Abstract of Proceedings 1908-1910

t xliii ) — ^ — ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS, 1908—1910. December 10th, 1908.—The Council met in the Treasury of Canterbury Cathedral. Thirteen members present, Lord Worthbourne in the chair. The following report of the Finance Committee was read : " The Committee met at the Eoyal Museum, Canterbury, on October 22nd, 1908, Lord Northboume (President), Messrs. Arnold, Monckton, and Chapman being present. The Hon. Secretary reported that he had heard from the Hon. Treasurer, who did not feel able to undertake the onerous duties which the collection of the subscriptions in the manner suggested would throw upon him; and the Hon. Secretary further reported that his own endeavours had so far been successful that the arrears of £213 which existed at the commencement of the year had now been reduced to about £82, and he hoped before the end of the year to reduce them still further. " The Committee requested the Hon. Secretary to send notices to the subscribers who were more than one year in arrear to the effect that their names would be removed from the roll of the Society if their subscriptions were not paid, and to report the result to the next meeting of the Council. "The Committee rely on the Hon. Secretary continuing his exertions, and urge the same duty on the Hon. Local Secretaries. "The Committee do not at present recommend any change in the manner of collection to be made. " Dated October 22nd, 1908. (Signed) NORTHBOTJBNE." xiiv PROCEEDINGS, 1909. The Report was adopted, and it was decided that the Finance Committee, consisting of the President, the Hon. Treasurer, Messrs. Arnold, Monckton, Chapman, and the Eev. W. Gardner- Waterman, be a permanent one. A letter was read from Messrs. King and Son, the Society's accountants, with reference to increased remuneration, and an honorarium of two guineas was unanimously granted. Mr. H. E. Boulter of Effingham House, Bamsgate, was appointed Hon. Local Secretary, vice the Eev. "W. Waite, resigned. Eynsford was selected as the centre for the next Annual Meeting, and Messrs. Cooke and Monckton were appointed a committee to assist the Hon. Secretary in making arrangements for visiting the Megalithic Eemains in the neighbourhood of Maidstone. Mr. "W. J. riing was appointed Hon. Local Secretary, vice Mr. G. M. Arnold, deceased. It was agreed to subscribe two guineas to a memorial to the late Mr. J. M. Cooper, an Honorary Member of the Society. The Historical Society of Wisconsin was elected to membership. The members of the Council afterwards lunched with Mr. H. M. Chapman. March 11th, 1909.—The Council met at the Society's rooms, Maidstone. Fifteen members present, Lord Northboume in the chair. The cash account of receipts and expenses prepared by Messrs. King and Son was read, together with a letter pointing out that the arrears shewed very little difference from the amount shewn at the end of the previous year. The Hon. Secretary submitted a list of members whose subscriptions were more than two years in arrear. A number of names were struck off the register, and the Hon. Secretary was directed to make renewed application to the remainder. I t was agreed that the Kent Volumes of the Victorian History of the Counties of England should be purchased for the Society as they were published. I t was decided that the Annual Meeting should take place on July 26th and 27th, and that the dinner and evening meeting should be held at Maidstone. Sir Martin Conway invited the Society to tea at Allington Castle. PROCEEDINGS, 1909. -xlv A sum of £3 was voted to the Walmer Chamber of Commerce towards the purchase of Eoman relics found in the grounds of Walmer Court. The following were elected Ordinary Members: A. H. Taylor, H. Swainson Cooper, and T. Sills. June 10th, 1909.—The Council met at the Coburg Hotel, London, where they lunched at the invitation of the President. Seventeen members present, Lord Northboume in the chair. I t was agreed that the names of members who at the next Annual Meeting should be two years in arrear in payment of their annual subscriptions should be entered on the minutes and their names struck off the roll of members. The following were elected Ordinary Members: Miss M. L. Hope James, A. Leon Adutt, Mrs. Wilkinson, W. H. Bensted, G. B. Ewing, E. Vaughan Gower, G. B. Ellice-Clark, and H. E. Wilkin. The fifty-second Annual Meeting was held at Eynsford and Maidstone on the 27th and 28th of July 1909. In the absence of the President, who owing to a delay in the trains did not arrive until the close of the meeting, the Eev. J. A. Boodle was voted to the chair. The Hon. Secretary read the Annual Eeport, which was adopted on the motion of Mr. H. E. Boulter, seconded by Mr. L. M. Biden. ANNUAL EEPOET, 1909. THE Council has much pleasure in presenting their fifty-second Annual Eeport in the village of Eynsford, a district which has not hitherto been visited by the Society. During the past year the hand of death has rested lightly on our prominent members, though we have to regret the loss of Lord SackviUe, one of our Vice-Presidents, and of several others who have taken a less active part in our proceedings. Turning to the Financial position of the Society, the question of arrears, etc., has engaged the careful attention of the Finance Committee appointed to enquire into this subject; of these arrears a good proportion has now been