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OUR VILLAGES AT THE BEGINNING OF THE NINETEENTH
CENTURY AND NOW. (1901) THE DOVER EXPRESS AND EAST KENT NEWS—FRIDAY, 25 APRIL, 1902. XLIX.—WICKHAMBREAUX. Wickham (called Wickham Breaux to distinguish it from two other parishes in Kent named East and West Wickham), occupies a tongue of land between the Greater and Lesser Stour. The village is on the southern margin of the parish, close to Ickham village, and not far from Littlebourne. The parish extends about three miles to the north-east, as far as Grove Ferry, and includes the hamlet of Grove, which lies about half-a-mile nearer on the north bank •of the Greater Stour. The land is flat and marshy near both rivers, but between them there is a gravel ridge, on which the soil is suited for the growth of grain, iruil, and vegetables, while the lower levels are more adapted for pasture. The parish extends west as far as Trendley Park, which section of it is isolated by an intervening strip of Littlebourne. The parishes on the boundaries are Ickham and Littlebourne on the south, Stodmarsh on the west, Thanet beyond the Stour on the north, and Preston and Ash over the Lesser Stour on the east. The parochial area is about 2,000 acres. WICKHAM IN SAXON DAYS. Before proceeding to a more particular survey of the parish as it now is, it will be convenient to sketch its history. There -do not appear to be any Saxon remains now visible in the village, but on the high gravel ridge that runs between the Greater and Lesser Stours a Saxon cemetery was discovered, about 15 years ago, when parts of swords, spears, a bronze bowl, a beautiful glass vessel, and some Saxon tumblers <>f blue glass were found in the gravel, and the late Mr. George Dowker, of S' ourmouth, to whom they were submitted, was of ¦opinion that there had been a 8axon burial ground at that spot. These facts are too narrow a foundation on which to build up anv theorv of the social condition of this village in Saxon times. But they prove the existence of a certain amount of refinement and knowledge of arts in the leading families, but the condition of "he people is not indicated. The land was held by a Headman corresponding with the Norman Lord of the Manor. The earliest great land owner at Wickhambreaux, whose, name is left on record, was Alured Biga, who held the lands of this parish direct from King Edward the Confessor, and paid I twenty-five pounds tribute for ihe same— a sum which, allowing for the altered value i of money, must have been as great as the I rental of the present day. WICKHAM UNDER THE NORMANS. ! The condition of things here at the be- | ginning of the Norman period is clearly i set forth in the Domesday Boole. Imme-•diately after the Normans took posses- i sion the Wickham lands were all confis-cated, presumably owing to Alured Biga having taken an active part in resisting William of Normandy; and Odo, the Con-quer's half brother, better known as the rapacious Bishop of Bayeux, took possession. The Domesday Book gives the following minute particulars respecting this parish “ The l'ishop himself holds in demesne Wicheham. It was taxed at four sulins The arable land is eleven carucates. In demesne there are two carucates, and thirty-six villeins, with thirty-two cottagers having nine carucates There is a Church with one priest, which gives park, and>o mUls^o’fTfty shillings!‘ aS! fisheries of“four^huiings^Tnd’ thirty-two acres of meadow pasture for three hundred sheep and for thirty-one beasts. Wood for the pannage of eighty hogs. In the time of Edward the Confessor it was worth twenty-five pounds, and now thirty pounds. There belong to this Manor in Canterbury three plats of land, paying six shillings and eight pence. Moreover, there belongs to this Manor half-a-sulin of free land, which Sired held of Alured Biga, and Goisfrid, son of Badland, now holds it of, the Bishop of Bayeux, and it is and was | •worth separately sixty shillings. AN EARLY PICTURE OF WICKHAM. The early picture of social life at Wickhambreaux as portrayed m the abovequoted entry is worthy of minute study. The Manor, as the Bishop of Bayeux held i, in the year 1080, was evidently a very miriRhine community. According to modern measurement the extent of the 4 sulins would be about 1000 acres, and the people: about the Bishop’s gates appear to have numbered .68 families, comprising PJ-ObaWya population of 340. The Manor House, no doubt, overlooked the Green as Wickham Court does now and beside it was a Church served by’ one priest. There* were two mills—one. it may be, on the site of the one that exists to-day, and the other a little father down the stream. These two mills ffit is ^‘SSr^SMS, which Tould be more limn a hundred acres of our measurement, on which were oastured 300 sheep and 31 beasts, while in the woods were 80 hogs. It takes but a HUle^ imagination to fill in the picture rhfarabi"%nde"ol^heUsand8hepherds tUeThe ^^‘'l.our ‘-il the cottagers’ children tending the hogs in the woods, the dusty miUersat