four years later, on the disgrace of Odo, the manor was broken up into sections of Merton, Cheney, Renville, and Higham, which were for many generations accounted separate manors. The Manor of Merton, afterwards called the Manor of Patrixbourn, was first held by the de Bornes, and Margerie, a daughter of the last of the Bornes, carried it in marriage to a Norman named John de Pratellis, who gave it to the Priory of Beaulieu in Normandy, with whom the possession remained until the time of Henry IV., when by the King’s licence it was given to the Merton Priory, Surrey, and so remained until the 31st year of the reign of Henry VIII, when the manor, coming into the hands of the Crown, was granted to Sir Thomas Cheney, as a Knight’s fee, and Edward VI. confirmed the Cheney’s in the freehold possession of it. Very soon after, however, the property was several times sold—first to Sir Thomas Herbert, and next to William Partherich. The grandson of the latter, Sir Edward Partherich, of Bridge, sold it in 1638 to Mr., afterwards Sir Arnold Braems, a Dover merchant, who built the Elizabethan Dover Custom House, and his son, Walter Braems, sold the manor in 1704 to John Taylor, Esq.. At that time the manor, which had been known as Merton, came to be called the Manor of Patrixbourne, and was united with other manors of the parish. The other part of the ancient manor, called Cheney, after the disgrace of Odo was held by the Say family, until Sir Edward de Say in the reign of Henry III. sold it to Sir Alexander Cheney, who resided there for several generations, and the Manor of Merton was united with it in the possession of Sir Thomas Cheney in the 31st year of Henry VIII., both Manors of Merton and Cheney taking the same line of succession and possession, until this also came into the possession of Edward Taylor, Esq., beforenamed. There was also the subsidiary Manor of Hode, or Hothe, which was anciently the possession of a family named Isaac. John Isaac was its owner in the time of Edward III, and continued in that family till the reign of Henry VIII., when by special Act of Parliament the lands were disgovelled. It afterwards went to the Palmers of Howlets, then by sale to Edward Merriweather, who in 1680 sold it to Thomas Adrian, who in 1694 sold it to John Taylor, Esq. There were also the two other small Manors of Renville and Higham. The separate possession of the former is recorded from the time of James I., when it was owned by the Crippens, next by the Naylors, and in 1638 it was sold to Archdeacon William Kingley, of Canterbury, who left a numerous issue, and it continued in that family’s possession until the Nineteenth Century. Higham Manor, which adjoins the northern side of Barham Downs, was in the possession of William de Higham, and descended to his son Nicholas by deed in the 13th year of Edward III.; subsequently it seems for many generations, to have been possessed by the owners of the Manor of Bishopsbourne until the year 1768, when Ignatius Geohagan built the present house, called Higham Place, which in 1781 came into the possession of the Hallets, and it has continued in the possession of that family till the present time.

Bifrons: Mansion and Park.

Returning from tracing the different sections of the manors, Bifrons demands separate attention, for although not existent when the manors first separated, it subsequently, like Aaron’s rod swallowed up the rest. Bifrons is a fine mansion of stone, standing a little west of the church. Its gardens and pleasure grounds adjoin the churchyard on the south and west, and the park, finely timbered, extends far beyond the mansion north-west and south, while opposite the main entrance, having a western aspect, there is an avenue of noble elm trees, and the grounds abound with fine cedars. Bifrons was originally built by John Bargar, otherwise Bargrave, of the adjoining parish of Bridge, whose younger brother Isaac was Dean of Canterbury. In the visitations of the County of Kent the pedigree of Bargar, alias Bargrave is recorded with their Arms, and there are entries of marriages connected with the family in the Patrixbourn. Parish Register as follows:—

Anno 1604 the fowerth day of October, were maryed John Boyes (clerk), and Mrs. Angell Bargar (Virgine).

Anno 1604. The 24 day of February were maryed Thomas Lukine and Katherine Bargar.

Anno 1627, Thomas Rayment, Doctor of Divinity, and Mrs. Jone Bargrave, Virgin, were maryed 26 March.