collected, but it has been necessary to write off no less than from £50 to £60 as irrecoverable. The Committee do not think that the present system of collection by Local Secretaries can be improved upon, as it is recoguized that the Local Secretaries have great influence xlvi PROCEEDINGS, 1909. in their several districts, but it is to be hoped that they will use their best endeavours to collect subscriptions early in the year. The Committee also recognize the fact that no regular Volume has been published since 1905, and doubtless some members may expect that a Volume is due to them, but the delay in issuing a Volume has arisen from the fact that there has been a change of Editors, and that our present Editor has been overwhelmed with work of a Diocesan nature, which has taken up his entire attention. A copy, however, of the new Volume is now on view, and it is hoped that by the middle of August they will be ready for distribution to the members. The members will no doubt recollect that in 1905 a sum of £10 was voted to the work of repairing and binding the Bishops' Begisters at Rochester, and Mr. Day reports as follows : " The seven earliest registers, including the Eegistrum Spiritualium and the Eegistrum Temporalium, all of which were in a very dilapidated condition, have been very carefully cleaned, repaired, and bound in seal. Seven volumes of the Acts of Court have been cleaned, repaired, and half-bound in leather, and the two volumes of Archdeacons' Visitations have been bound in leather. The binding has been most excellently done by Mr. Douglas Cockerell, of Messrs. W. H. Smith and Sons, Letchworth, and I propose to carry on the work from time to time as funds will allow. I have collected and expended in all £54 18s. lid., and have a balance of about £8 for further work. There are still some volumes which have practically no binding at all. It is also very desirable that the older marriage allegations which are often referred to should be bound, and not, as at present, kept tied up in bundles." During the past year few discoveries have been made, but reference may be made to a paper read before the Society of Antiquaries by Mr. Hurd on some important finds of late Celtic antiquities associated with burials, recently made in the Isle of Thanet, mainly in the parish of St. Peter. The pottery shews affinity with that found in graves at Aylesford, and described in Archceologia by Dr. Arthur Evans, and, although the complete details have not yet been published, it is clear that the Isle of Thanet must have been a centre of considerable population during at least a part of the Early Iron Age. The following members of the Council who retired by rotation were re-elected: Messrs. E. Cooke, L. L, Duncan, A. Finn, C. W. Powell, J. Oldrid Scott, and the Eev. T, S, Frampton, PROCEEDINGS, 1909. xlvii The Honorary Auditors, Captain Hooper and Mr. Hordern, were also re-elected. ., The following were elected Ordinary Members: H. Wilson, J. C. Goldsack, H. B. Vinten, J. E. Couchman, W. Denne, A. H. Berney, E. G. Baird, H. F. Madders, aud the Eev. J. Eooker. In reply to Mr. W. Denne, the Hon. Secretary said that he had been in communication with the trustees of Eichborough Castle; he hoped that the vacancies in the trusteeship would be soon filled up, and that excavations with a view to discovering the meaning of the platform would be accomplished during the autumn. After the preliminary meeting the members adjourned to Eynsford Castle, which was described by Mr. E. D. Till, who informed the company that the Castle was built in the reign of Henry II., and as late as 1835 was said to possess the most perfect example of a curtain wall in the country. Progress was then made to the adjacent house of "Little Mote," where the Society was received by Mrs. Fountain in the absence of Mr. H. Fountain. The old rooms in the bouse were much admired by the members, more especially one in which the Arms of the Sybil! Family appeared on the spandrel of the Tudor fireplace. Mr. Gr. C. Druce read an interesting paper on these arms. The President, who had then arrived, thanked Mrs. Fountain for having allowed the members to view her house, and she briefly replied. The members then partook of luncheon in the Drill Hall, after which carriages conveyed the party to Farningham Church, where the Eev. O. M. Livett read a paper on the architectural features, and Mr. G. C. Druce gave an address on the Font. The Parish Church of Eynsford was next visited, where the Eev. Q. M. Livett again explained the history and architecture. The party then drove to Lullingstone Castle, the seat of Sir W. Hart Dyke, where the tombs in the little Church of St. Botolph were described by Miss Hart Dyke, and the interesting mansion by Sir William and Lady Emily Hart Dyke. Tea was generously provided for the members, who, after Lord Northboume had expressed his thanks to Sir William and Lady Hart Dyke, left Lullingstone for Eynsford Station, where a train was caught for Maidstone, and where some forty members sat down to dinner at the Star Hotel. Lord Northboume proposed success to the Society, and in reply to the toast of his health remarked that he did not think that he had been in that room pinee his father was High Sheriff, xlviii PROCEEDINGS, 1909. The Evening Meeting was held in the Museum by kind permission of the Mayor and Corporation, and was attended by about 150 members and