th«nr rival mills above and below the village Green special men looking after three fisheries, while others evaporated the salt for domestic use, at the tv o salt pits This little community was strictly graded and disciplined under the regulations of WiclfhamUa very^nterestin^fittle estate somewhat in the nature cf a freehold tenure. It had existed apart tamfte of ° the 'stability of social customs in the fnnVeha,teM\hr^n^tbhSs ^ivenVute n°at“e"of the° land or of the people in this separate estate, except that it was half-a-sulin in extent, that is. about 108 acres, and that its value was sixty shillings. Judg, ng from the value, it could not have been the best of the land or its value would have been at least eighty shillings. Thus it seems that in the davs of Odo. Bislioo of Bayeux, Wickham was a thriving community, but Odo, like many another, dressed in a little brief authority, had but a short tenure, for his grasping nature eutangled him in State troubles, which led to its banishment, and the Manor of Wickhambreaux knew him no more. WICKHAM IN THE MIDDLE AGES. Odo being banished to a 'astle in Normandy. he remained a prisoner on the Continent till just before tht death of the Conqueror, and soon after the accession of William Ii he returned to assert his rights as Earl of Kent, and to raise a force to set up Robert of Normandy in opposition to William. He is not supposed to have then visited Wickhambreaux. Most of his time was spent in Rochester Castle, in which he was besieged after the failure of his traitorous enterprise. He left the country, a bioken-down man, with execrations ringing in his ears. It must be assumed that Goisfrid, who held a fourth part of Wickham under Odo, went with him, for the King took possession of the whole Manor of Wickhambreaux. William II was greatly assisted in holding his crown against Odo s party by the Anglo-Saxon chiefs, and he gave Wickhambreaux to one of them named Clifford. The Cliffords were in possession of an estate in East Kent before the Conquest, and after they became possessed of Wickhambreaux they also held Well Court in Ickham, and Garwinton in Littlebourne. In the time of Henry ITT, there being no male heir, the Manor ! went to a daughter of Walter, the last of , the Cliffords, who carried it in marriage to William de Braiosa, a descendant of a Norman of the same name who came over with ! tflie Conqueror. By some process, not ! recorded, this family lost possession of j Wickham Manor in the reign of Edward ! II, and the Kings half-brother, the Earl of Kent, came into possession. Several successive Earls of Kent became the owners of Wickhambreaux Manor. It was held in sergeantry by John Plantagenet, Earl of Kent, and he dying in the year 1351, it came into the possession of his sister Joanna, known as the Fair Maid of Kent, and went to her husband, Thomas de Holand, also Earl of Kent. He died in 1359, and his widow, Joanna, The Fair Maid ¦ of Kent, was married to Edward, the Black J Prince. Thomas Holand, Joanna’s eldest son by Thomas de Holand. became Earl of Kent, and owner of Wickhambreaux | Manor, while Joanna, his mother, after her ; marriage with the Black Prince, became’ the mother of Richard II. This King be- i ing the half-brother of the owner of Wick- i ham Manor, their fortunes were closely! linked, and after the deposition of Richard j II, in 1399, Thomas Holand, Earl of Kent, i was deprived of this estate, and was subsequently beheaded for plotting the murder of Henry IV. After his execution, his brother Edmund, whose loyalty was not questioned, succeeded to his brother’s estates, including Wickhambreaux Manor. ¦ This Earl of Kent was killed in the year j 1408 by being shot through the head with ; an arrow at the siege of the Castle of; Brise in Brittany, and he dying without issue the line of the Earls of Kent at Wickhambreaux ceased. The family of Tiptoft came into possession immediately : after, and continued down to John Tiptoft,. Earl of Worcester, who was beheaded in 1 1471 during the War of the Roses—thus a! second owner of Wickhambreaux Manor died on the scaffold. The Manor then 1 went to the Crown, and so continued nntil : Henrv VIII granted it to Sir Matthew' Browne, and it continued in that family j until the reign of Charles II. when it passed ! by the marriage of a Miss Browne, to Basil ; Brooke, of Shrewsbury. He did not hold j it, long, and after several other changes it j came into the possession of Sir Narborough | D’Aeth, of Knowlton. and so continued until recent years. Going back to the time of Odo, it is of interest to mention that i Trendly Park in this parish was conveyed | t-» the Bishop of Baveaux bv Archbishop Lanfranc by a deed which still exists. This j instrument is remarkable by its being in two languages, Saxon and Latin, but neither is a translation of the other, both | being originals, according to the custom of that time. Appended to it is the Bishop i of Baveaux’s seal in wax. believed to be the only seal of Odo extant. MODERN WICKHAM. Had