Reviews

REVIEWS Oysters and Dredgermen. By Geoffrey Pike, John Cann and Roger Lambert. 15 x 20 cm. Pp. 65, heavily illustrated. Compass Publications, 191 Field Avenue, Canterbury, Kent, CTl ITS, 1992 (£3.99 paperback). It is fitting that this book published in December 1992 appeared with almost perfect tim ing to celebrate and publi c ize an important Whitstable bicentenary, namely 'An Act for Incorporating the Company of Free Fishers and Dredgers of Whitstable, in the County of Kent, and for the better ordering and Government of the Fishery', 30th April 1793. Of course, oyster fishing, as is revealed, is much older than that enactment and was pursued more widely than that location, but even so 'few towns have developed a closer association with one product than Whitstable' (p. 32). Indeed, The Globe saluted the town in 1885 as 'Oyster-opolis'. This book is interesting for three reasons. Firstly, it provides much useful information over a long time span in 61 pages. Secondly, it is visually attractive as a collaborative effort integrating text and imaginative line drawings. This leads me onto thirdly, its authors. Geoffrey P ike, in compiling the text, draws upon his extens ive knowledge of the local history of Whitstable and Canterbury. Welcome among his references are dated quotations from The Whitstable Times. The many illustrations are the work of John Cann, an experienced painter, illustrator and desi gner. Roger Lambert, by tra ining a calligrapher and graphic designer, has looked after the graphics. Messrs. Cann and Lambert through their publishing enterprise, Compass Publications, have also produced a number of other books and walking guides. This study is much more wide-ranging than its title might suggest. Apart from the h istory of oy sters and dredging, including the ir fluctuating fortunes through into the twentieth century and past traditions and customs, there are accounts and illustrations of edible oysters, how they spawn and survive, the hazards and enemies confronting them, yawls, smacks, dredging, culling, replenishing the beds, markets in Canterbury and Billingsgate and practical advice on 423 REVIEWS opening, eating and recipes, finishing with oysters today. While pride of place is devoted to Whitstable, the histories of other north Kent oyster grounds are also examined: the Medway oyster fisheries, the West Swale oyster fisheries, Faversham oyster fishery, the Seasalter and Ham grounds and the Herne Bay, Hampton and Reculver Company (pp. 40-7). Within the text many interesting facts are brought to light such as deep sea dredgers weighing up to 70 lbs. (p. 18), Henry Mayhew estimating in 1864 the annual sale of oysters in London at 124 million (p. 36), oysters being composed of 80 per cent water (p. 54) or the Whitstable beds still producing some 19 million oysters in 1912 (p. 56). Presentational slips are few. Dicken's, however, should be Dickens's All the Year Round (p. 32), while the author of Faversham's 1774 history was Jacob, not Jacobs (p. 64). These are but minor blemishes in a book which combines careful research with readability and lavish illustrations bringing the subject vividly to life, supported by a useful Glossary (pp. 60-1), and Index (pp. 62-3) and a Bibliography (pp. 64-5). I commend it. J. WHYMAN Prehistoric Houses in Britain. By Malcolm L. Reid. 21 x 15 C!ll, Pp. 72, with 40 maps, plates and figures. Shire Publications Ltd., Princes Risborough, 1993 (£3.95, limp). The series of very useful introductory booklets, Shire Archaeology, was started in 1974 and this latest addition is the 70th title of the series. The subject of this publication is thoroughly examined in several sections dealing with construction materials, the building of prehistoric houses and their modern excavation. In following sections the evidence is considered on a regional basis and the examination is concluded with an exploration into the social background of these houses. There is also a selected list of sites which may be visited, suggestions for further reading and a good index. This booklet brings together much of the evidence scattered in other publications and reports and affords many short-cuts to both the interested layman and the researcher alike. It is very attractively illustrated and a valuable addition to the series. As a starting-point into its subject, I can think of no better or more c o m p r ehens ive introduction. 424 REVIEWS Discovering Roman Britain. By (Ed.) David E. Johnston. 