friends. Mr. H. Swainson Cowper read a paper on some Kentish Firebacks, and Mr. G. C. Druce gave a most interesting address on Animal Carvings in Churches, illustrated by some remarkable lantern slides. On Wednesday motor-cars were requisitioned owing to the distance to be covered. Leaving the Museum at 11.30 the White Horse Stone was first visited, and an address given by Mr. F. J. Bennett of West Malling. Kit's Coty House was next visited, where again Mr. Bennett read a paper, and some remarks were made by the Hon. Secretary. The Countless Stones or Lower Kit's Coty House arrested the members' attention, and Major Powell Cotton remarked that during his journeys in Abyssinia he had seen similar stones in native villages which marked burial places. The journey was continued to West Mailing, where luncheon was provided at the Swan Hotel, after which progress was made to Trottescliffe Church, where the members were received by the Vicar, the Eev. C. W. Shepherd, and thence to Coldrum, where short addresses were delivered by Mr. W. G. Bennett, F.G.S., and the Eev. G. M. Livett. It was suggested that permission should be obtained from the owner, the Hon. Ealph Nevill, to clear the stones from weeds and brambles. The hour being now very late the Stones in Addington Park could not be visited, and the party proceeded direct to Allington Castle, where Sir Martin Conway kindly provided tea and courteously escorted the members over his interesting residence. After thanking Sir Martin for his hospitality the company returned to Maidstone and dispersed. Amongst those present on one or both days may be mentioned: The President, Sir Martin Conway, Mr. Herbert Monckton, Major and Mrs. Powell Cotton, Mrs. and Miss Ashley Dodd, Mrs. Golding, Mr. Henry Thompson, Hon. E. Marsbam-Townsend, Mr. A. Joyce, Mr. E. Cooke, Eev. D. and Mrs. Maekinnon, Eev. C. Eveleigh Woodruff, Eev. G. M. and Mrs. Livett, Eev. W. Gardner-Waterman, Mr. A. Lambert, Mr. W. H. Eichardson, Mr. L. F. Salzmann, Eev. C. H. Wilkie, Eev. E. Swan, Mrs. Madders and party, Eev. A. L. Beardmore, Mr. W. J. Mercer, Mr. H. S. Cowper, Mr. J. Broad, Mr. W. E. Hughes, Mr. and Mrs. H. E. Boulter, Capt. Page, Mr. H. Hamilton, Mr, and Mrs. H. Mapleton Chapman, Mr. H, W, PROCEEDINGS, 1909. xlix Knocker, Mr. E. D. Till, Mr. W. H. Day, Mr. Aymer Vallance, Mr. F. Cutbill, Mr. L. M. Biden, Mr.E, C. Vouens, and many others. September 9th, 1909.—The Council met at the Bridge Wardens' Chamber, Eochester, the members having been entertained to luncheon previously by the Eev. Canon Pearman and Mr. A. A. Arnold. Fourteen members present, the Eev. Canon Pearman in the chair. Votes of thanks in connection with the Eynsford meeting were voted to Mr. It. Cooke and Mr. H. Monckton for assistance in arranging the programme and for hospitality at the evening meeting at Maidstone, to the Mayor and Corporation of Maidstone for granting the use of rooms at the Museum, to Sir W. and Lady Hart Dyke and to Sir Martin Conway for hospitality and to Mr. and Mrs. H. Fountain of Eynsford ; also to the Vicars of the various Churches visited and to Messrs. Allchin, Bennett, Till, Druce, Cowper, the Eev. G. M. Livett, and the Eev. W. Gardner- Waterman. It was agreed that the next Annual Meeting should be held at Sandwich, and the President said that if the excursion should be extended to Betteshanger he should be pleased to entertain the members. The Hon. Secretary read a letter from the Hon. E. Neville giving the Council permission to clear the brushwood from the stones at Coldrum, and a sum not exceeding £3 was voted for the purpose. The Bev. C. E. Woodruff supported an application for a grant towards the repair and rebinding of the ancient monastic registers in the keeping of the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury, and mentioned that the Chapter had voted £10 and that he had himself collected a further sum of £15 for the above purpose. The Council unanimously voted a grant of £10. Permission was granted to Mr. Bosanquet to have a reprint at his own cost of five hundred copies of the article on Pembury Church which appears in Archceologia Cantiana, Vol. XXVIII. A similar permission was granted to Sir Martin Conway in respect of his paper on Allington Castle. On the proposition of Mr. Chapman, seconded by Dr. Cotton, the Hon. Secretary was instructed to write a letter to the Mayor yoi,, %xi%, $ 1 PROCEEDINGS, 1909. of Croydon protesting against the destruction of Whitgift's Hospital at Croydon. The list of members whose subscriptions were in arrear was, on account of its length, referred to the Finance Committee with discretionary power to strike out their • names in the roll of members. Mr. E. Cooke was warmly thanked for his gift of a set of the six-inch sheets of the Ordnance Survey of the County, and his proposal that the Curator should be empowered to mark thereon all archseological discoveries was approved. Votes of thanks were accorded to Mr. E. E. Wells for his gift of rubbings of Kentish Brasses collected by his father, the late Mr. E. J. Wells, a member of the Society, and to Mr. W. H. Hills of Eamsgate for his presentation to the Society of a manuscript which had come into his possession, and which he believed to be the fourth volume of Hasted's History of Kent. The following were elected Ordinary Members : J. H. Allchin, T. Clark, the Eev. H. D. McCheane, H. Fountain, G. F. Druce, Mrs. Herbert White, the Eev. E. Hardcastle, Dr. F. G. Parsons, W. E. Wood, C. J. Phillips, E. Gaspar Box, W. S.. J. Crosbie Hill, F. Hilder, Mrs. Majendie, the Eev. J. Castle, and T. W. Thornton. December 9th, 1909.