Ewell; and a tenth and free commons had to be paid-the whole of which passed to Sir Anthony Archer, Knight, in two payments of £40. The only existing remains of the preceptory is the ancient chapel, some 48 feet long by 21 feet wide, having at the east end three early lancet windows, with shaft, caps and bases, and three circular openings above. The roof, which is entirely of oak, is formed with a substantial tie beam and octagonal king-post with moulded caps and bases; there are also the remains of the piscina and aumbry or cupboard, and three lancet windows on either side. At the west end there is a groined porch, and early pointed door. Unfortunately the building is now divided into upper and ground floors, and a portion cut off from the rest by a solidly constructed chimney. Not long since there were other buildings to the west; these have unfortunately been demolished, and a more modern addition erected. The similarity between the chapels of Swyngfield and Sutton at Hone is striking. WALTHAM. Waltham is not mentioned in Domesday, as it is situate in three different Hundreds, Bridge, Petham, and Stouting.* Hastedt mentions it in connection with Petham, calling it the Manor of Waltham alias Temple, and says that it formed part of the possessions of the See of Canterbury, and that it was given by Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury (the predecessor of Thomas à Becket), to Hamo de Chetham for Knight service and charitable purposes, and that the same Hamo held also 67 acres of arable land, 4 acres of meadow, and 13 acres of pasture, for 53 and 84, for all service, and that Ralph, the son of Reginald, held 15 acres for six shillings; which lands are returned as appertaining to the Knight Templars in the third year of King Stephen, and were confiscated in the seventh year of Edward II., and granted by a Parliament assembled at Hasted, vol. ix., p. 320. *Philpot, p. 352. Westminster to the Order of the Knight Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem. In the return* made by Philip de Thane to Elian de Villa-Nova, the Grand Master at Rhodes, in 1338, it is stated that there is in Waltham one messuage and one and a half carucates of land held during the life of Walter Godchepe on the payment to the Prior and Brethren at Clerkenwell by Thomas le Archer of 40s. This land still goes by the old name of the Temple Farm by the appellation of Godchepes.† On the dissolution of the Order under Henry VIII. it was escheated with other manors to the Crown, and so remained up to the forty-seventh year of Queen Elizabeth, who granted the same to John Mainwaring, Esq., whose daughter married Humphry Hammond, and on his decease to Sir Robert Stapleton. TONBRIDGE. Odo, as Bishop of Rochester, held church lands and wood in Tonbridge which is returned in Domesday§ as being worth xx lbs., while Richard de Tonbridge held of the Archbishop in his larger lands valued at x lbs., and in Peckham and Hadlow of xxxli, and other demesnes in a still larger proportion elsewhere. His son Richard Fitz Gilbert de Clare was created Earl of Hertford, and his brother Gilbert, surnamed Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke. Roger the second son of Richard Fitz Gilbert, on the decease of his elder brother in 1152, founded the Priory of St. Mary Magdalene at Tonbridge for monks of the Order of St. Augustine. The date of this foundation is not quite clear, the earliest charters in the Bodleian vary from|| 1135 to 1180; the latter date is the more probable, as the Bull of Pope Celestine confirming the grant is dated 1191. The Church of Ealdyngs, the Chapel of Brenchley, with the Church of Strateshelle, and its Chapel of Mereworth, and x marks of silver from the Manor of Tonbridge, are mentioned in * Larking, p. 173. Philpot, p. 252. + Furley, vol. ii., part 1, p. 292, note. Turner and Cox's Cal. of Charters, pp. 113, 117. Thorpe, Reg. Roff, pp. 666-7. this charter, together with certain lands in Wetelestone and Snoxham on the East, Duddingbury Hanlo, a messuage juxta barram in Thonebrigge, and vjd quit rent from Agnets near the Bridge, and the land of Gilbert le Fitz juxta portum nostrum, with other gifts, which go to prove that the foundation was amply endowed. The same Roger de Clare* also gave to the Brethren of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in masses for his soul, as well as those of his ancestors and heirs (about the same time), the church, chapel, and advowson, as far as he himself was concerned; which grant and concession was duly notified to and approved by Walter, Bishop of Rochester,‡ and subsequently confirmed by Pope Clement, at which time William de Ver, who had been presented by the Prior of St. Mary Magdalene, resigned, and all future presentations were made by the Prior and Brethren of St. John's, Clerkenwell. This grant to the Prior and Brethren of Clerkenwell appears to have caused no small irritation to the Prior and Brethren of St. Mary Magdalene-so much so that it was necessary for the Bishop to write in strong terms to admonish them that all disobedience would be promptly suppressed and