Visits of two Queens to Sandwich

( 58 ) VISITS OE TWO QUEENS TO SANDWIOH. BY THOMAS DOKMAN. WE have endeavoured, with the assistance of Oanon Scott Hobertson, to ascertain the position of the house wherein Queen Elizabeth lodged, from a Monday night to the following Thursday, upon her visit to Sandwich, during the mayoralty of John Gilbart, 1572-3. As the mayors were chosen in November, on the Monday before the Eeast of St. Andrew, and at that time the 25th of March was New Year's day, the period in his mayoralty between November 1572 and 25th March 1573 was called 1572; but the date of the Queen's arrival, the 31st of August, in John Gilbart's mayoralty, was the 31st August 1573. A full account of this visit, extracted from the Corporation Year-Book, will be found in Boys's History of Sandwich, p. 691, where, after describing the reception of the Queen about 7 P.M. at Sandown Gate, and her entry into the town, he says that she " so rode untill she came unto M1' Manwood's howse wherein she lodged; a howse wherein Kinge Henry the VIIIt h had ben lodged twyes before." In a subsequent part of the account it is stated that on Wednesday, Sept. 2nd, Mrs. Mayress and her sisters, the jurats' wives, made the Queen a banquet of clx dishes on a table xxviii foot long in the School House, to which the Queen came "thorough M1B Manwood's garden and thorough Mr Wood's also." VISITS OF TWO QUEENS TO SANDWICH. 59 Mrs. Manwood must have been the widow of John or Thomas Manwood, who were brothers of Sir Roger Manwood, and were both dead at this date. The house the Queen lodged in must have been that of Sir Eoger (who was not knighted until 1578, but was at the time of the visit a Justice of the Common Pleas), for we find that by his will, dated in 1592, he speaks of "his chief house at Sandwich called the KING'S LODGING," and we naturally conclude that it was in the " KING'S LODGING " the Queen took up her abode. Canon Scott Eobertson has discovered that this house had previously belonged to Sir Edward Bingeley, who resided in St. Mary's parish. In his will, dated July 24, 1543, which Mr. Eobertson found at Canterbury, Sir Edward says, " I leave to my widow, Lame Jane, my great house called the KING'S LODGING." As this will was made during the lifetime of King Henry VIII., we must believe that King Henry had lodged in that house. In the list of streets, etc., in St. Mary's parish, Boys mentions, " A house called the KING'S LODGING, on the north side of Strand Street, opposite the Queen's Arms."* No site answers this description so well as that of Mr. Eutley Bean's house and coal store; and accordingly, we find in his title-deeds, which he kindly allowed his solicitors to refer to for us, that in 1673 his premises were described as, " All that Messuage, etc., called the KING'S LODGING, and all that Malthouse, etc., in the Parish of St. Mary, Sandwich, abutting to Strand Street, South, to the Cricke running to the Common Haven, North, to the Messuage of Edward Witheridge, West, and to the * Now called the King's Arms. 60 VISITS OE TWO QUEENS TO SANDWICH. Messuage, etc., of James Lefroy,East;" and, so lately as in 1875, these premises were described as "built on the ground whereon the Messuage called the KING'S LODGING Malthouse formerly stood.'" We find also that some title-deeds of the adjoining property (belonging to Miss H. Hoile) mention the KING'S LODGING as their western boundary; they bear the date 1756. Boys states that a house called the Castle of Flint also belonged to Sir Eoger Manwood; although there is no mention of that house in his will. It seems, from a deed in the possession of the Eev. A. M. Chichester, dated 28th Henry VIII. , that the Castle of Flint then belonged to the chantry of Thomas Ellis in St. Peter's Ohurch. Later, in 1615, Sir Peter Manwood, the son of Sir Eoger,* settled upon his eldest son, among other property, the Messuages known as the KING'S LODGING and the Castle of Flint. The latter stood on the south side of Strand Street, rather nearer to the Grammar School than the KING'S LODGING was. Upon the site of it, Mr. Eichard Collard Harrison's house now stands, as appears by his title-deeds. If the name were disregarded, the mere site of the Castle of Flint would answer to the description of the site of the house in which the Queen lodged, equally well with that of the KING'S LODGING. The writer of the account of the Queen's visit mentions neither of these names, but describes the house as "Mr Manwood's house in which King Henry the VI I I t h had ben lodged twyes before." These words evidently, however, are an enlarged and amplified form of the latter name:— the KING'S LODGING. It seems, therefore, most * See Boys, p. 250. VISITS OF TWO QUEENS TO SANDWICH. 