17.5 x 11 cm. Pp. 192, with 64 plates and figures, and 7 maps. Shire Publications Ltd., Princes Risborough, 1993 (£5.99, limp). This handy booklet, fitting snugly in the traveller's pocket, is an updated revision of the original guide-book published in 1983. Under the general editorship of David Johnston, who has also written an introductory outline of Roman Britian, the province has been divided into different areas, each in the charge of one of the collaborators in this work. It is an arrangement that has distinct advantages in that readers can by-pass areas of no immediate interest to them. This is a very useful guide in not only directing to sites and museums, but also in giving some of the background to visits, with notes on sites. These are necessarily brief, but I wonder whether a single line of reference to a publication, in the case of major sites, at least, may not have added to the value of this booklet, without overextending its length. Even though 'all entries have been checked and revised', I regret to see (p. 99) such a categoric statement on the origin of the Rhee Wall whose construction is not generally thought to be conclusively 'a piece of Roman civil engineering.' Nevertheless, I have no hesitation in recommending this guide to members in their journeys throughout Roman Britain. A.P. DETSICAS The Posts of Sevenoaks in Kent. An Account of the Handling and Transportation of the Written Communication of Sevenoaks District (Westerham to Wrotham, Biggin Hill to Edenbridge) on the Road to Rye and Hastings AD 1085 to 1985/6. By Archie Donald. 18 x 25 cm. Pp. xiii + 452, with many maps, line illustrations and 65 photographs. Woodvale Press, Tenterden, 1992 (£37, hardback). What might at first sight appear to be a restricted topic, the history of postal services, confined to a limited area, the Sevenoaks district, has resulted in a massive work of 452 pages, representing a colossal research input, yielding an immense amount and range of detail, whether literary, visual or documentary. The subject concerns the handling and transportation of letters, packets and parcels in Sevenoaks and its surrounding area, from c. 1085 to the mid-1980s beyond the 1981 British Telecommunications Act, which hived off the Telephone 425 REVIEWS and Telegraph side of the Post Office's work; and beginning more humbly and simply with the Rye Road as the second most important road in Kent after the London, Canterbury and Dover Road. Within a 900-year time span every aspect of postal history is examined and literally no stone is left unturned, whether the subject matter be airmail, postboys, post coaches, postmarks, postage rates, letter boxes, uniforms, etc. The author is a member of the Kent Archaeological Society, but what qualifies him to take on Sevenoaks and its postal history is membership of the Sevenoaks Society, the Postal History Society and the Kent Postal History Group, the latter being a gathering of individuals interested in the early history of the posts in Kent and neighbouring parts of Sussex. Structured chronologically this book is 'written mainly in historical sequence', with each chapter attempting 'to capture the ethos of each period', being 'a separate vignette representative of its era' and 'retaining typical spelling' (p. 2). It draws heavily on primary resources; especially the Post Office Archives, showing them· to be a rich quarry of information despite certain limitations, such as the destruction of nearly all documentation of local importance beyond 1837-8 (p. 241) and for recent years a thirty-year rule, beyond which detailed Post Office archival material is not open to public inspection, so that after 1957 only that information accessible to the public was available to the writer but even so 'this ... is a considerable amount, much more than might be expected' (p. 293). These limitations in no way detract from detailing what happened beyond 1839. All in all this work arises out of many hours spent not only in the Post Office Archives in London but also in local post offices, 'checking and rechecking historical records' (p. xi).L engthy archival quotations feature prominently in this study in the hope that it 'may be useful as a local source book' (p. 2). In furtherance of this objective 'each chapter includes examples of letters typical of its period' (p. 2). This is an outward looking book well aware of background currents in Kentish and national political, social and economic history. The history of Postal services in Sevenoaks is linked in with numerous Post Office Acts and statutory regulations between 1635 and 1981, or with the effects of the Civil War, the Commonwealth and the Restoration (pp. 33-5) and more recently the two World Wars of the twentieth century (pp. 284-90, 30 2-5). Considerable attention is devoted to improvements and developments in transport. Since