STOURMOUTH

THE DOVER EXPRESS AND EAST KENT NEWS—FRIDAY, 25 JULY, 1902.
OUR VILLAGES

LXII.—STOURMOUTH.

Stourmouth is a parish which lies off the 'beaten track, bounded on three sides by marshes, which margin the Greater and Lesser Stour. Its area is 878 acres, and according to the census of 1901 it contains 77 houses and 288 inhabitants.

HISTORY OF STOURMOUH.

Concerning Stourmouth there seems to be nothing particularly recorded until some time after the Conquest, but long before that time this corner of East Kent was a place of habitation. The Romans probably did not have a station here because they preferred to settle on the higher ground southward, but their habitable centres at Reculver over in Thanet, at Richborough on the east, and at Preston and Wingham on the south,, dominated the whole of the region, and they had a road through it, and a crossing place to Reculver. The place takes its name from a condition of things which has long ceased to exist. The Stour has no mouth here now, only a junction of the Lesser Stour, and several contributory streams, with the Greater Stour, which sleepily meanders amongst the marshes and , meadows down to Sandwich, beyond which its mouth now is, but in the time of the Remans the Stour just below this village emptied into the Wantsume, which, was really a narrow arm of the sea which made Thanet a real island. At the time of the Conquest, and probably earlier, the Manor of Stourmouth was a part of the possessions of some Thane or Knight who held it for service, and, as was the custom with such tenure, it in course of years became a private possession. In the time of William II. the Manor was held by Hamo son of Vitalis. At that time the Archbishop of ¦ Canterbury seems to have been the superior lord, but during Archbishop Anselm’s exile ; Hamo seems not only to have acted as a , superior lord of the Manor, but he made a : gift of the Church and the tithe, all the ¦ customs, four acres of land, as well as pasture for a hundred sheep, to the Bishop of Rochester, and it is asserted that he did « this with the consent of Archbishop An- , selm. However that may be, the Manor minuB the Church property, continued -part of the possessions of the Archbishop of ; Canterbury until the beginning of the 12th Century, and in the time of Archbishop ; Stephen Langton the Manor was held under i the Archbishop by Walter do Valoigus. Soon after Henry III. came to the throne the family of ^ussee were in possession of the Manor, and at that time the mansion house standing near the church was called North Court. The Hussees were a great , family in this part of Kent, and they appear to have also held the Manor of Dene in Wingham. Henry de Hussee n the year 1221 obtained a charter of free warren for for Stourmouth Manor, and his grandchild of the same name died possessed of the Manor in the year 1290, and ht- also possessed the Manors of Dene Childerstone, and Chekeshill. His son, Henry de Hussee, was summoned to Parliament amongst the Barons of the realm in the year 1322, and was probably one of the first mebben of Parliament for East Kent. About the year 1413 the family of Hussee became extinct in Stourmouth, and the de Apulder-fields, a family of much note, came to Stourmouth. The la4t of that name was Sir ¦William de Apulderfield. who died m the reign of Henry VI.; and his daughter Elizabeth, carried the Manor in marriage to Sir John Fineux, Chief Justice of the King’s Bench. After the Chief Justices death the

SaEtWRet"j£>t to j'Tjp? Esq., of -WellhaH, Eltham, who was Attorney-General to Henry VIII., and died in possession of Stourmouth Manor in 1524, le wing it by his will to his youngest son, Christopher. His great grandson, Christopher, Lord Teynham, died possessed of it in 1622. That lorf Teynham“left two sons, John, who inherited his title, and William R£Per inherited the Manor of Stourmouth, and resided here in the year 1640 JSX‘

ceeded by his son John, and he dying without issue in 1718, the name °?

¦Rnooer as it was sometimes spelt), became Srt&et at Stourmouth, the Manor being sold by the co-heirs to Jenkin Gillow. It next passed to his nephew of the same name, and he dying without issue, the Manor passed, by the marriage of his sister Anne, to the Tappendens, John Tappenden, a London merchant, being in possession of it at the close of the 18th century. After the Tappendens day, down to whose time a Court Baron was held for this Manor, the estate ecame divided, and in the first half of the 19th century the landowners were the Rev John Hilton, William Da man Esq., Mrs. Culmer, the Key. Richard Drabe ahe

Sr)wS!8a^WcfMme, The

Si"Manor House^called' North' Court. To those who find pleasure in folklore, it will be interesting to read a list of the residents in 1840. There ''ere at West Stourmouth, near the church: Eliza Add-lev (Rose Cottage}, Thomas Castle (beerhouse). Edward Cook (farmer) George Culmer (New House, farmer). Stephen and Vin-(£nt Cook (farmers), William Culmer (North Court farmer” the Rev. Richard Drake (rectorv), Henry Gibhs (inaltster and brew-«>¦ Clement LasW. <^rhouse), and^. C.

