THE DOVER EXPRESS AND EAST KENT NEWS—FRIDAY, MARCH 14. 19002.

XLIII.—ASH.

Ash is a village, almost large enough to be called a town, containing a population of considerably over 2,000 and an area of 6,988 acres, of which 57 acres are water. It is called Ash-next-Sandwich to distinguish it from Ash near Sevenoaks, but Ash near Dover is its proper postal designation.

SITUATION AND SURROUNDINGS.

The village of Ash lies on a pleasantly situated elevation with the church at nearly the highest point. A large part of the parochial area stretches away towards the north, and is bounded by the Stour, much of the land in that direction being marshy; but at the extremity of the parish eastward the land rises abruptly, forming the eminence overlooking the Stour where stood, and still are left, the remains of the Roman station of Richborough. Southward from the upper part of the village, there is a watershed falling towards Staple and Wingham, the Wingham brook rising in a pond to the west of the church and continuing its course from thence through Staple and Wingham, emptying itself into the Lesser Stour. The parish as a whole is rich in soil, and is one of the most fruitful sections of the County.

THE HISTORY OF ASH.

The early history of Ash runs back to the period of Roman occupation of Britain. Richborough, at the north-east corner of the parish is an indelible record of those times; and in the opposite direction, a little west of the church, is a Roman burial place. The Stour, being then a navigable river, with a greater flow of water than now, would naturally attract the attention of the Romans, forming, as it did, a valuable waterway up to Canterbury. At Richborough, where the river then emptied itself into the sea, they built their place of arms; while up on the rising ground where Ash-street now is, they doubtless had their villas, which accounts for the burial ground to the west of it near Guilton. Mr. John Brent, F.S.A., states that about the year 1860 a little urn containing the ashes of a deceased person and enclosed in an elegant two-handled glass jar, like a wine amphora, was dug up in this burial ground; and the late Mr. George Dowker, F.G.S., at a later date, identified as Roman burial urns, several vessels dug up along the same rising ground further west. Although the details of the Roman occupation of Ash are sparse, the evidence thereof is quite clear, and doubtless they were attracted here by the necessity of displacing a large population of ancient Britons who had occupied these fruitful lands in pre-Roman days. Of Saxon times there are a good many traces, more especially to the eastward towards Woodnesborough. Of the exact condition of things at the commencement of the Norman period, Domesday book gives no separate record, the whole of the parish being then included with other parishes in Wingham Manor, which was held by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Turning to the several subordinate manors comprised in that ancient estate, we find the particulars early of land tenure in the extensive parish of Ash.

THE MANOR OF OVERLAND.

The principal manor was that of Overland, situate about a mile and a half north west of the church, which, in the year 1241, was granted by the Archbishop to the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, Bertram de Criol. This, like other grants of a similar kind made to public men for public purposes in those times, was not surrendered to the public or to the successor in the office, but was passed on to the holder’s heirs like his private property. This manor of Overland passed from the Lord Warden Bertram de Criol, to his kinsman, Wiliam de Leyborne, who in the year 1309, left it to his grand-daughter Juliana, who owing to the large number of estates to which she became heir, was called the Infanta of Kent. She having been married thrice, surviving her three hubands, died in the year 1367, when the manor was escheated to the Crown, where it remained until 1384, when it was again granted to the then Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, Sir Simon de Burley. This knight, it will be seen, was now put in possession direct from the Crown, of an estate that barely a century previously had been a part of the lands of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the result being that there was no love lost between the Lord Warden and the Primate. Sir Simon de Burley’s lot was cast in troublous times. It was he who fired the hatred of the Commons of Kent in the Wat Tyler rising by seizing an industrious man living at Gravesend and carrying him off as an escaped bondsman to Rochester Castle. That prisoner was released by the insurgents, but Sir Simon de Burley escaped only to put himself into further trouble. In 1384, taking advantage of the unsettled state of things in England, the French threatened invasion, and some did actually land in the jurisdiction of the Lord Warden, near Sandwich; and although there was no real danger, the principal part of the French fleet having been destroyed in a tempest, Lord Warden Burley proposed that all the costly jewels and the gold and silver valuables belonging to the church at Canterbury, should be taken to Dover Castle, for safety. This the Archbishop regarded as an act of treachery, and he retaliated on Burley by charging him with neglect of duty in allowing the French to land, and it was alleged that he had engaged to surrender Dover Castle to the enemy. Upon this charge Burley was tried and beheaded on the 5th of May, 1388, by order of the Duke of Gloucester. This was in opposition to the wish of the King, as well as an unpopular act with the people, and not long after both the Archbishop and the Duke of Gloucester were arrested for high treason; the former being exiled, and the latter dying while in custody at Calais. Sir Simon de Burley’s sentence was revoked eleven years after his death. After the execution of that Lord Warden, the Manor of Overland in Ash was in the year 1398 granted by the King to the Priory of Chiltern Langley in Hertfordshire, where it remained until Henry VIII. dissolved that Priory in the year 1539. Then the Crown granted it to Richard Thorndean, Bishop of Dover, to be held till he received some other preferment; and six years later the Bishop, who was a noted pluralist, obtained several other preferments, and the Overland manor in the year 1545 passed to Walter Henley, Attorney-General. His heirs sold it to Simon Lynch, of Staple, and subsequently it became the property of Earl Cowper. For historical purposes it is only necessary to add that in ancient times there was a chapel of Overland, long gone to ruin; and now further to the north west is the church of West Marsh, which is the centre of a new ecclesiastical district carved out of the civil parish of Ash.