Sevenoaks is situated about a third of the distance along the London to Rye road, 'the history of its Posts until the coming of the railways into Kent in the middle of the nineteenth century is intimately bound up with developments along this road' 426 REVIEWS (p. 5). Interestingly the point is made early on that 'roads each have their characteristics based on the trade and people that pass along them and the places they serve' (p.5 ). From an early date fish travelled up to London, followed by fashionable society to and from Tunbridge Wells during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Both of these traffics dovetailed into local postal history.T he Rye road became famous as the Ripier road, ripiers conducting a 'quick daily run' of fish from Rye to London, giving rise to 'a great temptation to use these tradesmen to carry official mail even if it did smell a bit fishy by the time it reached London. It was cheap, regular and quick for the times. There are no records of letters being stolen by the ripiers and so this method of transit was used frequently' (p. 6). The London Gazette of 22 June, 1669, announced that the post would run daily as far as Tonbridge from where there was a footpost connection to the Wells, where after morning perambulations 'visitors liked to be able to collect their letters from the post office taking them back with them to their lodgings over lunchtime. The letters could then be answered and put in at the post office in the late afternoon when they again went out into the town. Whilst holidaying they still had to keep in touch with their business affairs' (p. 47). On 3 July, 1676, The London Gazette repeated its earlier advertisement of 1669: 'There goes a post every day from London to Tunbridge, this will be continued during the Season at the Wells'. This meant effectively a daily post to Sevenoaks as well, whereas the posts went to Rye twice a week. August, however, produced 'dayly complaints from Merchants, and other persons of Quality, at Tunbridge, that they are commonly gone of the walkes, before theire letters come there, to their great dissatisfaction, and damage' (p.5 1). As from 10 May, 1844, letter carrying switched suddenly from road to railway, so that the Rye road 'used for four hundred years was used no longer, ... Sevenoaks mail [being] sent via Tunbridge, ... thus reversing the direction of the normal flow' (p. 221). Twenty-five years later as from 1 August 1869 letters were conveyed by rail between London and Sevenoaks, with parcels following from 1883, prior to which sorting carriages and pickup apparatus had also been introduced (p. 231). There are various estimates of the volume of mail traffic handled at various points of time, noting that up to the 1830s the total number of letters sent was still small (p. 164). It is 'calculated in an approximate way' that there were 2,475 incoming letters at Sevenoaks in 1677 and 23,187 in 1720 (pp. 55-6). Following the introduction of the Universal Penny Post on 10 January, 1840, letter writing boomed, assisted by 427 REVIEWS railways and rising literacy and living standards. It remains the case in 1836 that Sevenoaks letter writers were still by and large 'the well-todo [living] at their country seats outside the town' (p. 164). By 1860 and 1865, the average number of letters being delivered in one week had risen to 7,605 and 11,746 respectively, 19 per cent being delivered from the town Post Office and 81 per cent from sub-offices (p. 280). By 1890, there was full delivery to the doors of at least 97 per cent of all houses (p. 241) and the volume of traffic went on rising. The letters posted and delivered weekly rose respectively from 62,702 and 88,707 in 1921 to 88,592 and 144,522 in 1928 (p. 301). Inevitably there is much to interest the reader in a book of this length and detail. Its reviewer in being selective can only hope to whet the reader's appetite. 'The Particulars of what Salaries have been paid to the several Post-Masters in the Year ending March 25, 1694' are set out on p. 61, covering Sittingbourne, Sheerness, Maidstone, Ashford, Rochester, Gravesend, Dartford, Bromley and Sevenoaks. Among the many examples of letters which are illustrated is a 1775 letter to a Brighton attorney bearing a Seven Oakes two line town stamp, charged 2d. to London and then 3d. to Brighton (p. 93). An interesting document refers to the mailcart driver on the Sevenoaks to Bromley stage, who 'on the night [of 5 August 1795] delayed the Mail three or four hours by stopping on the Road to drink with some persons at a Public House'. Such loitering on duty incurred 'on conviction one month in a House of Correction' (p. 