Wickhambreaux developed into a town its Green would have been a typical market place, but whether it would have; looked better than it does now is not an [ open question, for nothing could be prettier than the place as it stands, with tne tall 1 white mill on the one side and the ancient stone house on the other. Both road and river pass those sentinels, which have stood for centuries at the south-eastern corner; of the Green, and viewed from that angle , the place looks quite romantic,—ancient ! trees towering overhead, green sward as a ! carpet beneath, the highway gracefully ' curving through, the river coquettishly kiss- . ing the one side and then dancing away I down the meadows. Round the Green the buildings are of various grades of antiquity; and social status. At the entering in • there is the mill, which might be any age ' from fifty to eight hundred years old, for 1 it tells no tales about its age. It seems . to be as busy in these days of Mr. Jabez ; Walter as it has been all down the ages ' ever since it ground the corn of the Manor j eight hundred years ago, for this was the ] Manor mill and if not the selfsame, is the lenial descendant of the one which ground the corn for Bishop Odo’s establishment when he was lord of the place in 1082. But what of the Stone House over the way? Antiquity is depicted in its stones, its chequered masonry, its arched stone windows and doorways. But as to its real origin history and tradition are alike silent, leaving conjecture a fair field. Some say it was the Manor House, but Mr. E. S. Laker, who keeps the Post Office and a general supply store there, cannot confirm that statement, although he has often heard it. The Manor Court House overlooks the opposite side of the Green, and that is such a position as would have been selected for a large manorial residence and outbuildings, while the Stone House, though unique in character, evidently never . has been large. Possibly it may have been the Vicarage, for there was anciently a Vicarage, as well as Rectory at Wickham, until they were consolidated in the year 1322. The Rectory stands on the north side of the Green, and was rebuilt 190 years ago on the site of a much older house. If the Stone House was the ancient Vicarage prior to the consolidation, it must have existed more than 600 years. That is not an unreasonable supposition, for there are evidently 14th Century bits about the structure, although since that period it must have been largely re-built. Supposing it to have been the Vicarage, when it ceased to be used as such, it was probably re-modelled and used as the ad-1 ministrative office and court house of the I Manor. The care with which its ancient features have been preserved suggested1 that it has been kept up as a building of importance, and its use now as the village Post Office still retains for the old edifice its ancient prestige. Over the bridge is the very pretty residence of Mr. Henrv Meiggs, called the Willows, on the west side of the river; while over the stream are thrown several ornamental bridges communicating with the pleasure grounds on the opposite bank. Passing some smaller houses of ancient aspect, on the north side of the Green is the Swan Hotel, a very pretty hostelry having its portico shaded with foliage: and on the same side, higher up, is the Rectory, a good substantial brick house, which was re-built by the Rev. Alexander Young, rector of Wickham. in the year 1712. and it looks stable enough to endure another period of 190 years. On the west side of the Green is Mr. Edwin Kelsey’s residence, the Court Lodge, with extensive buildings and offices in the rear. This house is not very ancient, and was probably re-built during the time the Palmers had it, about 150 years ago. On the south side of the Green there are some small houses adjoin-the Mill, but that side is mainly occupied by the church and churchyard. Beyond the Green the village does not extend in the northerly direction, but on the eastern side the street branches off where there is the village club house, a neat red building, and the schools, which appear to be well arranged. The first attempt at the education of the poor seems to have been made here in 1658 by the Rev. John Smith. At his death he left two houses in Wickham, the one for a school and the other for the use of the schoolmaster. The property was vested in the rector and churchwardens, and was merged in some later funds used for educational purposes. It is a matter of local interest that Mr. Thomas Osborn Sanders, who recently resigned the office of Superintendent of the Dover Borough Police after thirty years’ tenure, j was a native of Wickhambreaux. At the I entrance to the village, on the road from Littlebourne. is a pretty Wesleyan Chapel built in 1890. With the exception of the mill, the village of Wickham does not possess many industries. Something is done 1 in the india-rubber manufacture, and Mr. Spicer keeps a good selection of carriages for hire, which is a matter of importance, the village being