THE DOVER EXPRESS AND EAST KENT NEWS—FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 1902

XXXVI.—BEKESBOURN.

Bekesbourn is a village in the valley of the Lesser Stour, in a small parish of 1,114 acres, with a station on the London, Chatham and Dover Railway, and on the highway from the London Road to Littlebourn and Wingham.

SITUATION AND SURROUNDING.

It was the making of the railway that brought Bekesbourn in prominence, and improved its communications with near and distant parts, but in other respects the construction of the high embankment is a disfigurement to the landscape, spoiling the beauty of the view over the luxuriant meadows and hop gardens, which extend down the pretty valley from Patrixbourn, through Bekesbourn to Littlebourn. Eastward and southward the land rises to the high downs, while to west and north the district is well wooded and marked by luxuriant pastures, hop gardens and orchards.

BEKESBOURN HISTORY.

The present name of the village is taken from a family of the name of Beke, who resided here in Norman times, but its earlier name was Livingsbourn, taken from a Saxon, named Levine, who held the lands in the time of Edward the Confessor. The Bishop of Bayeux, who, on the confiscation of the estates of the Saxon chiefs, seized all the fairest lands in East Kent, included Bekesbourn in his haul, the lands of which then taxed as two sulings, would represent an area of about 550 acres. That, of course, would not be more than half the present parish, and it seems probable that the Bishop's lands were those on the north side of the Lesser Stour. That may be inferred, because amongst his possessions is mentioned "half a fishery,” indicating that someone else held the other side of the Bourn, which, in olden times, seems to have been an important stream which supplied abundance of trout. It was also rapid and strong enough to turn a mill wheel which was on the Bishop’s estate, and there was also a salt pit of considerable annual value. This ancient industry of Bekesbourn was, no doubt, established to meet the wants of the then important city of Canterbury, and also to supply the considerable quantity of salt needed for local use. At Stonar, nearer the sea, extensive salt pans were worked, and from the fact that there was one at Bekesbourn, it may be presumed that at that period the sea, by some inlet, came much nearer than now, since sea-water was necessary for the production of the salt. The process of this salt making was to draw water from the sea during the summer, into broad shallow pans or ponds, where the water, being evaporated by the sun, the salty deposit was afterwards crystallized. This salt pit, doubtless, occupied the low ground at the northern extremity of the parish. After the property of the Bishop of Bayeux was confiscated, this manor of Bekesbourn was hold by the Crown until it passed to the Beke family, whose influence here was sufficient to change the name of the place from that of the Saxon possessor to their own, which it has borne since the time of Henry III. William de Beke was then in possession. He appears to have been an official of the Cinque Ports, associated with the Port of Hastings, and held these lands in grand sergeantry from the Crown by the service of providing one ship for the king when he and his armed forces passed the seas. It was in this way that Bekesbourn became a part of the Liberties of the borough of Hastings and continues so to this day, although the inconvenience of its being governed from a centre so far distant, has caused it in recent limes to be covered by the jurisdiction of the county magistracy. The subsequent owners of the manor, it is but necessary to mention. After the Beke’s comes the Bournes, the Dogets, the Cornwallis family, the Westons and the Thornburys. As to the Manor House at Bekesbourn, early history is obscure, but it seems that the site on which now stands the residence called the Old Palace on the right bank of the Bourn, has been occupied by a mansion for many centuries—probably before the Conquest. About the year 1430 the manor and this mansion was sold by Thomas Cadbury to Archbishop Chicheley, and on his death in 1443, his trustees conveyed it to the Priory of Christ Church at Canterbury, and Prior Thomas Goldstone I., immediately afterwards rebuilt the Prior’s apartments. He likewise rebuilt the hall adjoining to the Prior’s dormitory, and all the other buildings except the lodge and the two barns. Thus renovated, the Old Palace remained until the suppression of the Priory in the reign of Henry VIII. Then the Old Palace, called Christchurch House, and the land connected with it in this parish was granted by the King to Thomas Colepeper, a favourite, who, in his day, nearly rivalled the Bishop of Bayeux in number of manors he held in the neighbourhood, for, amongst other places, he held lands from Henry VIII in Barham, Bishopsbourne, Bridge Kingstone, Patrixbourne, and Bekesbourn. Colepeper, after holding the manor of Bekesbourn a very short time, exchanged it with Archbishop Cranmer, and Cranmer made this Old Palace his residence. He added to the buildings and would have done more had he remained in the prelacy; but