117). Another interesting document lists letters opened by robbers during March 1801 addressed to Earl Camden, Arlington Street, Earl Shaftesbury, Portland Place and the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace. Other letters opened by the same robbers included bank notes which were stolen, including £4 2 in eleven notes destined for White Hume & Co, Vinegar Merchants, Borough (p. 121). From 1 September, 1848, Edenbridge, possessed of a railway station, became a Post Town in its own right, following which is 'A List of Places, Gentlemen's Seats, and Principal Houses in Delivery of Edenbridge' (pp. 223-4), including Chiddingstone and Hever Castles. Local staffing is indicated for 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871 and 1881 drawing on census data (see pp. 245, 248, 250 and 251). Suboffice services and how they expanded are set out in an Appendix (see pp. 414-44), covering such places as Borough Green, Igtham, Kemsing, Plaxtol, Seal, Shoreham, etc. The hard life of a letter carrier was such that 'tramping eighteen or more miles a day in all weathers and to a time schedule eventually wore down the strongest consitution and many a letter carrier died in service' (p. 254). During Wor l d War I w h e n t h e r e was no wire less or S u n d a y newspaper 428 REVIEWS 'the P.O. staff used to copy out the news telegrams that came in and put them, written in a large hand, in the window. To walk to the Post Office on a Sunday afternoon or evening to get the news was a regular habit of many' (pp. 286-7). Archie Donald has given to Kentish history a monumental reference work, which, without doubt, will stand the test of time and will be with good justification referred to and quoted from the generations to come. J. WHYMAN Un der Your Feet: The Archaeology of Dartford District. By the Dartford District Archaeological Group. 29.5 x 21 cm. Pp. 44, with many illustrations. Dartford, 1993 (n.p.). This booklet, in direct line of succession from Rediscovering Dartford, was produced to mark the 21st anniversary of the Dartford District Archaeological Group. It is a comprehensive survey of the known archaeology of the area. In six chapters, contributed by different authors, dealing with the various periods, from the geological background to the Tudor era, this publication brings together past and present research, which is abundantly illustrated by numerous plates of good quality, some of which hitherto unknown to this reviewer. Of necessity in a survey, there is condensation and omission: for instance, the Stone Castle Quarry, Greenhithe, site, published in Arch. Cant., lxxxi (1966), could have been mentioned as it provided evidence for continuity from the Iron Age into the Romano-British period. However, such minor shortcomings do not in any way detract from this worthwhile publication for which the Group and the contributors are to be warmly congratulated. The Upper Cray Valley, 400,000-4,000 BC. 30 x 21 cm. Pp. 18. Orpington and District Archaeological Society, 1988 (£1.00). The Upper Cray Valley, 4,000-700 BC. 30 x 21 cm. Pp. 23. Orpington and District Archaeological Society, 1993 (£2.00). The Upper Cray Valley, 700 BC-410 AD. 30 x 21 cm. Pp. 33. Orpington and District Archaeological Society, 1993 (£2.00). These three booklets of the Upper Cray Valley Project are a very valuable data-base on the early archaeology of the area and contain a considerable amount of information, usually found in other publications, brought together for easy reference. This not only saves much time, but also encourages further research. 429 REVIEWS All three books, which are thoroughly recommended to members interested in the archaeology of Kent, can be obtained from Bromley Museum, The Priory, Orpington. A.P. DETSICAS English Caroline Script and Monastic History: Studies in Benectinism A.D. 950-1030. By D.N. Dumville. 24 x 16 cm. Pp. 196, 16 pls. The Boydell Press, Woodbridge, 1993. (cased, n.p.). At the beginning of the tenth century English handwriting was based on the Insular script that had been current before the Viking invasions; and for several generations thereafter it followed a singular path, developing a succession of distinctive square letter-forms (Square minuscule). But by the end of the tenth century increasing numbers of English scribes were writing types of Caroline minuscule - the easily legible, regular script that had come to predominate throughout the Carolingian realms during the ninth century (and on whose letter forms this typeface is ultimately based). Central to the multiplication of books written in English Caroline Minuscule, and to the development and dissemination of the script itself