Tower Stourmouth: James Add ley (farmer).

!herkiunCUWTsS. 8£

Sei/.^d^Ch-a^HS; <«

dSert/'nnT’GeorS?'White

This recital brings the history of Stour mouth sufficiently up to date.

MODERN STOURMOUTH.

Leaving the domain of history and look-

S^Tloot”^ place that haf been

;t ™he Tappendens, the Gillows, and the Ropers were the lords of the soil, and not verv different from the fur her-off time when Apulderfields and the Hussees were

that time, but in the low land which margins the Stour and its contributories there were a few centuries ago important changes made bv the drainage of the marsh lands by the* Commissioners appointed for that

purpose, and at the present tune the lower part of the parish is intersected with many dvkes which keep the w»teroffthe surface and make a great pnr^t^erl ^iseless and a menace V the health of the sun-ounding districts, very valuable for meadows and > arable land, much of it yielding market

tikimr a drive down to East Stourmouth, wherewill be seen the low land luxuriant
in the growth of fruit and vegetables; if, in the right season—the beginning of July —wide strawberry fields with the luscious red fruit giving a rich under curtain to the green leaves, with women and children engaged picking and carrying the fruit to tents, where it is basketted for market. Equally inviting to the eye are the laden cherry trees, of which there are whole orchards cultivated. Writing of this side of Stourmouth, Hasted says: “Here is a house which by the flat walls and arched doorway i seems of some antiquity. It is called Stone ; Hall, and belongs to Lee Warley, gentleman, i of Canterbury. The fields here are very i large, being common and unenclosed, and ! throughout the whole are flat and level. 1 In the north east of the parish there is a 1 ferry from it for foot passengers only into the Isle of Thanet.’’ To Hasted's description there is not very much to add. Stone hall is there still, alhough much modernized. The fields are flat but not unenclosed. There are more houses in the East than in Hasted’s day, notably the large ' house with a wide frontage facing the Stour J! just below the Rising Sun Inn, where re- > sided the late Mr. George Dowker. of anti- ( quarian renown. The ferry to Thanet has j! hitherto been for foot passengers only, but 1 there is now in the course of construction a a bridge which will afford a direct carriage " route from Wingham to Ramsgate and Mar- 5 gate, a change which will greatly open up S this parish to the outside world. Leaving the bridge in the course of construction at c Plux Gutter, on the right the carriage road ” rounds the point, and leaving the Greater v Stour on the right goes up a narrow way ^ where a good steady driver and a docile v horse are desirable, for the road lies be- Z tween the lesser Stour on the one side and a deep dyke on the other, something, like ? the path which Bunyan’s pilgrims had to J take at one part of their journey. After J leaving the road of roughness and some ? peril, the course of the Lesser Stour wan- * ders away along the flat meadows towards " Wickhambreaux. and a tributary of it, ” known as the Wingham stream, taking a course nearer the upland of Preston. Leaving these we pass towards West Stourmouth village through luxuriant arable fields clad in all the glory of a fast-approaching harvest. Hussee’s farm, named after the an- i cient family that held that land, is a productive farm lot, and so is Denne farm, on < the same side of the parish. Hasted seems to have travelled this ground a century r ago, and he taking up the story at this j point wrote: “Further on is the parsonage, , and the Court lodge opposite the church. , Of itself, it is not unpleasant, and the houses are mostly of the better sort and s well conditioned, which perhaps induced J Leland to call it a fair village.” The fair ! village of Leland’s time has not developed \ very much since, but there has been some , extension and increase. The population in f 1801 numbered 202 persons: in 1811—230: in 1821—257; in 1831 the same; in 1841—253; -

in 1851—274; in 1861—294; in 1871—301; in i 1881—321: in 1891—330; and in 1901—288. -In 1841 there were 51 houses in the parish, : and there are now 77; but six of them ; when the census was taken were unoccupied. It will be observed that in the last : ten years the population has ebbed, but it is probable that the bridge over the Stour will improve Stourmouh and add to the . number of its residents.