the death of Edward VI. completely changed everything. During that king’s short reign from 1547 until 1553, Cranmer was too busy, completing the Reformation which Henry VIII. had left unfinished, to find much pleasure in his rural Palace in this lovely glade—in fact, his workmen were all the time busy with alterations to make it more attractive and his plans had not been completed when the Protestant Archbishop was hurried from the graveside of Edward VI. to the Tower, and soon after, to the stake. Archbishop Pole, during his short term in Mary’s reign, did nothing at Bekesbourn. He too was busy in work of another sort but Archbishop Parker, who wore the mitre in more peaceful times, took great delight in Bekesbourn, and in the latter part of his career formed plans for further enlarging the Palace, but died before his designs were carried out. Later, in the time of Civil Wars, the Palace was pillaged and the greater part of it pulled down, the Gate House and a few of the minor buildings on each side only being left standing. It was never again used as an Archbishop's Palace, but after the Restoration it was converted into a dwelling and let by the Archbishop, with the manor lands. The gateway of the Palace was pulled down about a hundred years ago. It was built of brick and had in the middle of the front the Arms of Cranmer, and on a stone, inside the gateway was. “A.D.—T.C.—1552,” and underneath the Archbishops motto, "Nosce Leipsum.” On the gates were the Arms of Archbishop Parker, impaled by those of the See of Canterbury. After the Palace became a private residence, it was, for a long time, occupied by the Peckam family, of whom there are memorials in the church. About sixty years ago it was converted into an extensive boarding school, conducted with much success by Mr. Frederic Wood, and many of the sons of Kentish farmers and gentry received their education here. There was formerly another ancient residence in this parish called the Howlets, in early Tudor times the seat of the family of Isaacs, of Patrixbourne. After passing through several hands, this mansion, in 1583 was purchased by Sir Charles Hales, who lived there forty years. The family continued to reside there for many generations until about the middle of the eighteenth century when the mansion fell down, and the family removed to Cobham Court adjoining the church, and in 1787 Sir Phillip Hales, Bart., sold Howlets with the gardens and offices to Mr. Isaac Baugh, who completely pulled down the old residence and rebuilt it in the parish of Ickham. Another manor in this parish is Cobham Court, the residence of which adjoins the north-east side of the churchyard. This is a very ancient house, as it now stands, with the exception of the north eastern part, which has been added in modern times, but it is hardly possible that the original Cobham Court could have lasted till now, for it was the possession of the ancient family of Cobham, from whom it took its name, and John de Cobham, son of Henry de Cobham, of Cobham, Kent, was possessed of it in the year 1327, and there is a record that he obtained for the manor a grant of free warren in the year 1344. The Cobhams, for several centuries, were associated with the Cinque Ports. Henry de Cobham, in the latter part of the reign of Edward I., was Lord Warden, and the John de Cobham was also Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Governor of Dover Castle, and, seeing that Bekesbourn was a Liberty of the Cinque Ports at that period, it is pretty evident that it was owing to that circumstance that he came into the possession of this manor, the Court House, which has ever since borne the family’s name. This manor continued in the Cobham family until the first year of James I., when Lord Cobham was tried for high treason, found guilty and condemned to be beheaded for being engaged in a plot with Lord Grey, Sir Walter Raleigh and others, against the new king. The last of the Cobham owners, of Cobham Court, was led to the scaffold at Winchester, where he showed great courage and was just making his last speech of farewell to the world when the execution was stayed for him to be confronted with other prisoners who were supposed by each other to have been previously executed, and when brought together they looked wildly on each other, “like men beheaded and met again in another world." Lord Cobham was sent back to the Tower of London, and the king took possession of his estates. After a few years Cobham was allowed to leave the Tower without any formal release, a destitute beggar, depending on the charity of a man in the Minories, who had previously been his servant; he died there, in a wretched loft, in the year 1619, the year after his co-conspirator Sir Walter Raleigh was executed. The new king, though much importuned by his favourites, kept Cobham's estates for his own use for a considerable time. Eventually they were disposed of, and Cobham Court, after having some intermediate owners, came to Sir Henry Palmer, and then it passed to the Hales family after they left the Howlets, and they, in 1787, sold it to Mr. Isaac Baugh, who continued its owner into the nineteenth century.

MODERN BEKESBOURN.