was the monastic reform movement associated with Sts. Dunstan, /Ethelwold and Oswald, though recent work has demonstrated that there was an important royal dimension to the process as well. Building on the pioneering work of T.A.M. Bishop, David Dumville's English Caroline Script explores certain aspects of this phenomenon. Sandwiched between a brief introduction (which provides an overview of script development in the period in question) and a conclusion (which summarises the author's findings and suggests further lines of enquiry), the 'meat' of the book consists of three sharply focused, closesly argued studies (Chs. II-IV ). Chapter II revolves around Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 197, a bilingual copy of the Rule of St. Benedict dating from the late tenth century. Dumville argues for a Bury St. Edmunds origin for the book, and mounts a case for scribal activity at that house long before its celebrated 'refoundation' by Cnut. Of particular interest to readers of this journal will be the other two chapters which discuss manuscripts, script and scribes from C a nterb ury. C hapter III e x a m i n e s the a d o p t i o n of C a r o l i n e minuscule a t Christ Church, reasonably favouring a slightly earlier date for the process than that put forward by Bishop (and hence revising the received picture of the scribal relations between 430 REVIEWS Christ Church, St. Augustine's Abbey, and Glastonbury in the second half of the tenth century); but also rightly stressing the heterogeneity of the writing styles practised in the cathedral scriptorium in the later tenth and early eleventh centuries. Chapter IV explores Canterbury script after the Viking ravages of 1011 and, in particular, the rise of the extremely handsome form of Caroline minuscule pioneered by the Christ Church scribe Eaduuius Basan. The most remarkable aspect of this style of writing is the fact that it rapidly became widespread in southern England as a whole, a circumstance which raises questions about the careers of scribes, the circulation of books and documents, not to mention the cultural influence of Christ Church in the time of Archbishops lEthelnoth (1020-38) and Eadsige (1038-50), which could profitably be debated further. This is difficult and, in many cases, controversial material, and a particular strength of English Caroline Script is that the author deals in extenso with numerous problems of documentary and historical interpretation tangential to the palaeography itself. However, this makes the book a highly technical one, and there are few concessions to the reader who is not both an Anglo-Saxonist and a palaeographer. Moreover, the sixteen plates, whilst a welcome and interesting addition to the published reproductions of late Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, are inadequate for supporting much of the argument which thus can only be followed (and hence checked, queried, or developed) if the reader is intimately acquainted with the manuscripts in question and has the resources of a copyright library at his or her fingertips. Characteristic is the fact that there is not one illustration of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, 197, the subject of half the book (pp. 7-85): so only those readers who own Neil Ker's Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon or Andrew Watson's, Dated and Datable Manuscripts in Oxford Libraries will be able to see what this codex looks like (see Pl s. II and 15, respecti vely). If palaeography is to continue to have a healthy development as a discipline, its practitioners must take a more responsible attitude to the business of illustration. English Caroline Script is a learned and weighty book which brings new order to a mass of manuscript material. It gives the specialists a feast of food for thought, and encourages further debate. It marks an important advance in modern understanding of late Anglo-Saxon script development and its historical implications, and underlines explicitly and implicitly the central role of Canterbury in the scribal and spiritual culture of late Anglo-Saxon England. RICHARD GAMESON 431 REVIEWS The Early Years of English Roller Hockey 1885-1914. By Roger Pout. 21 x 15 cm. Pp. 233, over 100 illustrations. Privately published, Roger Pout, 68 Bognor Drive, Herne Bay, CT6 8QR, 1993 (£14.50 paperback plus £1.50 p. and p. from that address). The Herne Bay Rink Hockey Club, officially formed on 9 December, 1910, continues to exist as the Herne' Bay Roller Hockey Club, and counted among its quality players of the 1960s, when it could compete successfully with clubs of the calibre of the Italian Club Monza, Roger