61 probable that the house known as the KING'S LODGING, being Sir Eoger Manwood's chief mansion at Sandwich, would be the house in which King Henry VIII. and Queen Elizabeth at different periods lodged. There is another house, further to the east in Strand Street, which lays claim to the honour of having sheltered the Virgin Queen, and is now popularly known in the town as Queen Elizabeth's house. It is a large one, probably of the Elizabethan period, and possesses two finely carved oak mantelpieces, and a plaster ceiling embossed in patterns; but its site, about 100 yards east of the KING'S LODGING, and the absence of any suggestion that it ever belonged to Eoger Manwood, preclude it from answering the description in the record. There must also have been more than two gardens between that house and the Grammar School; so that we must consider the site of the KING'S LODGING opposite the Inn now called The King's Arms, to be the most probable site of the house in which Queen Elizabeth lodged. QUEEN KATHERINE OF BRAGANZA'S VISIT, A.D. 1672. I have been unable to learn much more about the pictures in the Guildhall (which depict Queen Katherine's reception here) than is contained in my former remarks in Vol. XV. of Archceologia Cantiana, but I have found the following additional entries in the Sandwich Treasurer's Accounts for 1672: £ s. d. It. to 2 drummers 3 halfe dayes when y° Queene went through y° Towne 0 6 0 It. to Hutton ffellowes and Cooke for y° like 2 halfe dayes 0 8 0 6 2 VISITS OF TWO QUEENS TO SANDWICH. £ s. d. It. to Thomas Wylds for goeing to Dovor to carry some L'res to yc Castle taken from his Matye's footman that feigned himself unwilling to goe with them p. Mr Wells order Deputy Mayor .... 0 3 6 It. pa Mr Cleere his hill for what was had when the Queene went through the Towne 6 2 3 It. pa to Zachariah Loring his hill for wine and other things had att his house when y° Queene & other p'sons of honor was in the Towne 5 0 0 Though one of the King's footmen is mentioned in these entries, there is no mention of the King himself ; arid from the fact of there being no mention of his presence here, while the entry as to the letters rather points to his being at Lover, I think the fair inference is that the King did not come to Sandwich at all, but went direct to Lover from Canterbury. I think this supposition is strengthened by the following entries in the Canterbury City Treasurer's Accounts, 1671-72, which I have been enabled to discover by the kind assistance of Lr. Sheppard : Expences when his M'tie rode through this Citty to Dovor and soe hack againe to London. £ s. d. Inpr'mis gave to the Kings and Queenes ffootmen then 01 00 00 Item spent at the Red Lion when Mr Mayor travelled with them 00 02 08 Item paid for Deere and tobaccoe used in the Town Hall then. . . . 00 00 10 Item paied for carrieing and recarrieing of several tables to the Town Hall upon this occasion 00 00 06 Item paid Mr Alderman Burges for wine beere and tobacco spent upon occasion of that meeting by Mr Mayor and the Aldermen 01 05 00 Item paid more to Mr Jeremie Masters at the time of Mr Mayor's being there to press a coach for the service of the Lord Montague in his passage 00 00 02 Item paid to Mr Isaac Wilson for wine beere and tobacco and ramboose* spent upon that occasion intended for the Queenes Ma'tie 02 01 04 Item paid to Mr Alderman Hills for sweetmeats p'sented to the Queenes Ma'tie at her beeing in this Citty 02 02 09 * Rambooxe, rambuze, a drink made of wine, ale, eggs, and sugar in the winter-time; or of wine, milk, sugar, and rose-water in the summer-time (Bailey). From Johnson's Dictionary. VISITS OF TWO QUEENS TO SANDWICH. 63 £ s. d. Item paid to Henry Hales for his son and his horsehire to ride to meet the Queenes Ma'tie to bring intelligence to Mr Mayor of her approach to this Citty* 00 02 06 I t would seem from these entries that both the King and the Queen went to Canterbury, but that the King rode on thence to Lover, and the Queen came to Sandwich alone, going thence to Leal Castle. Possibly the Calendar of Lomestic State Papers for that period, when published, may clear the matter up. * The above entries probably formed the authority for the following note in Hasted's History of Kent, vol. xii., p. 650: " 1671 King Charles the II. and his Queen pass through this Citjr on their way to Dovor and back, and are attended by the Mayor, etc., who present a banquet of sweetmeats to the Queen."