—The Council met in the Library of Canterbury Cathedral. Fourteen members were present, Lord Northboume in the chair. The Hon. Secretary begged lo tender his resignation. Mr. Sebastian Evans' resignation was accepted with regret, and a vote of thanks was accorded to him for his services to the Society during the past five years. Mr. Evans promised to carry on the duties of the Secretaryship until the March meeting of the Council, and the Eev. W. Gardner-Waterman was appointed to act as Hon. Secretary during the interval between the meeting of the Council in March and the Annual Meeting of the Society ,in July. Mr. H. W. Knocker was appointed Hon. Local Secretary for the Sevenoaks district, vice Mr. G. F. Carnell, deceased. The Hon. Secretary reported a list of eleven names which had been removed from the roll of members on account of arrears. The sum of £26 10s. was ordered to be written off. Mr. Arthur Finn raised the question of the publication of local records. He was particularly anxious that the Lydd records, ciyil PROCEEDINGS, 1909. li and ecclesiastical, should be printed, and he hoped that if the Council could not undertake it entirely they might see their way to ; giving financial assistance. He had himself transcribed a volume of Corporation Minutes and Miss M. Hardy had transcribed the whole of the pre-Eeformation Churchwardens' Accounts. Mr. Livett said that he felt that Kent was behind the times in the publication of its records. He hoped that the Council would be able to publish an occasional extra volume to follow upon the valuable volume of wills issued to members in 1907, or, better still, that they would encourage the institution of a Eecord Society. There was abundance of material. Mr. Livett then read the following letter which he had received from Mr. Leland Duncan, F.S.A.:— " Rosslair," Lingard's Road, Lewisham. 6 Dec, 1909. DEAR LIVETT, In your letter to me of the 11th October, you refer to a proposal I made some time hack that Kent should bring itself into line with some other counties and start a " Record " series, in addition to the ordinary proceedings of the County Archseological Society. Such a series has been in existence for some years in the neighbouring county of Sussex, and Yorkshire, Cheshire, Lancashire, Staffordshire, and Somerset have special issues of this nature. We have, practical^', done nothing in Kent except issue that volume of Extraots from Wills. The matter with whioh the Society should deal is almost unlimited, but the following would he an excellent start. 1. Calendars of the Wills at Canterbury, and for the old Diocese of Rochester. The latter are at Somerset House. 2. The Chantry Certificates for Kent—at the Public Record Office. 3. The Inquisitiones Post Mortem. These are at the Record Offioe. They are most valuable both to the topographer and genealogist. They should be printed in fairly full abstract like those for several counties being printed by the Index Society, with whom an arrangement could probably be made. I would suggest two series, one beginning about Edward III., the other about Edward VI. The memorial customs set out in the early Inquisitiones are most interesting, and the later series offer very full descriptions of the monasteries and their buildings as they changed hands after the dissolution. 4. Marriage Licences at Rochester. The late Mr. Cowper printed those at Canterbury. 5. The Feet of Fines for the county, beginning temp. Henry III., would be exceedingly valuable. In the series could also he included transcripts of early Churchwardens' Accounts; full transpripts of the early records of such towns as New Romney, d 2 Iii PROCEEDINGS, 1909. Lydd, Hythe, Dover, Sandwioh, Faversham, etc., etc. These have only been extracted so far—they should all be put into print, practically in full. Sandwich would make a good beginning, and from what I saw of them they would be intensely interesting and very good reading. A volume of Churoh Registers might be included now and then, but there is so much else to be done, as you will see above, that I would not pay too much attention to these, at any rate until the others have been well advanced. I need hardly say more as to the work before the Society. The one and great difficulty is, after all, not money, but men who will undertake it; but I cannot but think that in a county like Kent you will find, say, four or five " faithful" who would devote some of their time to transcribing and editing. Some of the documents in the Record Office we might get abstracted for us by competent Record agents. The Index Library would, I am sure, give you particulars as to how the Inquisitiones are abstracted, and at what cost for the transcription. If we could begin somewhat as above, I feel we should do something to remove the reproach that at present lies against us. Tours sincerely, LELAND L. DUNCAN. Mr. Livett also pointed out that in addition to the records mentioned by Mr. Leland Duncan there were the Subsidy Eolls, lay and clerical, lying in the Becord Office awaiting transcription. He also hoped the Society would be able to turn its attention to the Manor Eolls, which existed in large numbers in both public and private hands, so that a sense of