THE MANOR OF GOLDSTON.

Another extensive ancient manor in Ash was that of Goldston or Goldstanton, about a mile eastward of Overland. The first record of it is in the beginning of the reign of Edward I, when Sir John Goshall held these lands by knight’s service from the Archbishop. In the year 1300, however, William de Clinton, Earl of Huntingdon, was the owner; and he dying in that year left the manor to his nephew, Sir John de Clinton; and the Clintons continued to hold it until 1400, when they alienated it to Richard Clitherow, who was sheriff of Kent in 1403. Two years later he was constituted Admiral of the Seas from the estuary of the Thames to London. His son, Roger, succeeded him in the estate; and on his death his daughters became coheirs of it. The name of this family is preserved on ancient brasses in Ash Church, but by marriage the estate went to other names; and eventually, in the reign of Henry VIII. it was again in the name of Clinton. Then it passed to Lord Cromwell, the vicegerent of King Henry VIII in ecclesiastical matters, but he, like the owner of Overland manor, ended his days on the scaffold, being beheaded on Tower Hill, London, on July 28, 1540, having provoked the displeasure of the King whom he had too faithfully served. After the execution, Goldston manor went to the Crown, and the next private owner was Vincent Engham. It continued in the family until Sir Thomas Engham, of Goodnestone, sold it about the year 1600 to Mr. Courcelis, and from him it soon after passed to Sir William Wilde, a Justice of the King’s Bench. The manor continued in that family until 1754, when, by an Act of Parliament, the estate was divided into six moieties to suit the parties interested. Three of those parts were allotted to Nicholas Toke in the right of his wife, who was one of the Wilde family, and it descended to his son. Another sixth part, called Upper Goldston Farm, went to Robert Colebrook, and passed through several bands, and was owned some years ago by Mr. John Alexander. Another sixth part, called Lower Goldston, went by marriage to Thomas Jull, and to his nephew, John Turner, surgeon, of Ash. The remaining sixth part was divided amongst several descendants of the Wilde family.

MOLLAND.

This ancient seat in Ash, near Guilton, is noteworthy owing to its association with the Molland chancel attached to Ash church and the monuments within it erected to the memory of the owners of this estate, who were important people in Ash in the Middle Ages. The Molland family, who gave the place its name, were in possession at and prior to the year 1270. about 1320 they seem to have parted with the estate to Sir Nicholas de Sandwich, who left an only daughter, Anne, who carried he estate in marriage to Sir William de Septvans, another name which is left in the Molland chancel. He died in the year 1407, leaving Molland to his youngest son John, as well as other estates in Ash. He chose as his residence the Manor House of Chequers. He had three sons, John, Thomas, and Gilbert. John inherited his father’s estates in Thanet, and went to reside there; Thomas took the Manor of Chequers, with Carters and Twitham Marsh; and Gilbert Septvans had for his residence Molland. This seat remained in the Septvans family until the reign of Charles II., after which it passed to the Harfletes, the Singletons, the Rookes, and ultimately to Richard Peckham of Bekesbourn. The sub-Manors of Chequers and Chilton were generally held by the same families as Molland.

WEDDINGTON.