It will be seen from the foregoing that there have been ebbs and flows in the prosperity of Bekesbourn. In the days when the Cobhams were on the one bank of the stream and the Archbishop's Palace on the other, the flood of local prosperity must have been flowing, but when the martyrdom of Cranmer put an end to the glories of the Palace and half a century later the Cobhams passed away, there must have been depression at Bekesbourn, from which it was long in recovering. Hasted says that in the year 1800, there were but five houses in it. These were near the church, so that it may be assumed that since that time the whole of the houses on Bekesbourn Hill, north of the railway stations, have come into existence. The making of the railway and the fixing of the railway station here has assisted to bring this little village to the front. The making of the railway, itself, caused a large demand for labour here some forty years ago, the physical conditions of the country making deep cuttings and a high embankment necessary. In the making of one of these cuttings a bit of Bekesbourn of the long past was unearthed. Towards the end of October, 1858, the navvies, making a cutting for the London, Chatham and Dover Railway, on Bekesbourn Hill, came upon a large wooden structure, in the form of a square shaft or well, 12 feet in depth, its top 13 feet under the natural surface, giving a depth of 25 feet from the surface to the bottom. The structure was made of oak planks, strengthened by cross beams. The cross beams were six feet six inches in length firmly mortised together, the planks were rabbeted and let into the beams, each plank being pierced by transverse ties, crossing the corners of the shaft inside. The entire structure was of oak, the wood having become jet black with age, and although soft on the surface from the damp, was hard within. The interior of the quadrature shaft was three feet three inches. The soil in which this structure was found was gravely at the top and sandy loam further down. As the soil was cleared it stood up like a mysterious record of the past and unknown age exhibiting features new and strange. The top of the shaft was covered with oaken planks and the interior was filled up with large flints. The navvies who were eager to ascertain the value of their discovery hastily broke away one side of the shaft and, throwing aside the flints, when they came towards the base, they found a large urn ten inches in height, arched over for protection by large flints and having a regular layer of flints under it. That layer removed they came to five smaller urns, one in the centre and one in each corner of the shaft, the centre urn having a large piece of baked clay placed over its mouth. Two or three of the urns were broken by the men in their anxiety to search for treasure, but the urns contained nothing but a soft white clayey matter, which might have been the ashes of burnt flesh and bones operated upon by the damp, for the shaft had acted as a drain for a small spring percolating through it. Under a stone slab on which rested the lower urns was a cavity in the earth, which the water may have made, and on this stone was arranged a circle of horses teeth. This discovery was narrated to the Kent Archaeological Society at the second meeting of the society at Rochester in 1859, by Mr. John Brent (jun.), F.S.A., and he seemed to be somewhat in doubt as to whether this was a Roman Sepulchral Shaft, or a Danish burial chamber, there being no information of anything exactly the same ever having been found before. Mr. Brent, however, concluded that the preponderating evidence favoured the supposition that the structure was a Roman Sepulchre, yet a strange and isolated example. About the same time, near the same spot, another shaft was found which, although having no wooden structure within, it was filled with flints to a depth of fifteen feet, at the bottom of which was found two urns and a large Roman amphorea. Having described these ancient relics found on Bekesbourn Hill, there is little say of its appearance to-day, except that it is the centre of modern Bekesbourn—the railway station, post office, two inns, and a group of well built cottages. From the hill there is a pretty lane that leads down to the main road, where there is another bit of Bekesbourn, and then passing under the railway arch we pass on to the ancient part of the village by a road margined by meadows and hop gardens. On the right are some houses, of ancient appearance, on the roadside, while away in the fields is the Old Palace. On the left is the Vicarage, a very pretty red brick residence, while further, on the rising ground, nestling beneath the ancient church, is Cobham Court. The Old Palace is now occupied by Colonel E. Campbell Money, a retired officer. The vicar is the Rev. A. R. Pritchard, who succeeded the Rev. H. J. Wardell, and Cobham Court, has, for a good many years been the residence of Alderman H. M. Baker, a former Mayor of Dover, who, while carrying on large a wholesale provision trade at Canterbury, finds his recreation in farming about five hundred acres in this valley, which, in the period of the year when hops are in their glory and fruits and flowers in their prime, is one of the pleasantest nooks in the garden of England. There is a very pretty frontage and lawn to the Court, and the interior of the more ancient part is very quaint, the beams in the ceilings indicating that wood was plentiful when that old-world house was built. On the north of the Court are the farm yards and offices up to date in their arrangements, and in the paddocks are some of those charming little ponies for breeding, of which the worthy alderman is noted.

BEKESBOURN CHURCH.