their value for historical purposes might be awakened with a view to their better preservation. The Eev. C. Eveleigh Woodruff agreed with the previous speaker that a Eecord Series for Kent should be started, and said that the Cathedral Library at Canterbury contained a vast mass of important MSS. which had never been published. He ventured to enter a caveat against the inclusion of too many dry records in Archceologia Cantiana, and thought that the Society would do well to mix their wares in order to cater for the varied tastes of the members. After some further discussion the following members of the Council were appointed as a Publication Committee to deal with the matter: Messrs. Livett, Woodruff, Hussey, Frampton, and Gardner-Waterman. The Hon. Secretary was directed to put the subject down for consideration at the evening meeting of the next Annual Meeting of the Society. The programme of the Sandwich Meeting was discussed, and it was agreed that it should be left to the President to form a Local Committee. An..invitation, from Major Powell pptton to visit PROCEEDINGS, i9i0. lill Quex Park was considered, and it was feared that the length of the journey would make such a visit impracticable. Mr. Livett suggested that a Special Meeting of the Society should be convened for the discussion of the megalithic remains visited by the Society on the occasion of its last Annual Meeting, and on the proposition of Mr. Cooke it was agreed that a meeting should be arranged for the day of the Quarterly Meeting of the Council in March. The following were elected Ordinary Members: Norman Cooper, E. S. Herries, G. G. Frame, Eev. W. L. Greene, Sir Eeginald McLeod, K.C.B., Mrs. J. Eossdale, E. Mond, Capt. J. H. Hay Ruxton, G. Marshall, S. Cartwright, T. Brocklebank, Eev. H. P. Thompson, C. E. Lovell, E. Vaughan Gower, and H. Bichardson. March 10th, 1910.—The Council met at the Society's rooms, Maidstone. Seventeen members present, Lord Northboume in the chair. The Finance Committee presented the Balance Sheet for 1909, together with a list of those members whose subscriptions were in arrear. The deaths since the last meeting of the Council of the Eight Hon. J. G. Talbot, a Vice-President, an original member of the Society and at one time its Hon. Secretary, and Canon A. J. Pearman, for many years a member of the Council, having been feelingly alluded to, the Hon. Secretary was requested to send letters of condolence to the Hon. Mrs. J. G. Talbot and Mrs. Pearman. The Eev. C. E. Woodruff brought forward the question of making further excavations at Eichborough, and as it was believed that the Society of Antiquaries would co-operate with this Society in the systematic uncovering of the surface of the platform, it was resolved that the sum of £50 be granted from the Eesearch Fund for this object. A sum of £10 was voted towards the excavations in progress at Lesnes Abbey on condition that a report, for publication in the Transactions of the Society, on the excavations should be furnished to the Society. Mr. George Payne, formerly Hon. Secretary of the Society, was elected an Honorary Member. I t was decided that the Annual Meeting should be held at l iv PROCEEDINGS, 1910. Sandwich on July 28th and 29th, and the President kindly invited the members to lunch at Betteshanger on the second day. The following were elected Ordinary Members : H. C. Daniels, H. W. Standen, J. F. Carnell, E. W. Snowden, J. A. Druce, C. J. G. Hulkes, B. F. Green, D. Hills, J. D. Le Couteur, and E. K. Corbet. A vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Cooke for his gift to the Library of the Architecture of Danish Churches. On the same date an evening Meeting of the Society was held at the Brenchley Museum, Maidstone, by the courtesy of the Mayor and Corporation, at which Lord Northboume presided. The Meeting, which was to a certain extent experimental, proved a great success. The subject for discussion was the Megalithic remains around Maidstone, which the Society proposed to visit at the time of their Annual Meeting in July. The subject having been opened by Mr. F. J. Bennett, F.G.S., the Honorary Secretary read a Paper prepared by Mr. G. Clinch, F.G.S., and was followed by the Bev. G. M. Livett, F.S.A., after which, a few questions having been put to the speakers and answered, photographic views of the Kentish megaliths were shewn by the aid of the lantern, Mr. J. H. Allchin kindly namiug the various pictures. June 21st, 1910.—The Council met at the Coburg Hotel, London, where they lunched at the invitation of the President. Thirteen members present, Lord Northboume in the chair. The Bev. Hyla Holden, Eector of Smarden, wrote asking if the Council would be willing to restore to Smarden Church the sword which is said to have belonged to Colonel Otway and the leaden seal of Pope Innocent IV. now in the Society's collection at Maidstone. The matter was deferred until the September meeting of the Council. A further grant of £2 was made in connection with the expenses incurred at Coldrum. The draft of the Annual Eeport was laid before the Council and adopted with a few verbal alterations. The proposed alterations in the Bules which were to be presented to the Annual Meeting were approved, with exception to the proposed alteration to Eule IV., which was postponed owing to the absence of the Hon. Treasurer. PROCEEDINGS, 1910. Iv Two vacancies on the Council were filled by