This was the ancient residence of the Houghams, whose memorials are preserved in the south transept of the church of Ash. They descended from the Houghams of Hougham near Dover, coming to Ash in the reign of Henry VIII; but at Hougham they were settled as early as the reign of Richard I. The name of Hougham was at Weddington until the end of the reign of Charles I, when the family became extinct, and the estate passed to the Garret family of Thanet.

HILLS COURT.

This ancient Manor House is situated about half a mile east of the church. The original name was Hells, taken from Bertram de Hells, who was Lieutenant-Governor of Dover Castle in the reign of Henry III. This family remained at Ash until towards the close of the Fifteenth Century, when the Wroths came to Hills Court, and remained there till the end of the reign of Henry VII., when it passed to the name of Slaughter, and from that family, by marriage, it passed to Harflete, and Henry Harflete in the year 1608 sold it, together with the adjoining manor of Levericks, to Edward Peke of Sandwich. These united manors are associated with the interest attached to this knightly family, one of whom lies buried in the High Chancel of Ash Church, having his effigy cross-legged, and a lion at his feet. After several intermediate owners, Hills Court was eventually sold to Mr. Peter Fector, of Dover.

GOSHALL.

This ancient house, once deemed a Manor, lies north of the road to Sandwich, at the east end of Ash. Not long after the Conquest the family of Goshall occupied a residence which stood on the same site as the old Tudor mansion which still exists. John de Goshall occupied it in the reign of Henry III., and there was another John de Goshall there more than a hundred years later, in the reign of Edward III. The latter is the one who lies buried in the chancel of Ash Church, and has a tomb with a cross-legged effigy. The family continued here till about the year 1400, when the manor passed to St. Nicholas, and that family remained in Ash until Thomas St. Nicholas, the last of the race, died in the reign of Charles II. But as early as the reign of Elizabeth, Goshall had passed to John Roper, afterwards Lord Teynham, and without any long tenure it passed through several hands, including Sir Henry Furness, the Derings, Peter Fector, of Dover, and eventually to the Colemans.

WINGHAM BARTON.

This manor adjoins the Stour at the boundary of the parish. In the year 1286 Archbishop Peckham gave it to Wingham College, and at the dissolution of the College it passed by Crown grant to Sir Roger Manwood. The chief interest in this manor is that it includes the site of Richborough Castle. This estate passed through several hands, and eventually it was bought in 1781 by Mr. Peter Fector, of Dover.

FLEET.

This manor, which lies a little west of Richborough, was not in the part anciently held by the Archbishop, but is separately mentioned in Domesday Book as being at that time held by William de Acris, who, in addition to a suling of land, had a salt pan and a fishery there. Soon after the Conquest the de Veres became the owners of it, and continued so till the reign of Henry VIII. Subsequently the manor was divided, the one being Fleet, and the other Gurson, under separate owners. There was anciently a chapel of ease to the church of Ash in Fleet, but there are no remains of the chapel now left.

RICHBOROUGH.

This notable spot demands a few historical lines. This place was called by the Romans Portus Rutupensis. This port was very eminent in the time of the Romans, being at that time a safe and commodious harbour, well suited for the ships of those times. The bay of it was supposed to have extended over the site of Sandwich towards Deal on the one side, and almost to Ramsgate cliffs on the other, while the passage from thence between the main land and the Isle of Thanet gave a shipway to the Thames, and from the same point a navigable river up to Canterbury. The Roman Castle of Richborough was built by Severus, about the year A.D. 205, occupying a high hill close to a steep precipice, at the foot of which was the haven. Leland, writing of it in the reign of Henry VIII., says: “The scite of the town or castel ys wonderful, fair apon an hille. The walles the wich remayn ther yet be in compase almost as much as the Tower of London. They have bene very hye, thykke, strong, and wel embateled. The mater of them is flynt, marvelus, and long brykes both white and redde after the Britons fascion. The sement was made of se sand and smaul pible.” There has been no great change since Leland’s time. There is from Goldston in Ash across the low ground to Richborough a hard broad road, supposed to be of Roman origin, and it has been traced up to the Roman burial ground near Guilton. Although we have referred thus briefly to Richborough as a part of the parish of Ash, it is really a place apart, — a shred of old world history worthy of a special visit and separate investigation.

THROUGH THE VILLAGE.