about three miles from railway stations. BETWEEN THE RIVERS. An important part of Wickham parish lies between the village and Grove Ferry. This is approached by the road that leaves the northern angle of Wickham Green, and passes along the pleasant ridge which se- I parates the Greater and Lesser Stours. I This road runs through Frognall and Sap-erton, now held by the Holdstocks, the latter in olden times the property of the Beakes. The parish in this direction impinges on Stodmarsh, the church of whioh lies about a mile west of Saperton; while Pieston Church is a conspicuous feature across the Little Stour in the eastern direction. The parish northwards runs down to the Greater Stour, and here are about i 500 acres of it. marshland, extending from j the river southward. The land is inter- | sected with dykes towards Grove and Grove Ferry, where a considerable area is devoted to market gardens and other special culture. The road comes to a terminus at the riverside, where there is the ferry house on the one side of the way, and the Rising Sun Hotel, a noted house for anglers, on the other. ANGLERS AND LAVENDER. We have called the hotel the Rising Sun because by that old name it has won a wide-spread fame, but now it is known as Grove Ferry Hotel, having taken the more local title because it has made more extensive arrangements to cater for the visitors who are attracted to this delightful river-side resort. If the house had been in want of a name, it might have adopted the old sign of “Jack o’ Botlisides,” or the well known East Kent name of “Bifrons,” for it has two fronts, one bold portico facing the highway just as it leaves the lavender fields and passes down to the Ferry, while on the side facing the water there is a frontage having touches of artistic arrangement combined with rusticity which look perfectly charming, and suggestive of pleasant days by the river. Having mentioned the lavender fields it should be explained that on the drive down to the Ferry the land on the roadside is for some distance entirely devoted to the growth of lavender, which is cultivated for the special purpose of making lavender water, which is distilled from the flowers, which are harvested for that purpose in the early autumn, the distillery at which this lavender water is made being attached to the hotel; and the production of this choice perfume is an interesting local industry. The proprietor of the Grove Ferry Hotel is Mr. Reeve, who owns the angling rights on a mile of this famous river, and as he freely extends to visitors at his hotel the privilege of angling in these waters, stocked with the trout that Isaac Walton doted on, as well as bream, gudgeon, grey mullet, and pike, it can well be understood how attractive this place is to disciples of the immortal Isaac. THE OLD FERRY. We have said that the terminus of the road is at the river side, but the highway re-appears on the Thanet side, the ferry boat, a flat structure wide and long enough to take any ordinary waggon, with a slightly sloping flap on each side to join the shore, forms the connecting link between the mainland of Kent and the Isle of Thanet, and over that anything up to the weight of eight tons can be carried from shore to shore. The river is fairly wide at the Ferry, and on a recent day when we crossed the water was sufficiently broken by the stiff breeze \m need a floating breakwater on the windward side to keep the boat from being deluged, but on fine summer days it is as smooth as the proverbial mill pond. The ferry fee for each person is a halfpenny, and on each side there is exhibited an authorized table of fares for every kind of vehicle from a big waggon to a bicycle, and from a single animal to a flock or herd. Once over the Ferry the opposite bank offers two methods of procedure—nay, three. There is the railway station, from which trains run eastward for Thanet, Sandwich, Deal, or Dover, or westward for Canterbury, El- i ham Valley, and Folkestone. Then there is the highway which leads away towards Fordwich, and a pleasant path over the fields into the interior of Thanet. Even there the possibilities of the place are not exhausted, for there are pleasure boats on the river, and a pleasanter place could not be found for water parties. W'ICKHAMBREAUX CHURCH. Returning from this northern detour, Wickham Church must now be described. It stands, as already stated, on the west of the village Green, a conspicuous and interesting ornament. Suitably for a waterside shrine, this church is dedicated to St. Andrew. It is built in the Early English style, indicating that this edifice dates from the twelfth century. The fabric consists of a rather large chancel, a north annexe used as an organ chamber, a nave, north and south aisles, a north porch, an embattled western tower with a belfry beneath it, on the south side of which is a vestry, and on the north side a baptistery. The nave arcades have three bays on each side, the arches resting on octagonal pillars. All the flat surfaces of the walls