the unanimous election of Dr. F. W. Cock and Mr. W. Bruce Bannerman. The following were elected Ordinary Members : Mrs. Adam, Miss M. M. Courtenay-Page, Eev. B. Boscow, Eev. Hyla Holden, Miss I . C. Willis, Bev. C. Gregson, Earl of Cranbrook, Mrs. W. 0. Wolseley, and Miss Harrison. Lord Cranbrook's name was added to the list of Vice-Presidents. A hearty vote of thanks was unanimously given to Lord Northboume for his kindness in entertaining the Council to luncheon. The Fifty-third Annual Meeting of the Society was held at Sandwich on the 28th and 29th of July 1910. The Mayor of Sandwich (C. Watson, Esq.) welcomed the members, at the head of whom was Lord Northboume, President of the Society, in the ancient Town Hall. His Worship then briefly described some of the features of the hall and its contents, many of which were reminiscent of the stirring times of Queen Elizabeth, and Mr. E. C. Byrne, the Town Clerk, gave an account of the pictures, which illustrate royal visits and naval battles. The Secretary then read the Annual Eeport. ANNUAL EEPOET, 1910. The Council, in presenting their fifty-third Annual Eeport in the ancient town of Sandwich, which has been previously visited by the Society in 1864 and 1885, cannot enter upon its details until expression has been given to their sense of the loss sustained by the Society in the death of two members of the Council, the Bight Honourable J. G. Talbot, an original member of the Society, and who for a short time acted as Honorary Secretary, and the Eev. Canon Pearman, one of our oldest members, to whom the Society has been indebted on several occasions for contributions to our Transactions. The Secretary of the Society having resigned his membership, the duties for the past few months have been carried on by a member of the Council, the Eev. W. Gardner-Waterman, but it will be necessary to appoint a successor to Mr. Evans as soon as a gentleman suitable and willing to undertake the duties can be found, as the present arrangement can only be regarded as temporary. Since the last Annual Meeting Volume XXVIII. has been issued to the Members. The number of illustrations given iu the lvi PROCEEDINGS, 1910. volume was considerably above the average, and it is feared that it will be impossible to continue to illustrate on this liberal scale unless the membership should shew a considerable increase. At the present time the number of members, exclusive of Life Members, is approximately 570, and our total income does not exceed £340 per annum, of which sum about £100 is required for the ordinary working of the Society, leaving only £240 a year available for the Volume and extraordinary expenditure, excavations, etc. The last Volume, as may be gathered from the Balance Sheets of the past two years, cost £450. The diminution of members during the past twenty years is somewhat marked, and gives rise to some anxiety, but your Council feel that if not only Honorary Local Secretaries but also the members generally would place before archssologists of the county the advantages of joining the Society, in a very short time our number of members would be in excess of the number at any time of the Society's history. Our annual income is naturally affected by the fact that the proportion of Ordinary Members to Life Members stood about twenty years since as five to one, whilst to-day it stands at about seven to two. An Ordinary Member's contribution is 10s. a year, whilst the interest of a Life Member's composition only produces 3s. Your Council are therefore of opinion that the sum hitherto paid is insufficient, and to bring it into line with the rate adopted by similar Societies they recommend that in future the sum of £10 be paid for compounding. A careful review of the finances of the Society leads your Council to recommend certain changes in the Eules. These changes will be laid before you for your approval to-day. During the past year the following grants have been made for excavations: Eichborough Castle, £50, and Lesnes Abbey, £10. Captain Hooper and Mr. H. Hordern were re-elected Honorary Auditors. The retiring members of the Council were Sir W. Martin Conway, Messrs. T. Colyer Fergusson, H. Mapleton Chapman, A. A. Hussey, H. Monckton, and Eev. W. Gardner-Waterman, who were unanimously re-elected. The following were elected Ordinary Members: Miss A. Richards, G. S. Elgood, W. E. Harrison, E. W. Richford, Eev. R. F. Bevan, Rev. Canon Galpin, R. Borrowman, R. E. Davis, Miss E. May, Miss L. Jones, North J. Hone, N. B. Warde, Col. G. F. A. Smythe, Rev. C. L. Feltoe, D.D., and Col. H. C. Norris. PROCEEDINGS, 1910. lvii The {alterations in the Rules, of which due notice had been given to the members, were proposed by Lord Northboume and unanimously agreed to, with the following addition proposed by the Eev. C. E. Woodruff: In Rule 2, between "The" and " property " read " funds, securities, and." On the proposition of the President Mr. Monckton was elected a Trustee in the place of the late Right Hon. J. G. Talbot. Lord Northboume promised that the suggestion of Mr. Boulter that the Annual Meeting should not be held on a Friday would be considered by the Council. With this terminated the business of the meeting, and the President then gave his Inaugural Address. Before luncheon the members inspected St. Clement's Church, which was fully described by the Vicar, the Rev. A. M. Chichester. The Rev. G. M. Livett