A walk through the village street of Ash brings to view many interesting features — a panorama of rural life. Coming along the Sandwich road, the feature of the country is that it is well watered by dykes intersecting the land, but on entering Ash the land rises, and is more suitable for habitation. Leaving the historic heights of Richborough on the north-east, on the north side of the way are East Street and Brook Street, the latter having for its principal mansion Brook House, the residence of Ingram F. Godfrey, Esq., J.P. The names of both Godfrey and Brook House figure largely in the records of Ash, public spiritedness and benevolence having been characteristics of the owners of Brook House for many generations. A little further, and we come to another old land mark, Goshall, an ancient house with still more ancient traditions. Away further north lies Weddington, Goldston, Copt Street, and more westward Overland. These latter are only to be seen in the distance, on the flat rich lands which stretch away to the marshes that margin the Stour. Entering the village street where it is more regularly margined by dwellings, on the south side we pass the Vicarage, and piles of buildings connected with Ash Brewery, of which more anon. One pleasant feature of a village is that the poorer houses are not huddled together in slums, and the dwellings of the more well-to-do standing apart. In Ash there is a delightful admixture of cottages, villas, and mansions, and a pleasant variety of houses new and old. In the lobby of the Lion Inn is a very fine sample of Jacobean carving. The Post Office is central, just below the church, Mr. C. Brisley being the local postmaster. The street is not lined with unbroken ranks of houses, but where there are no houses there are gardens — some the little plots for pleasure or odd profit of the cottagers, and others the larger areas worked by market gardeners as a regular business. There is much of that, and a great deal of laborious spade work at Ash. Spade work presumably is thirsty work, for there are a good many retailers of malt liquors, in addition to the principal Inns, which are The Lion, The Ship, The George and Dragon, The Chequers, The Marquis of Granby, and The First and the Last. Most other businesses to be found in a town are fairly represented. There is a model butcher’s establishment long kept by Mr. Bourne. Drapery is represented by Harpoles, Harden, and others. There are good provision shops, including Jacob’s, Hill’s, and Watson’s. Mr. Dixon is the chemist. The well known firm of Messrs. Petley Brothers carry on an old established auctioneer’s and valuer's business at Guilton. Three windmills on elevated points, east, west, and north, stand like sentinels round the village, and Mr. Marshall at Guilton, not content with harnessing the wind for milling, also employs steam. With these few samples we must be content to only add that the several trades at Ash, including also the smith, the carpenter, the painter and plumber, and others, are but auxiliaries of the greater vocations of gardening and hop growing. These two seem to form a large part of the daily doings, and amongst the recreations, the meetings of the gardeners in Clubland, and in their keen and pleasant rivalry at the annual flower, fruit, and vegetable show, holds front rank. Continuing on our way up the street, we pass the church, pleasantly situated on high ground on the south, with a fine prospect over the meadows below where is the Ash moat, near which rises the stream that runs westward. On the same side, not much further on, is the Congregational Chapel and Schools, and it may be added here that there is a Mission Room at Goldston. a Primitive Methodist Chapel at Cooper Street, a Wesleyan Chapel at West Marsh, and a small Iron Church at Richborough. Passing on to the west end of Ash, there are some fine large residences, old and new, and further on where the road begins to touch the open country, there are building sites, where pretty villas are springing up, and it is very noticeable that nowhere does the legend “To Let” appear. It may be mentioned that “the ills the flesh is heir to” are not uncared for in man or beast. Dr. Baylor and Mr. Eyton-Jones attend to the former, and Mr. T. F. Hogben the latter. Ash has one industry which few villages boast — gas works for lighting public places and private houses. This is a growing industry, which does much to light and to cheer the community.

ASH BREWERY.