Pout, the author of this definitive study of the origins and early years of English Roller Hockey. No other book on this subject has ever appeared, researched and written by a local author, a resident of Herne Bay, himself a former international player, having also starred in the 1975 film 'Rollerball' with James Caan. As a modern sport amateur roller hockey is increasing in popularity, being a top spectator sport in many parts of the world, w i t h its own World and C o ntinental Championships, having participated in the World Games and having made its debut in the 1992 Olympic Games. Mr Pout is the recognized historian of the National Roller Hockey Association of England Ltd., located in Kent, at 528 Loose Road, Maidstone. Its 1981-87 President, Mr Gerry M. Trott, endorses this work as follows: 'England gave the sport of Roller Hockey to the World! ... Yet, wherever you go in the "hockey world" there is only a "vague idea" of how or where this great sport got started. Now, due to the hours of painstaking and dedicated research by Roger Pout, . . . can the world ... know the true story' (p. 3). Recent years have witnessed increasing efforts to record the detailed histories of organized sports, both nationally and locally, and this contribution forms part of that trend. W hat is today called Roller Hockey was known before the First World War as Rink Hockey. Field hockey was first played by the Blackheath Football and Hockey Club in 1861. Twenty-four years later in 1885 the idea of players knocking a ball with sticks on roller skates 'just happened' (pp. 9-10). Because 'records have not been the number one priority' in a game run by amateur organisations, many hours have been spent in a 'search for mere scraps of information' (p. 5), including delving into local newspapers, the World on Wheels magazine, The Rinking Gazette, etc. Naturally considerable emphasis is bestowed on organisations at various levels, rules, personalities, teams, clubs, leagues and matches, including the earliest international matches. Such details form the core of this study. Clearly the overall story cannot be told without reference to rinking companies and rinks. Edwardian England witnessed a booming skating 432 REVIEWS craze, so that by the 1908-09 season there existed already over 450 English roller skating rinks. There occurred a frenzied registering of Rinking Companies: 'construction work was carried out with tremendous enthusiasm and determination. Over one million pounds was raised in Capital by Public and Private Companies for building expensive and lavishly decorated roller skating rinks or skating palaces as they were sometimes called' (p. 36). As part of a "Mushroom Growth" of rinks across the country' (p. 225), The Chatham, Rochester & District Rinks Limited was floated on a £10,000 capital, divided into 8,000 Preferred and 2,000 Ordinary Shares of £1 each, a preferred share certificate of 1910 being illustrated on p. 47. Reproduced on p. 55 is a 1911 postcard of the open air Olympia Skating Rink under the cliffs on Folkestone sea front. Herne Bay's Grand Pier Pavilion Roller Skating Rink, owned by the Herne Bay Urban District Council and built in seven weeks, illustrated on p. 217, was officially opened by the Lord Mayor of London, Sir John Knill, on 3 August, 1910, following which on 9 December the Herne Bay Rink Hockey Club was established (pp. 206-7). Rink hockey there soon drew large crowds, ranging from 1,100 to over 1,600 spectators (pp. 98, 215). The Edwardian skating craze was short lived from 1908 to 1912: 'sadly all of a sudden, rinks began to close as quickly as when they had first sprung up. There were numerous reasons for this but the most common cause was that directors and management of these rinking companies had expected far greater returns ... than in fact actually happened .... Expenditure was higher than income, resulting in bankruptcy. Consequently rinks were either closed or sold off and converted into dance halls, cinemas, motor garages and tram and bus depots. [Then] with the outbreak of the First World War, all skating and rink hockey came to an end, most of the rinks closing for the last time, never to open again' (pp. 225-6). The war apart many rinks yielded to the growing popularity of the cinema. Although this is a national history of the early years of English rink or roller hockey between 1885 and 1914, both the text and illustrations contain information relevant to Kentish history. The first illustration is of the 'Margate County Rink Hockey Club 1913', including Rupert V. Cobb (half back) and F.M.R. Cobb (forward), this being 'the only known photograph of the Margate team that played