We have not found any illustration or description of the house that John Bargar built at Bifrons, but probably it was that house that had the double front, which gave to Bifrons its name. In the year 1662 the Bargraves, as they were then called, sold the estate to Sir Arthur Slingsby, Bart., and his son, Sir Charles, sold it in 1677 to a London merchant, named Thomas Baker, originally of Cranbrook. In 1680 it was sold to Thomas Adrian, Esq., who kept his shrievalty at Bifrons in the year 1690, and in 1694 he sold it to John Taylor, Esq., son of Nathaniel Taylor, Barrister-at-Law, who came of a family from Whitchurch, Salop. The statement that John Taylor, Esq., purchased Bifrons in the year mentioned above is supported by an inscription in the tablet at the entrance to the Bifrons Chapel. After stating that he died in the year 1729 it is recorded that he purchased an estate in this parish on September 29th, 1694, and another in the parish of Bridge, both of which he much improved, and having raised a fine garden at Bifrons he settled the estates upon his family, it is farther recorded that he gave several ornaments of value to Patrixbourn Church, that he was a strict economist, a just dealer, and kind to the poor. He left four sons and four daughters, his eldest son, Brook, a doctor of civil law, a fellow of the Royal Society, wrote several treatises, and one on perspective which gained him some renown. One of the daughters married the Rev. John Bowtell, D.D. who was Vicar of Patrixbourn. Dr. Brook Taylor succeeded his father at Bifrons, but dying without male issue in 1731, he was succeeded by his brother, the Rev. Herbert Taylor, Vicar of Patrixbourn, who, dying in 1763, left two sons, Herbert and Edward. The former dying unmarried, his brother, the Rev. Edward Taylor, succeeded him as owner of Bifrons, and also as Vicar of Patrixbourn. He re-built the Manor of Bifrons on nearly the same site as the old one, and the builder, in commemoration of his wife, placed this motto on the forefront: Diruta aedificat uxor bona aedificnta diruit mala. (After demolishing building was destroyed by bad wife and a good aedificnta.) Mary Taylor, daughter of the original John Taylor, died unmarried in 1771, and her tomb is against the south wall of the church, adjoining the Bifrons Chapel, and on it are the following lines:-

Beneath this marble rests the mortal part

Of her who once delighted every heart

How good she was, and what her virtues were

Her guardian angel can alone declare.

The friend that now this little tribute pays

Too exquisitely feels to speak her praise.

Yet wouldst thou know the pious life she spent

How many from her hands received content,

How many want and poverty had chilled,

Her charity with peace and rapture filled,

The parish nigh shall gratify thine ears

And tell thee some in words, but most in tears.

This maiden lady lived to an advanced age, and seems to have been much beloved in the parish. The Rev. Edward Taylor died in the year 1798, leaving four sons and three daughters. The sons all took prominent positions in life. Edward Taylor, the eldest, succeeded his father at Bifrons. He was a Captain in the Romney Fencible Dragoons. Herbert was in the army, and was private secretary and aide-de-camp to the Duke of York. Brook was private secretary to the Foreign Secretary, and Bridges, the youngest, was a Captain in the Navy. The eldest daughter, Mary Elizabeth, married Edward William Bootle, M.P., Charlotte married the Rev. Mr. Northey. Early in the Nineteenth Century Bifrons became the seat of the noble Conyngham family, the head of which family has now for many years been the Lord of the Manor, lay rector, and patron of the living.

Patrixbourn of To-day,

The approach to Patrixbourn from the railway station at Bekesbourne is along a good and pleasant road, margined by meadows and hopfields, and on entering the village the impression is conveyed that it is not an ordinary industrial centre. The great mansion of the Bifrons is the social centre, and around it are the dwellings of those attached to the estate. Those dwellings are well built, and embellished with carved work about the eaves and gables. Some are the old-fashioned black and white, and others of more modern red brick. There are, however, several large houses, and the Vicarage is a very handsome residence on the north side of the church, with its grounds running back to Bifrons. On the north side is the ancient residence of the Coppins, to which the Rev. Edward Coppin retired in 1662, when ejected from the Rectory of Wootton by the Bartholomew Act. On the north side of the villagers the lodge and entrance to Bifrons, and the walk through the park is very pleasant. The west front of the mansion, in its setting of groves, avenues, and well-distributed great trees with luxuriant foliage, has a very fine appearance, which relieves its architectural features, which but for their surroundings would be somewhat cold and severe. In the centre is a portico slightly projecting, in the middle of which is the main entrance with a window on each side, and three windows in the wings on each side. In the floor above them are nine windows with cornice and dormers above. The whole conveys the idea of spacious substantiality, which does not seem to have suffered any decay in the century and quarter that has passed since the Rev. Edward Taylor rebuilt it.

The Church.