Our sketch of Ash would be incomplete if it did not contain some account of Ash Brewery, which is so well known throughout the County, and is by far the largest local industry here. This brewery, which is still conducted by Messrs. Gardner and Co., who originated it in the early part of the last century, stands on the triangular piece of land at the junction of the two main roads which lead out of the village, the one to Sandwich and the other to Eastry. The premises thus have two extensive frontages, but the main front is to the Sandwich road, where the brewhouse and malthouse tower high, flanked by extensive stores, and lying on land which runs back to the Eastry road are more extensive storage, workshops, coopery, stables, sheds for their numerous vans, which traverse the County daily, and special large sheds for their traction engines and trucks, which take the big loads to their stores at the Priory Station, Waterworks-road, Hastings, Park-street, Ashford, St. Margaret’s-street, Canterbury, Station-street, Sittingbourne, and St. Lawrence, Ramsgate. Having taken a birds eye view of the Brewery and its surroundings, under the guidance of an experienced employee, we were taken over the whole establishment from department to department, from the lowest basement to the highest story, but as this excursion did not occupy less than half an hour, we shall be excused for not attempting to give a full account of the history and mystery of malting and brewing from the barley to the barrel, for the dual business takes a life-time to master thoroughly. In the brewing of the pale ale of which the Gardners claim to be the Kentish originators, as well as the family bitter ale and the porter and stout which form the principal-output of this establishment, amongst the raw materials required are barley, hops, water, coal, iron, and wood, the first three of course as ingredients, the coal to generate the power and heat needed in the process, and the wood and iron to make the casks which retain the liquor during the intermediate stage between the manufacturer and the consumer. Situated as this brewery is in the heart of a flourishing agricultural district, all these materials are close at hand except the coal and iron; and even that, it may be hoped, Kent will produce ere long. The barley waves in the golden fields hereabouts in the autumn, the hops grow luxuriously in the neighbouring gardens, and the water — well, that commences the story of our pilgrimage over the works. By the way, it should be remarked that water is never mentioned in the brewing process, nor is ale, stout, or porter; everything passes under the common designation of liquor, at every stage of the brewing process. But of course there must be water, and that element must be pure and chemically suitable for its purpose. That they have at this brewery in abundance and perfection. The engine that pumps it is a handsome piece of powerful mechanism erected over a 400-ft. artesian well, the house where the engine industriously works and the opening to the well where the pumps are fixed being as clean and neat as a drawing room. We saw several other steam engines of varying types and sizes used to pump the liquor in its progress from coppers, vats, tuns, squares, rounds, and other great vessels in which it has to spend its different periods of probation from the beginning of the brew till it is ready to be barrelled and stored. There is also much other machinery associated with malt preparation, and the whole being busily in motion the entire scene was a busy one. As to the actual brewing operations we must not attempt a detailed description — not because there is any secret to be kept, but because of the liability to perpetrate some glaring error in describing a process which demands great experience and great nicety of treatment. Generally it may be said that the principal work of the brewer is to see that his materials are all right, that every utensil is scrupulously clean. There is much laborious work expended in keeping everything spick-and-span, and the big coppers, which look like the shaft of a coal pit for size, have to be entered by men each time they are emptied, and cleaned up as though they were going to be sent for exhibition. For the rest, a great deal of the brewer’s work consists in mixing, and watching, and waiting. Every stage takes a certain time and produces certain definite results, which have to be critically watched and recorded. Temperature has to be considered, and at certain stages the hot liquor has to be quickly cooled, and then come in the mechanical aid of the pump and the refrigerator. The fermentation is a process of great nicety, and the monster squares of liquor when the head is on look like a great area of snow. In passing through various rooms in which the work to which we have alluded was going on, there were ups and downs many, and when the pilgrimage was over we felt more than ever that Ash Brewery was a very big concern indeed. After that there was another pilgrimage through the stores — stores which hold quite a year’s output, and which are continually being drawn upon and added to. On one side stalwart men were busy piling up barrels in a wonderful way — the wonder was how they got them up and how they would get them down. Then another set of men were equally busy in other parts in depleting the stores, loading vans and trucks, ready for journeys to depots and customers. Back in the yards the workmen were busy in the trades associated with the brewery in the various shops, and we had a peep at the big houses in which the great traction engines which travel the roads of Kent with large trains of trucks, rest from their labours when they have a few hours at home. We found Ash Brewery very interesting, and in going about the village learned that a very considerable proportion of the population are employed there, and have been for many years. The firm of Gardner, brewers, of Ash, we found in Kentish histories published in the early part of last century, and since then the firm and its works have been developing; and although the undertaking is now under a limited Company, its resources and operations, so far from being limited, are greater than ever.

ASH CHURCH.

