A History of the Weald of Kent, England

Volume I

The original promoters of a Bailway from London to the Continent, were compelled by a strong opposition, in the year 1886, to abandon the line they had set out, which took much the same coarse as the first military road of our Roman invaders; but they eventually gained the support of the late Mr. T. L. Hodges, M.P., Sir Edward C. Bering, Bart., Sir William P» Geary, Bart., and other neighboring landed proprietors of the Weald of Kent, and thus, this once almost impenetrable district, with some of the worst roads in the kingdom, ultimately yielded forty miles of an admirably constructed railway — called, indeed, the Bailway Bace-course of England. Previously, almost the only travelers who passed through it, kept to the old stage-coach road from London to Timbridge Wells and Hastings ; and though they naturally spoke of the beauty of its extensive parks and woodsy the magnificence of its timber, the quaintness and old-world look of its towns, its massive churches, and scattered villageSi with their substantial timber houses; yet for all this, it was pronounced the most uninteresting portion of the county, promising but little attraction for the antiquary and historian.

 

Table of Contents

I. Introduction. — The Britons. — The Druids 1
II. The Roman Invasion 8
III. Occupation of Britain by the Romans 17
IV. Introduction of Christianity into Britain 30
V. The Departure of the Romans, and Settlement of the Saxons 38
VI. The City of Anderida, or Andredes-Ceabter 45
VII. Æsc TO Ethelbert. — The Forest. — The Mark. — The Owner 54
VUL Ethelbert to Egbert 63
IX. The First Charters relating to the Forest 72
X. Egbert to Alfred 79
XI. Alfred the Great 92
XII., XIII. The Civil and Ecclesiastical Division of Kent 99, 110
XIII. Edward the Elder to Harold 126
XV. Further Charters relating to the Forest. — Anglo-Saxon Law-Suits, and Wills 142
XVI. Anglo-Saxon Ranks and Institutions 154
XVII. Anglo-Saxon Land Tenures. — The Witan. — Shiremotes and Folkmotes. — Trial and the Ordeal 174
XVIII. The Anglo-Saxon Church. — Parochial System. - Tithes 193
XIX. The Last of the Forest under the Anglo-Saxon Soverigns 203
XX. The Norman Invasion. — The Conqueror in Kent 210
XXI., XXn., XXnL the Domesday Survey 216, 231, 242
XXIV. The Feudal System. — The Manor and its Court 271
XXV. William Rufus. — Henry I. — The Earl, Sheriff, Court of Exchequer, Coroner, Bailiff. — Corporate Towns 277
XXVI. The Ancient Cities, Towns, and Corporations of Kent 290
XXVII. The "Seven Hundreds" in the Weald 315
XXVIII. Kino Stephen 325
XXIX. Henry II. — Richard I. 337
XXX. King John 353
XXXI. The Forests of Kent and the Forest Laws. — The other Principal Woods in the County 371
XXXII. The Church in Anglo-Norman Times 395
XXXIII. The Kentish Roats. — Archiepiscopal Residences 408
Appendix.— Geology of the Weald 423

 

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Volume II - Part I

Table of Contents

I. The Weald during the Thirteenth Century 1
II. The Earliest Plea Rolls relating to "The Seven Hundreds," and the Remainder of the Weald and its Vicinity 30
III Kent during the Reign of Henry III 65
IV. Reign of Henry III. continued 83
V. Tunbridge, its Lowy, and Castle. — Cities and Towns Responsible for Offenses Committed in them. — River Fishing. — Storms, &c — Death of Henry III. — Eminent Kentish Men who Lived in this Reign 105
VI. Edward I. — The Hundred Roll of Kent 115
VII. The Hundred Roll of Kent continued 140
VIII. Trial by Jury after the Conquest not as it is at present. — Ordeal. — Wager of Battel 167
IX. The Feudal System. — Francalmoigne. — Military Tenures, and their Decline. — Socage, including Gavelkind. — Ancient Demesne 177
X. Early Disputes in the Weald respecting the Ownership of the Timber growing in the Denes. — Litigation thereon. — Change of Tenure. - Introduction of Sea-Coal 195
XI. Mediaeval Prices of Cattle, Corn, and other Produce in Kent; Carriage, Wages, Taxes 206
XII. Edward I. continued 216
XIII. The Church during the Reign of Edward I 229
XIV. Edward I. concluded 239
XV. Edward II 266

 

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Volume II - Part II

Table of Contents

XXIV. The Sixteenth Century 425
XXV. The Sixteenth Century continued 436
XXVI. The Sixteenth Century continued 466
XXVII. The Sixteenth Century concluded 477
XXVIII. The Seventeenth Century 510
XXIX. The Rising of the Kentish Royalists in 1648 534
XXX. The Seventeenth Century continued 553
XXXI. The Seventeenth Century continued 566
XXXII. The Seventeenth Century concluded 85
XXXIII The Eighteenth Century 604
XXXIV. The Nineteenth Century 637
XXXV. Summary of the preceding History of the Weald 690
XXXVI. Summary of the preceding History of Kent as a Kingdom and as a Shire, its Boundary, and Civil and Ecclesiastical Divisions 749
Appendix A Letter from James II., while he was detained at Faversham, to the Earl of Winchilsea 825
Appendix B. Letter from Arthur Young on the Trial of O'Connor and others, A.D. 1798 825
Appendix C. Table of the Ancient Denes 827
Appendix D. A List of the Parishes, &c., in and on the Borders of the Weald, the present Incumbents, Population, &c. 833
Appendix E. Weald of Kent Tokens 837
Appendix F. Cobbett on Romney Marsh, a.d. 1823 846
Appendix G. The Division between East, Mid, and West Kent 846
Appendix H. Extracts from Abchbishop Laud's Diary 847

 

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As it is expected of the Christian that he should be able Chap. I. to give a reason of the hope that is in him, so ought our introduction, increasing population in these days of education to possess a knowledge of the history of their country, especially of the locality in which they reside ; but such knowledge is becoming, I fear, more and more limited. A stock of old books is almost as rare as a stock of old wine. The stall at the railway station supplies the light and sensational reading of the day, as the case of cheap wine takes the place of the well stored cellar in days of yore.