punished. And it was further notified to the Prior and Sub-prior of Thonebrigge, and the Prior and Brethren of the Knights of the Cross, that, in accordance with the apostolic mandate, they should proceed to elect Brother Henry, Master of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem at Sutton, into the corporate possession of the Church at Thonebrigge, and its personalities, by the traditional rights of bell and key, in the usual canonical manner. The epistle is addressed to W. de Sancto Quinto,¶ nominated by the Chapter, Hugo de Tonbridge, Chaplain, Nicholas de Blakeman, Canon of Thonebrigge, William Purdie, Clerk, and other Parishioners, 1267. Thereupon a mandate from the Prior of the Knights of + Thorpe, Reg. Roff., p. 665. Thorpe, Reg. Roff., p. 666. * Dugdale, Mon. Anglm., 510. From 1148 to 1182. Walter de Merton, Bishop of Rochester and Chancellor of the Exchequer, Reg. Roff., p. 668-9, 1260. Thorpe, Reg. Roff., p. 669. St. John was issued that it should be left to the discretion of the Prior and Sub-prior of Thonebrigge, in the Diocese of Rochester, and Master William de Sancto Quinto, Rector of the Church of Terlakestone, in the Diocese of Bath and Wells, who were commanded within forty days of the receipt of the mandate, either by themselves or their proctors, "in accordance with apostolic custom, by our authority to induct into the corporate possession of the Church of Thonebrigge then vacant by our authority, delivering all gainsayers and rebels to ecclesiastical censure." (Dat. apud. Cruceroys 11th Kal. Februarii A.D. MCCLXVIJ.)* In the seventh year of the reign of Edward II. (A.D. 1314), Johu de Stratford, at this time Archbishop of Canterbury, is required to give full information to the Chancellor of the Exchequer of all the churches, tithes, and oblations, held by the Prior of the Hospital of St. John in England, as well as those formerly held by the Knight Templars; the return to which shews, that in the Diocese of Rochester they held the Church of Burgham, valued at xxij marks, and Tonbridge, with the Chapel of Shiburne and St. Thomas the Martyr, of which the annual value was lx marks, together with a payment of x marks from the Church of Ashe, which they held of old time. In the returnt made by Philip de Thane to the Grand Master, Elian de Villanova, in 1338, the Churches of Tonbridge and Hadlo are mentioned as let with the lands and advowsons at a rental of cxx marks per annum, although cc were due, by which it appears that a balance was still owing. Unfortunately the return is incomplete, and we are only able to form an idea of the extent of the property held by the Hospitallers, when we remember that the average value of arable land at this time was 1s. an acre, and pasture 2s., and the price of wheat 2s. 6d. to 3s. a quarter. Taking the rental at 120 marks, the lower amount stated in the return, it would amount to something like 1000 acres, and, allowing for the difference of the value of money at that + Larking, p. 124. * Thorpe, Reg. Roff., p. 669. time, it would produce a rental equal to about £1000 a year. The return subsequently made by the Commissioners appointed under Henry VIII. states that the land appertaining to the Order was situate in Tonbridge, Hadlow, and West Peckham (at which latter place there is mention made of a preceptory). At Tonbridge some old houses and farm buildings were still standing in 1880. In 1526 Thomas Doucra, the Prior, and Brethren in Chapter assembled, demised and granted to Richard Fane of Tewdeley their Parsonage of Tonbridge to farm, with all tithes, lands, meadows, pastures, profits, and commodities belonging to the said parsonage and advowson of vicarage, in the Church of Tunbrige, all woods (underwoods only excepted), from the Feaste of St. John the Baptist next ensuing (A.D. 1526), at a rental of xiiiji sterling, with the proviso that he and his assigns shall maintain and repair the houses and buildings, palings, hedges, and ditches, at their own costs and charges, as often as neede shall require, during the said term of 14 years; and the said Richard Fane and his assigns are bound with two others in a term of lxli sterling by an obligation bearing the date of this indenture, to which the said Richard Fane hath put his hand and seal. Given in our house of St. John's, Clerkenwell, beside London, in our Chapter there holden, the 1st of May 1526. It would appear that† Ralphe Fane still retained possession of the church lands at the time of the suppression of the Order in the thirty-eighth year of Henry VIII., as appears from the Exchequer Minister's Accounts, when a grant of the same, together with West Peckham, Stalis field, the Rectory of Rodmersham, and the Chapel of Selisbourne, was given to him for the sum of cjli xiijs iiijd in the first year of Edward VI. On the decease of Ralph Fane the property passed to his wife Elizabeth,‡ who died in 1554, and alienated§ them to Henry Stubbersfield, yeoman, of Tonbridge, 1554, who again *Reg. Roff., p. 675. Biblia Cotton., Claudius, E, vi., fol. 263. Hasted, vol. v., p. 253. § The Rectory and its appurtenances at Tonbridge. |