This Church, dedicated to St. Nicholas, is a handsome structure, occupying a commanding position, which exhibits all its features to advantage. It is in the form of a cross, consisting of a nave, north and south transepts, north aisle, high chancel, and north chancel. The tower, supported by four massive and lofty arches, is over the centre of the transept, has a turret on S.W. angle, an embattled top, and terminates with a roach spire and vane. The tower contains eight good bells and a clock with a large face towards the main thoroughfare. There was formerly a short south aisle below the south sept, the outer wall still distinctly showing the two built up arches which opened from it to the nave, and also there are traces of an arch from the south sept into the south aisle. Also the foundations of the outer wall of this aisle have been found in the Churchyard. In the absence of any record as to when and why this aisle was pulled down, we can only suggest that that side of the Church being exposed to the strong south-west gales, had fallen into a dilapidated state, and as the Church was large enough for all practical purposes without that aisle some utilitarian Churchwardens decided to pull down the aisle and repair the adjoining south transept with the surplus materials, using, no doubt, the windows that had been in the outer wall of the aisle by inserting them in the wall which built up the arches of the nave. There is confirmation of this theory in the evident use that had been made of old materials in the existing walls of the south side of the Church, and that a great many of the stones built into the outward wall of the south sept have on them dates and names. One has “John Saffery, Churchwarden, 1675,” and also, amongst others, the following dates and names: John Fidge, 1670; George Joy, 1673; Stephen Joy, 1675; William Waters, 1671, 1667; Thomas Sayer, 1675; John Brice, 1675; Martha Ampson, 1677. On the same side near the south door of the chancel, a stone which looks like a fragment of a sundial is built into the wall. From these fragments we infer that the damage to the south side of the Church, whether from neglect and decay, or from disaster, must have occurred some time after the dates on those stones, and it is highly probable that the damage was done by the earthquake of 1692, which was so violent at Sandwich and Deal. If that were so, these stones would have reference to the relatives of persons then living, and that might be the reason why so many of them were preserved by being built into the restored wall. Another part of the church worthy of special notice is the extraordinary large north porch, over which is the vestry approached by a very narrow staircase from within the Church, so narrow is the means of egress that according to modern regulations it could not be lawfully used for a meeting of parishioners. Within this is kept the parish register, which dates from 1558, and a Peter’s Pence Chest, which some years ago was dug up out of the Churchyard. The interior of the Church is remarkably fine, both in its general proportions and its embellishments. From the centre of the nave there is a striking vista through the arches of the transept up into the high chancel, where is the fine light east window in memory of William and Sarah Friend, 25th December, 1855, erected by their daughter, Anne Friend. The piers of the four openings looking east, west, north, and south, in the centre of the transept are very massive, supporting four fine lofty arches. On the west side of the southern arch is a stairway leading, up to the tower, and on the east side of the northern arch it is supposed that there is built up another stairway that formerly led up to the rood loft. Between the high chancel and the north or Molland chancel, are two arches, under which are the tombs of two knights, on the top of which are their effigies. The one nearest the east is one of the Levericks, who owned Leverick Manor down to the time of Henry VII. He is represented lying full length in armour, cross-legged. Under the second or westward arch is the effigy of Sir John Goshall of the time of Edward III. This probably is the oldest tomb in the Church. In a hollow underneath is the effigy of his wife in her head dress, and wimple under her chin. In the floor of the high chancel is a brass engraved with the figure of a woman with a remarkably high horse-shoe head-dress. On the brass is this quaint inscription, dated 1450:-

“Prey for the sowle of Jane Keriell.

Ye ffriends alle that forthby pass,

In endless life perpetuell

That God it grant may, and grace.

Roger Clitherowe her father was,

Though erthe to erthe of him return,

Prey that the sowle in bllisse sojourn.”

In the transept floor are other ancient brasses. Turning into the Molland Chancel, the first object that strikes attention is a large stone coffin on the floor just at the back of the Leveridge tomb. This has a cross flory on the lid, and it is supposed to have contained the body of a priest. It was dug up in the north aisle about forty years ago, and there was nothing in it but dust. At the same time a similar stone coffin was unearthed alongside of it, but on opening that it was found to contain the remains of a lady in a good state of preservation, and was left where it was found. On the south wall of the Molland Chancel, just over this old coffin, is the mural monument of Sir John Bennett and his lady kneeling face to face each side an altar. As usual the offspring left behind are represented, seven girls on the one side and a blank on the other side, from which the male children had been broken away in the days of the Iconoclasts. In the floor of the chancel is an inscription for John Brooke, of Brooke House, with the following quaint lines, his own composition, and embodied in his will dated 1582:-

“John Brooke of the parish of Ashe, Only he is now gone;

His days are past, his corps is layd

Now under this marble stone.

Brooke Street he was the honour of,—

Robbed now of its name,

Only because he had no sede

Or child to have the same

Knowing that all must passe away

E’evn when God will none can delay.

He passed to God in the yere of Grace

A thousand five hundred fourscore and two it was;

The sixteenth day of January I tell you plain

The five and twentieth yere of Elizabeth’s reign.”