are decorated with painting, the upper parts more especially from the spring of the arches embellished with angel forms. The decoration is continued down to the window cills level, and from thence to the floor the walls are inlaid with ornamental tiles which, while they have a decorative effect, serve the practical purpose of keeping out the damp which arises from nearness to the river. The ceiling of the nave is bospangled, and the whole of the chancel is specially ornate. We have not seen a church in East Kent so elaborately and artistically bedecked. The chancel arch i3 wide and lofty, displaying the chancel to the whole body of the church, and showing with good effect the fine storied eas- tern window. This decorative style seems to have originated in the time of the Rev. Alexander Young, who spent a large amount of money in 1712 in re-building the rectory. There is on the south wall of the chancel a monument to this rector, the inscription being as follows: “ Tb the memory of the Rev. Alexander Young, B.D., descended from an ancient family in Axminster, Devon, rector of this parish, who re-built the parsonage house, spent upwards of £2000 on this benefice and his other at East Church. Obit 1755, aged 86.’’ On the north wall of the chancel is a memorial to thof niecd of the before-men-tioned rector, the inscription being to this effect: Near this place lies the body of Mary Young, niece, of the Rev. Mr. Young. Tho’ infirm from youth she protracted life to the 68th year of her age, and died 8th May, 1767. She left to the wains-cotting and ornamenting of this chancel, to the Small pox Hospital, and the Foundling Hospital, £100 each, and the bulk of her fortune to her cousin, Jno. Young, of Harehatch, Berks, who in gratitude erected this monument.” The windows of the church are all very handsome, and so is the decoration of the baptistery, in the west of which is a fine stained glass window presented by S. M. Robertson and Stanley J. Stubbs as a marriage gift, 1884. There is. by the north door, a high hacked chair, a very old and unique example of the wood carver's art. East of this door is a strup, and in the east of the south aisle a piscina, and in the. chancel a sidelia. At the east end of the north aisle is a square opening in which there is placed a somewhat remarkable piece of tapestry representing Christ in the house of Mary and Martha, which is^ thus described: “This ancient tapestry is copied from the original picture of Titian, now hung in the Louvre, Paris. There is a replica of it in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, presented 200 years ago by Lady Mordaunt, wife of Sir Charles Mordaunt, the Constable of Windsor Castle. It was removed by George III. It was recently discovered and restored to its original position by Princess Beatrice of Battenberg. The central figure, Christ, is a portrait of Charles V. of Germany, 1500, and the man standing behind him is the eldest son of Philip II. of Spain, who married, in 1554, Mary Queen of England. The man on Christ’s right is Francis I. of France, and on the left Cardinal Pole, who became Archbishop of Canterbury 1556. The boy is Titian’s boy who mixed his colours.” It was probably the introduction of this medley of portraits to represent sacred characters that prompted George III. to remove the picture from St. George’s Chapel. This church of Wickhambreaux is well worthy of a visit. It has a fine organ, and the singing here, especially at harvest festivals, has attracted enormous congregations, the Robertsons and other well known eminent vocalists having lent their assistance to the Rev. Gerald Hyde Smith, the rector, on those occasions, the village green being crowded with the carriages of the country gentry like the precincts of the Dover Town Hall at a fashionable concert. In the tower of this church there are five bells, and a company of ringers regularly practice here and ring at festivals and on special occasions. POPULATION AND HOUSES. Wickhambreaux is one of those Kentish villages which holds its own against the rush for the towns which has largely depopulated many rural places. There has been no great increase in the last ten years, and in the last hundred years the population has advanced thus: 1801, 411; 1821, 469; 1831, 436; 1841, 517; 1891, 521. In 1821 there were 82 houses in the parish, in 1841 there were 100, and in 1891 the number was 112. The number of householders entitled to vote, according to the register for this year, is 79, and there are 8 electors having ownership votes, 6 of w’hom being resident householders, should be added to 79, making a total of 85. These are located as follows: 51 at Wickham village, 14 at Grove and Grove Ferry, and the remainder Newham 1, Newborn 1, Fragnal 4, Undertrees 1, Kingsley 3, Copthall 3, Sand Pits 1, Hook Farm 1, Bluebridge 1, and Supperton 4 Being remote from railways, Wickham does not seem likely to largely increase, but as there are no indications of decay, |
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