It is but a step from Cobham Court to the church which is approached through a handsome lych gate. Externally, the church, viewed from the path, has an imposing appearance. It consists of a channel, nave, south transept, and square western tower, and has two entrances, one at the west end, and the other, which is the one generally used, on the north side. On the shafts imposts and arch of this door is some curious sculpture, exhibiting probably the oldest work in the building. The external walls are grey and venerable, but on entering, the interior presents an aspect of spick-span restoredness, from which most of the traces of the long gone past have been wiped out. There is one nook, however, the south transept, where memorials of former generations have been grouped, behind the organ, and there are some more at the west end under the tower. A few of these are worthy of mention. On the south wall under the tower is a figure of a knight in armour, kneeling, intended to represent Sir Henry Palmer, formerly of the Howletts. He died in 1611. According to Hasted, this monument was formerly in the chancel. On the north side of the tower wall is a memorial to the Rev. W. Bedford, vicar of Bekesbourn, and rector of Smarden, 56 years, who died 1783. In the south transept are eleven monuments which may be briefly specified as follows:—(1) A tablet laudatory of the services rendered at sea by Capt. Richard Fogge, of the Royal Navy, in the time of Charles 1., Obit. 1681. (2) A hatchment with an inscription under it for Edward Ladbrook, vicar here and rector of Ivychurch, Obit. 1676. (3) To Nicholas Battely, vicar here and rector of Ivychurch, Obit. 1704. (4) To Sir Thomas Pym Hales, some time M.P. for Dover, Obit. 1773. (5) To the Hon. and Rev. W. Eden, youngest son of the 1st Lord Henley, Obit. 1875. (6) A tablet to various members of the Eden family. (7) A tablet to Lady Yates, relict of Justice Yates, and of Dr. Thomas, Bishop of Rochester. (8) A tablet to Robert Peckham, late of the Archbishop’s Palace, Bekesbourn, Obit. 1795. (9) Also to John Peckham, brother of Robert. (10) A monument to Sir Philip Hales, last representative of the baronetage granted 1660, Obit. 1824. (11) A monument to Mary, the wife of the Rev. Philip Brandon, Obit. 1780. There are other memorials of modern date, consisting of a fine series of stained glass windows. All the windows except in the south transept are filled with stained glass which gives the interior rather a gloomy appearance at first entering. In the chancel on the north side are memorial windows for members of the Gardner family, who formerly were at Cobham Court. On the south side is a handsome window erected, George Bowdler Gipps, in remembrance of a special mercy. South of the nave near the lectern is a very handsome window in memory of Jane Gipps, the younger, Obit. 1891. She restored the church which fact is stated on a brass near the door as follows: “This church, erected to the glory of God in the 12th century was restored 1881-1890, chiefly by Jane Gipps the younger, who also gave the six bells, and by other members of her family.” There is also a memorial to J. C. Robertson, M.A., 14 years vicar of this parish, and Canon of Canterbury Cathedral, Obit. 1882. The whole of the modern memorials are of a decorative character. The special feature of the interior is that there is no plaster or distemper. The masonry of the walls is beautifully finished, the windows and doors being embellished with dressed stone. The font, very near the north entrance, is modern, with a handsome cover having brass ornamentations. Round the lower rim is inscribed: “Eucharistiae Primse, Marguerite Boxer Lh.yd .S. S. Trin. 1. MDCCCXCIV.” On the south side of the chancel there is a handsome double piscina, and just inside the north door is a holy-water stoup. The square western tower was erected in 1841. In the churchyard are several interesting tombstones recording old Kentish family names, on many of which are inscribed prayers for eternal rest in God. One monument at the south west of the church is striking. It is a broken marble shaft standing on a large block of stone and inscribed: “Here rests near Bekesbourn Palace, the home of his forefathers, Charles Tilstone Beek-Beke, Deputy Lieutenant of Tower Hamlets, Scholar, Theologian, Author, Traveller, Philanthropist. Born 10 October, 1800, at Stepney, Middlesex, died 31 July, 1874. Great is truth and mighty above all things. R. I. P.”

POPULATION AND REPRESENTATION.

The population of Bekesbourn at the census of 1891 was 370, which is 154 more than it was a hundred years ago. The largest increase seems to have taken place between 1801 and 1841. At the latter date there were 61 houses and 351 population. Since then the increase has been but slight, but the tendency is in the direction of progress. The easy access to two lines of railway are in its favour. At the revision of voters last autumn there were 68 registered householders, and as there are some unregistered the inhabited houses must be between seventy and eighty. Seven new householders moved into the parish in the last registration year, one from Kingston, one from Stodmarsh, two from Littlebourne, one from Bishopsbourn and two from Ash. For local government purposes and for Poor Law purposes the parish belongs to the Bridge District Council and Board of Guarians, Mr. Alderman Baker, of Cobham Court, being the parish representative.