called attention to graphides of a bird and a man roughly incised upon the piers of the tower, and pointed out their similarity to those in the crypts of Canterbury and Rochester Cathedrals. Luncheon having been partaken of at the Bell Hotel the members proceeded to St. Peter's Church, where they were met by the Vicar, the Rev. B. Roscow, and the architectural features were described by the Eev. G. M. Livett. From St. Peter's Church the party passed on to St. Mary's, where the Vicar, the Eev. A M. Chichester, again acted as cicerone. " The Old House " in Strand Street, by the courtesy of T. A. Macmeikan, Esq., was next visited, where the fine panelling and Tudor fireplaces were much admired. The members then drove to Eichborough Castle, where they inspected the Eoman walls and the cruciform foundations within their area, which had been excavated in their entirety for the visit of the Society, and Papers, prepared respectively by Mr. St. John Hope and Mr. Livett, were read. Mr. Hope's Paper, which, in the absence of the writer, was read by Lord Northboume, was as follows :— So many theories have been put forth as to the meaning of the cruciform block, with its concrete platform and substructure, which occupies the middle of the Roman fort at Richborough, that it is difficult to induce people even to think of it from the cold-blooded view of common sense. And it is quite safe to say that the more fanciful and imaginative the theory the less likely is it to be one deserving of consideration. lviii PROCEEDINGS, 1910. In view of this present Meeting some excavations have lately been made under the direction of Mr. Herbert Jones and myself from 5th to 13th July which enable you to see what are the features under discussion. In the first place there is the cruciform construction, consisting of two longer and narrow sections 7i feet wide, meeting on either side of the middle of a shorter and much broader cross piece, which is 22 feet wide and 47 feet long. The length of the whole from north to south is 87 feet. What is left to us stands about 4 | feet high, and is clearly a solid mass of concrete which was originally higher. The once vertical sides have been much injured, partly through people trying to tunnel into the mass, but partly from exposure to the frost and other vicissitudes of our climate. It is difficult now to realize Mr. Dowker's statement that the ends and the inner angles had dressings of tufa blocks, but some fragments are still embedded in the ends. The cross, which can now be examined all round, stands symmetrically upon an oblong platform of concrete, 124 feet long from north to south and 80 feet wide from east to west, and five feet in thickness. Part of the north-east quarter has been completely cleared, from its vertical edge to the cross in the middle, and at the outer angle the original surface of smoothed concrete with fine gravel embedded, can plainly be seen and examined. On the same cleared space may be seen part of the foundation of a wall, which was traced throughout its course by Mr. Dowker and found to extend parallel with the edge of the platform all along it at some 15 or 16 feet within it. Just outside each of the angles of the walled enclosure Mr. Dowker also found a small rectangular hole, apparently for a wooden post. I have had opened out the north-east and the south- east openings for your inspection. They are carried right through the concrete platform. By visiting the so-called subterranean passage, which has only been formed during the last 70 years, and half of it only 40 years, a view can be obtained of the great concrete substructure of the cruciform mass and platform. This has been built into a hole excavated for it in the sand of which the Richborough hill consists, and has been followed downwards for quite 30 feet from the present level without reaching the bottom. Notwithstanding opinions to the contrary I do not think there can be any question that this substructure is other than a solid mass of concrete, and several attempts to prove the contrary hf tunnelling in,to it have all ended iu failure. . . "> PROCEEDINGS, 1910. lix After careful consideration of the question from all sides I do not see how we can get away from an acceptance of the ingenious and simple suggestion as to the purpose of this mysterious construction which was put forth by the late Mr. Godfrey-Faussett in an editorial footnote to the account of Mr. Dowker's investigations in Vol. VIII. of Archceologia Cantiana. After contending that so huge a concrete foundation was probably intended to carry some large superstructure which was never actually built, Mr. Faussett says :— " The smaller portions of the wall remains, viz., of the wall which probably formed a complete rectangular enclosure upon the platform, are built so exactly and regularly at a short distance within that part of it which is not mere platform, 5 feet deep, but huge solid foundation, perhaps 30 feet deep, that we may conclude them to have been certainly built with knowledge of, and with reference to, the position and intention of the great substructure. [The masonry of the wall] is clearly Roman, with its red mortar and its course of binding tiles ; and so is that of the broader wall of cruciform shape in the centre. May we not suppose these to have formed part of some temporary or substitutional building raised in lieu of the original colossal design? The