There is in the floor of the chancel a large brass with an inscription for the Septvans and their children, of various dates from 1567 to 1642. In this chancel is a large organ, on which there is an inscription, “Given by Miss Adelaide Godfrey, of Brook House, in memory of her father and mother, June, 1885.” Last, though not least, the most striking object in this chancel is a fine tomb of the Decorated Period let into the solid wall beneath a crocketed canopy terminating with a finial, underneath which are the alabaster effigies of a knight and his lady, the former being in complete armour, with the S S. collar, concerning which antiquaries have puzzled so much. There is no name on this tomb. Mr. Edward Foss, F.S.A., writing in volume 1 Cantiana on the collar of S S, suggests that this is the tomb of one of the Septvan’s family, and as that collar was worn by knights in the days of the Septvans, it is very likely that the conjecture is correct. In the nave there is an arcade of four handsome arches on circular pillars, opening to the north aisle, and on the south side are a series of fine stained glass windows, all recent memorials worthy of special notice. Commenting from the west end, the first window has a brass, indicating that it was put in memory of G. Montague Jull, 7th December, 1890. Near by is a tablet in memory of Herbert Barley Kelcey, late of the East-Kent Yeomanry, who died of fever at Hilbron, South Africa, June 30, 1901, aged 22 years. This tablet was erected to his memory by his friends in Ash and the neighbourhood. Also there is a marble tablet to his uncle, Thomas Kelcey, who died in 1883, and by whose order the infants’ schools were built and endowed in 1841. The second window is in memory of Dr. John Sladden, who died 1870, erected by his daughter Charlotte in 1887. The third window is for the three members of the Godfrey family, A. C. Godfrey, Captain A. H. S Godfrey, and Colonel A. H. Godfrey. The fourth window is in memory of Mrs. Gardner, of Guilton, who died February, 1901, aged 85 years. A south handsome stained glass window in the chancel was placed by Adelaide Ann Godfrey “to the memory of her dear father and loved ones gone before.” In the south transept there is a very fine memorial window for Thomas and Elizabeth Coleman, of Goshall, placed there by George Coleman. It is a close imitation of the original window which was there in the fifteenth century, copied from the British Museum. In the south sept there are memorials of the Houghams, and a tablet in memory of the Woods, of various dates from 1818 to 1877, the last being for Mary Wood, aged 93 years. In the north sept, called the chapel of St. Thomas the Martyr, were buried the family of St. Nicholas of Goshall, and their brasses and arms are still there. The memorials in this church are too numerous to be separately mentioned, forming a most interesting epitome of local history. In the churchyard are many handsome altar tombs and quaintly sculptured headstones. On the north of the church is one for Jacob Chandler, who died in 1798. In an oval floriated border is a pretty design of a youth playing a shepherd’s pipe, quite a change from the grim emblems usually sculptured. There is an altar tomb to A. Denne, dated 1695, with the usual emblems, skulls, hour glasses, spade, scythe, mattock and torches. Amongst the other old gravestones are: Edward Hogben, 1765; John May, 1701; John Roberts, 1763; John Gibbon, 1742; William Knipe, 1766; Edward Horne, 1775; and John Richardson, 1742. Recently the churchyard has been enlarged southward by the addition of land given by Mr. Godfrey. The Rev. E. S. Woods, formerly of Holy Trinity, Dover, has recently resigned the vicarage of this church after 17 years tenure, owing to advancing years, and has left pleasant recollections of his kindness amongst the inhabitants of Ash. His successor is the Venerable Archdeacon Mitchell, from Bedford, who has been holding a Colonial appointment.

THE SCHOOLS.

The elementary schools of Ash afford accommodation for 136 boys, 110 girls, and 100 infants. The boys’ and girls’ schools, situated just below the church on the opposite side of the street, are endowed with a yearly income of £100 arising from the rent of a farm at Guilton bequeathed by the Misses Eleanor and Ann Cartwright in the year 1720, and they are still called the Cartwright schools. The infants’ school was erected in 1841, on a site given by the Emanuel College, Cambridge, by Thomas Kelsey, Esq., and were endowed by him with house and landed property of the value of £68 a year. The accommodation in these schools is quite ample for the needs of the neighbourhood, and the education given is of a superior character, and the boys are well drilled by the master, Mr. Weverley. The mistress of the girls' school is Miss L. Cox, and of the infants' school the mistress is Miss Sheppard.