in the Kent League in early 1913' (p. 2). The Kent Rink Hockey League was established during October 1912, destined 'to become (after the 1914-18 War) the finest Rink Hockey League in the country', being now 'one of the oldest leagues still in existence in the world today' (pp. 118-9). Page seven of The Rinking Gazette, of 17 February, 1913, advertised the Southern Cup Competition Semi-Finals on Thursday, 27 February, at 433 REVIEWS the Ilford Skating Rink, beginning with Herne Bay, the 'International Tournament Finalists' of 1913, v. Goys United, winners of the 1912 London Cup (p. 91). Posted on 4 March, 1906, at Southborough was a view of schoolboys roller skating, including 'a boy playing around with a hockey stick and ball' (p. 87). This book is to be welcomed as the pioneer study of a hitherto neglected sport. My only regret arises from the lack .of an index. Hopefully, Mr Pout will be encouraged to continue his researches into the interwar years and beyond, roller hockey being 'a born survivor against the greatest odds' (p. 5). How it survived is awaited with interest. J. WHYMAN Banking on Dover. By Lorraine A.M. Sencicle. 15 x 21 cm. Pp. xix + 172, 36 drawings, maps and illustrations. Privately published, 21 Danes Court, Dover, Kent, CT16 2QF, 1993 (£12 hardback). Banking history rarely features in local history publications; accordingly, this study of Dover's banking history up to the 1840s merits acclaim and due recognition. It traces the evolution and fortunes of two banks, the Bank of Messrs. Fector and Co. over three generations and that of Latham and Co. founded in 1789, of the families that ran them, the Minets, Huguenots from Calais, linking up and intermarrying with the Fectors from Germany, the Lathams from Lewes and the Henshaws from London, and of the town and more particularly the port of Dover. Functioning as 'country bankers - bankers to the needs of Dover' (p. 152) inevitably 'they were part of the economic and social climate of the locality they served', their story being 'intimately entwined with the story of Dover' (p. 1). This interconnection is never lost sight of: 'country banks were tied exclusively to local conditions, during times of local boom they tended to encourage borrowing while in the leaner times, lending was restricted. This meant that these banks were vulnerable to changes in the fortunes of industry and agriculture operating in their immediate neighbourhood' (pp. 90-1). Two contrasting instances are cited. 'Local trade boomed as· never before' during the Napoleonic Wars, with local mills prospering from supplying troops and naval vessels, which for the Pilcher family was an opportunity 'to modernise and build new mills financed by mortgages drawn from the Fector bank', including Temple Ewell and Kearsney Court Mills and the Crabble Corn Mill built in 1812 (p. 68). The economic slump of 1837-8 'put many of Dover's mills, which the bank 434 REVIEWS had interests in, into financial trouble', such that John and Joseph Pilcher 'were forced to transfer the deeds of a number of their Dover grain mills to the Fector bank' (p. 146). Three paper mills were lost to George Dickinson from being declared as bankrupt by John Fector in 1838. It is in the nature of banking history to highlight other activities and several of the well-known themes of Dover's history are carefully explored in considerable detail, including cross-Channel packets, local and more distant shipping, consulates, the East India Company, Lloyds of London, privateering, smuggling, the effects of war and harbour maintenance and improvements. During 1794 James Fector agreed to lend £1,000 at 4½ per cent interest from his bank 'to demolish and rebuild sixty feet of the north pier' (p. 46). In a book covering many aspects of Dover's history the reasoning behind its intriguing title, Banking on Dover, becomes clearer towards the end of this study. John Fector confronted a difficult choice in 1841 when it was proposed that the Bank of Messrs. Fector and Co. should merge with the National Provincial Bank of England. 