While Bifrons is the social centre, the church is by far the most interesting feature in Patrixbourn. Over the entrance to the churchyard rise two tall trees, which, when crowned with summer foliage, form a grand natural lichgate. The churchyard is beautifully kept, and planted with trees in keeping with the gardens of Bifrons adjoining. Externally the sacred edifice presents many striking architectural features. The east end facing the road has a wheel window at the top, and below three small round-beaded narrow windows, and at the spring of the roof on each side carved figures. On the south side of the chancel are two small windows and a round-headed door, with fine Norman zigzag and indented moulding in the arch, the impost embellished with diagonal work, and on the capital acanthus leaves. Over the arch is a stone carved figure, having on its head seemingly a crown. It is, however, so worn as to make it impossible to ascertain the intention of the sculptor. There is on the south side of the aisle, under the tower, a still finer door, also round-headed but larger, supported on either side by two round pillars, above which is a space divided into compartments, in which there appears to have been some very elaborate carved work presumably representing the Holy Trinity, but so weather-worn as to make identification of the details impossible. Above this the arch has six circuits enriched with nearly every specimen of early Norman mouldings, interspersed with heads and with grotesque and symbolical figures, and in the space over the arch in a panel is a figure too indistinct to be identified. Hasted speaks of this door as being Saxon, but it is evidently a specimen of singularly beautiful Norman work of the best period. On the north side there is a similar door, but not so richly moulded. The church within is very beautiful in many respects, but although there are a good many windows, the fact of many of them being narrow and all tilled with stained glass, the interior is too dark, except on very bright days, to see all its points to advantage. Just within the south door are three acute angled pointed arches, apparently Saxon, one leading into the Bifrons Chapel, one into the nave, and one into the baptistery. They spring from very heavy square piers, which support the tower, in which there is a clock and three bells. Over the door are two inscriptions, one stating that the church was restored by the Marchioness of Conyngham in 1857, and the other that the clock was given by George Henry, Marquis of Conyngham, 1876. The church consists of a chancel, a nave, a north and south aisle, the latter being divided into a small aisle west of the door, and the Bifrons Chapel, which occupies the space from the south door up to the east end of the south aisle. The chapel is very comfortably seated and upholstered, and there is an open fire place at the east end of it, but this is only an unneeded survival, the church being now heated with coils of hot pipes. In the south wall there is a recess, in which there is carved work. Being low down probably it is an opening to the Bifrons Vault. In the east wall there is a narrow arched recess, in which there has doubtless been a shrine, and a light before it. The windows in the chapel are filled with stained glass, some memorials for the Conyngham family, but one is dated 1607. This window is divided into compartments, and has curious work in it which might have been after Albert Durer. The fine eastern memorial window in this chapel is for George Henry, Marquis of Conyngham, born 1825 and died 1882. There are several other mural tablets in memory of the Taylors and the Conynghams. The arcade of the nave on the south side is very effective, the Gothic arches resting on round pillars, but on the south side the arcade is broken by the heavy piers at the entrance. The floor of the chancel is level with the body of the church, and the chancel arch is small, semi-circular, and enriched with zig-zag and indented moulding. The chancel floor is paved with tiles, in which is the crest and motto of the Marquis of Conyngham. In the chancel wall north side is a white marble monument to Henry, 1st Marquis of Conyngham, Earl of Mount Charles Viscount of Stane, and Baron Minster of Minster Abbey in this county. He was born 1766, and died 1832, and the Marchioness was born 1770, and died 1861. On the south side of the chancel is a decorated nitch with canopy in which there is a piscina, and a little further west a sidilia, and mere is an aumbry on each side. At the back of the south pillar of the chancel is a slant into the wall, indicating that at some time there was a squint there to permit of the occupants of the Bifrons Chapel seeing into the chancel. There are numerous memorials in this church in addition to those mentioned, and in the churchyard are many of very old date that seem to have been singularly well preserved.

Vicars of Patrixbourn.

There is, in this church, a list of vicars, compiled by the Rev. T. S. Frampton, consisting of 65 persons, ranging from Walter de Burne, 1189, to The Rev. Hubert Knight, appointed 1898, the present vicar. This gives an average of ten years for each, but terms of office varied very much. In the Fifteenth Century the changes were very frequent, no fewer than 30 having been instituted in a hundred years. From 1698 to 1799 there were but three instituted. None of the vicars on the list appear to have made any great figure in the world. One of the vicars, according to the records left in the archives at Lambeth, seems to have incurred the opposition of his parishioners, it being recorded that articles against the Minister, the Rev. John Mackallan, A.M., were exhibited by the parishioners of Patrixbourn and Bridge, 16th August, 1695. At that time this Vicar had held office 28 years, and two years later he resigned, and died one year after that, and was buried in the chancel of Patrixbourn Church. We have been unable to discover what was the ground of the complaint against him or whether his resignation had any connection with that dispute. The only thing that Mr. Frampton mentions concerning him is that during his 30 years’ term a very large number of collections by briefs were made in the two parishes. One was made from house to house, and realised 30s. for the re-building of St. Paul’s Cathedral after the fire. During his time, in 1674, two of the bells were re-cast, and it is stated that No. 3 and the tenor bell are amongst the earliest used in Kent, population.

Past and Present.

At the present day the population of Patrixbourn parish is about 265. A hundred years ago it was 130; in 1821 it was 268; in 1831 it was 280; and in 1841 the number was 251. In 1821 there were 43 houses, and in 1841 there were 53. The fluctuation has not arisen so much from the changes in the ordinary population of the parish as in establishments at the large houses. At the last autumn revision of voters there were 40 registered electors in the parish, which would be a pretty correct total of the whole of the householders, excepting women householders. The householders are distributed as follows:- connected with the Bifrons estate, 8; Higham, 6; Vicarage, 1; Shepherds close, 6; Hode, 1; Milestone, 2; Patrixbourn Street, 7; Pond Cottages, 2; Renville Cottages, 5; Cold-harbour, 2; Waterfall Cottage, 1; School, 1; and the Patrixbourn Lodge, 1. It should be observed that while 8 voters connected with the Bifrons Estate are registered, that is to say the gatekeeper, the gardener, the gamekeeper, &c.. the owner of the estate, because he is a Peer, is subject to the same disability as women, and is not registered as a voter for the County.