STOURMOUTH CHURCH.

The church at Stourmouth, which is dedicated to All Saints, stands on the east of the main road to Grove Ferry. The church and the rectory which is just across the 1 road, aje embowered in trees. The edifice consists of a chancei, a nave, and two small ' side aisles, north porch, and wooden belfry at the west end containing three bells. The walls of the church are chiefly of flints, < and the style is mainly Early English; but i at the west end there are two massive but- < resses of brick. The body of the church and the chancel no doubt date from the 12th century, but the aisles are of a later date. The list of rectors dates from the year 1281, and from then till now there have been ; fifty who have held the office. No men of 1 very great note have been numbered amongst them; but there is a very able rector there now—the Rev. Nathaniel J. Wilkins, M.A., LL.D., who has held the living since 1895. The interior of the church has a rather old-fashioned look, the last restoration and re-seating having taken place in the year 1845. On a desk in the north aisle is a black letter copy of Foxe’s Book of Martvrs, dated from the year 1564, in its original binding. This book was bought by the churchwardens out of the parish funds about two centuries ago, and it has long been an object of curiosity in the church; but it is now no use there, and if left much longer will fall to pieces. With the binding properly repaired and a plate placed in it to relate where it came from, it would be a very proper relic to preserve in the Beaney Institute at Canterbury. The pillars which support the four arches on the south side of the nave are alternate circular and octagonal. On the north side there are two large arches. On the eastern side of the top pillar of the south arcade there is a block of stone about I nine inches high, three inches long, and eighteen inches broad. It is not known why it is fixed there. Some have supposed that it was the base of a shrine or altar, while others have suggested that it had been a sort of stool of repentance. In the chancel part of the rood screen remains, and there are some encaustic tiles which are ancient. The font consists of a square bowl resting on four shafts, over which is suspended a rather unique carved canopy. In the vestry is a parish chest bearing date 1695. The church and churchyard are rich in memorials of those who have been leading people in the parish, and amongst them on the north wall of the nave is a marble tablet to the memory of a Stourmouth centenarian Carr Culmer, who lived from the 1st Janu-arv 1735, to the 10th of January, 1835. The inscription runs as follows: In the vault beneath are deposited the remains of Carr Culmer, gentleman, born 1 January 1735, and died 10 January, 1835. Also Sarah his wife, obit 1812, aged 70 years; also Sarah, his daughter, obit 1852, aged 80 years.” There is in the chancel a brass for Master Thomas Mareys, rector, obit 1475. There is also on the pavement a memorial for John Powell- rector, obit 1680. In the middle aisle is a memorial for Henry Jenkin, of this parish, obit 1679. On the south side of the chancel is a small memorial window to Richard Drake. M.A.. 43 years rector here, obit 1883. Over this is a small tablet to Jane Frances, wife of the above-named rector, second daughter of Lieut.-Colonel Groves, of Boughton-under-Blean, obit 1853, aged 41 years; also to the Rev. Percy James Drake, M.A., son of the above obit 1879, aged 30 years. In the chancel floor is a stone to the memory of Thomas Beake, of Stourmoutli, obit 1734, aged 65; “iso to his wife Elizabeth Beake obit 1771. In the churchyard are several tombstones t-» the Culmers. Also a tombstone to Theo-philus Harrison, obit 1779, aged 67, on Shich is the line’, “To-day for me; to-morrow for you.” There are all in one line seven headstones to members of the Harrison family, whose descendants still reside
in the parish. Several of the older headstones in this graveyard are elaborately sculptured at the top with more or less hideous emblems of mortality. The history of this church is given by Hasted thus: The church of Stourmouth was given by Hamo, son of Vitalis, to Gundulph, bishop of Rochester, and the monks of that Priory, together with the tithes, customs, four acres of land, and pasture for 100 sheep, and this he did in the presence and with the consent of Archbishop Anselm; after which the bishop assigned the church and the free disposition of it to the monks of his Priory. But bishop Gilbert de Glanvill, who came to the see in the year 1185, disputed their right to it, and he decreed that when the living was vacant the bishop and the monks should jointly present to it. The church remained in this ssate of alternate presentation until the 14th year of Richard II., after which the presentation to the living of Stcurmouth was left entirely with the Bishop of Rochester, as it is to the present time.