'The prestige associated with being the head of his own banking house' had to be weighed against less prosperous times and a series of financial crises, so that 'for Fectors to remain in business would mean relying on the fortunes of Dover and that John could not bank on' (pp. 152-3). The merger was effected on 15th January, 1842. Reduced to only one country bank in Dover, Henshaw Latham, unlike John Fector, seeking prestige in the thriving City of London, 'decided to bank on Dover for his future' (pp. 153-4). Four years later, on Good Friday, 10th April, 1846, Henshaw Latham collapsed and died and the Bank of Latham and Co. came to an abrupt end (p. 164). As for John Fector he assumed in 1848 the name o f Laurie, becoming Chairman of the National Provincial Bank and owner of a mansion in Hyde Park (p. 169). This book has all the merits of being well researched, clearly written and lavishly illustrated. While footnoting has not been restored to, which is a pity, it is left to a Bibliography (pp. xiii-iv) to provide clues as to sources consulted. There are also some errors of fact and interpretation. On p. 6 reference is made to the statistician Geoffrey King when it should be Gregory King. To argue that 'during the early part of the 18th century, Dover was in a very depressed state due to the various Enclosure Bills and Acts' (p. 6) cannot be so, with Kent being described in 1549 as one of the counties 'wheare most inclosures be' and with nearly all of Kent's land being covered by enclosed fields by the beginning of the seventeenth century. Neither Mr Pattenden nor the author are very good at arithmetic in the second column of figures on p. 44, where the total should be £509 6s., and 'Money in hand' £24 8s., y ielding a 9s. discrepancy rather than ls! Far outweighing such 435 REVIEWS blemishes are many fine illustrations including the Minet and Fector Family Tree (p. 27); the pride and joy of the Fectors' own fleet, the 80- ton sloop 'King George', the fastest ship on the cross-Channel run and not to b e surpassed until steampackets outrivalled her in the early 1820s (p. 39) and an 1819 handbill and poster produced by J. Minet Fector and Co., relating to 'a well-executed Forgery of the DOVER BANK NOTES, of Ten Pounds, with apparent Water Mark and Stamp Office Stamp', inviting the public to 'minute on the Back of them the Day taken, and the Name of the Persons they are taken from' (p. 89). Finally, I note with pleasure among the acknowledgements (p. iii) my friend and colleague, Dr Keith Lampard, it being particularly fitting that in the same volume of Archaeologia Cantiana this review should follow his article on 'Country Banks and Economic Development in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries: The Case of the Margaret Bank.' JOHN WHYMAN Canterbury. History and Guide. By Tim Tatton-Brown. 24.5 xl 7 cm. Pp. 124, with many figures and plates. Alan Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 1994 (£7.99, limp). Canterbury, in the publisher's series 9f informative books aimed at the tourist market, contains a brief resume of the city's history through the ages, beginning with Durovernum Cantiacorum, the fort by the alder swamp of the Cantiaci, the amalgamation of Caesar's fourt Kentish tribes under Roman rule, and continuing via the Saxons, the men of Kent and the Normans to the martyrdom of Thomas a Becket, the floruit of Canterbury as a pilgrimage centre with imposing architectural building to its present status as an east Kent market town. Tim Tatton-Brown is well qualified to compile this history and guide; for, as he does not fail to mention in his acknowledgements, he came to Canterbury in 1975 as the first director of its Archaeological Trust. Within the constraints and objectives of this series, the author has successfully achieved a concise account of the history of Canterbury with which few will find little to quarrel about. The latter part of this book consists of a perambulation of the city in three wellorganised walking tours. This is a book well illustrated by a large number of old engravings, plans and photographs, many of which will be known to readers of Arch. Cant. and the annual reports of the Trust. Few of these illustrations are acknowledged, all of them should have had their source 436 REVIEWS given below each illustration; that this was not done comes as a surprise. On the other hand, there is a comprehensive index, a feature often absent from guide books. Both author and publishers are to be congratulated for this book. Its contents are written in an easy style - the latter-day pilgrims in Canterbury can digest the information and look for themselves with their open eyes in their walks about the city. It is also an attractively produced publication, only needing outsize pockets as a walking companion. A.P. DETSICAS Also Received: Beckenham. By Eric R. Inman and Nancy Tonkin. 25 x 19 cm. Pp. 129, with 155 illustrations. Phillimore, Chichester, 1993 (£13.95, cased). An illustrated account of past and present Beckenham. A B rother's Murder. By Richard Faber. 30 x 21 cm. Pp. 83, with a frontispiece. Faversham Papers no. 37, The Faversham Society, 1993. A fuller account of the murder in Lees Court, Sheldwich, than the article in Arch. Cant., cix (1991). 437