cruciform remains have always puzzled investigators ; their broadest part is too narrow to have formed the foundation of any building containing chambers, but so wide that we may well believe the solid stone wall which must have formed its upward continuation to have been of very considerable height. As a clue, perhaps not unworthy of consideration, I would suggest that this building may have formed a sort of internal buttress or support to a timber pharos built around it, as wooden houses are at this day built around and supported by their stack of chimneys in the centre. A cruciform shape would be the very form best calculated for stability in itself when raised to a great height, and for support to the timbers surrounding it. No one who has seen a Canadian town after a fire can have failed to be struck with the curious effect of these central chimneys standing tall and alone above the ashes of the wooden buildings; and in this state let us imagine the watch tower of Richborough to have been left by the first Saxon attack after Roman departure. The tall masonry also would not be long in reaching its present level." To this ingenious idea of Mr. Faussett I would Hke to add one further remark, that if, as he suggests, the cruciform mass was the lx PROCEEDINGS, 1910. core of a lighthouse or signalling tower, the heavy concrete substructure which is united to it would serve to steady it in a gale, much as the centreboard of a yacht stiffens it in a breeze. My old friend and co-worker at Silchester and elsewhere, the late Mr. George E. Fox, one of the souudest and most learned Eoman antiquaries we have ever had, was strongly in favour of Mr. Faussett's lighthouse theory, and iu an admirable Paper on the Roman Coast Fortresses of Kent communicated by him to the Eoyal Archseological Institute at its Canterbury Meeting in 1896 he adduced strong reasons for the erection of a pharos at Butupice. After pointing out the relative positions oiBegulbium (Eeculver) at the northern and of Butupice (Eichborough) at the southern end of the strait between Thanet and Kent, through which all the shipping into and from the Thames passed in Eoman times, he says:— " As the crow flies the two stations were something over eight miles apart. Under ordinary conditions so trifling a distance would have offered no difficulties of communication between them; but in the Eoman period there were insuperable obstacles to direct intercourse, for the marshy estuaries of the greater and lesser Stour falling into the strait intervened between the two stations. They could therefore only communicate with each other by the circuitous route vid Canterbury, or by water by means of the strait itself, probably not practicable in all conditions of the tide. It will thus be seen how important any means of signalling would become, and there is therefore some reason for supposing that a tower at Richborough may have been erected for this purpose as well as to serve as a lighthouse. By means of signals news of pirate fleets in the estuary of the Thames could be conveyed from Eeculver to Eichborough, from which station the coasts further south could be alarmed, and the headquarters of the British fleet at Gessoriacun (Boulogne) could be communicated with, if need were, by way of Dover." I may add that Mr. Fox was, like myself, strongly opposed to any such ridiculous idea as that the concrete substructure of the cruciform mass contained anything in the way of a chamber or chambers, or was otherwise than solid throughout. There is one further point in connection with the cross and its platform and base which ought to be cleared up. From time to time, and notably in the excavations carried out within the fort ten PROCEEDINGS, 1910. lxi years ago by Mr. John Garstang as well as in my own recent diggings, there have been discovered in the earth overlying the platform a good many pieces of white marble fluted pilasters, and of steps and wall linings of the same foreign material. This is so rarely met with in Eoman buildings in Britain that its discovery in a mere coast fortress is particularly noteworthy. The pilasters are worked out of very thin pieces of marble, and have clearly been built as casings to brick or concrete circular or semicircular cores. No traces of these, however, have come to light, and it is difficult to imagine where or for what purpose the marble work was set up. I t is also curious to notice that the surface of the pilasters is in no case smoothed off or polished, but merely dressed to an even face with such a class tool as was used here in the thirteenth century and later. Possibly a more extended search, such as would be effected by clearing the rest of the concrete platform and trenching closely the ground immediately surrounding it, might bring to light more important and enlightening fragments than have so far been discovered, and it rests with the Society after its visit to Eichborough to decide whether anything further in this direction shall be done. The following Paper was then read by the Eev. G. M. Livett, F.S.A. :— Assembled beneath the walls of the ancient Butupise, whose massive structure has defied the ravages of the barbarians and withstood for fifteen centuries the assaults of the elements, we are reminded of the Eoman rule in Britain, and of the great changes which have taken place since the marshes, now surrounding this castrum, were filled with the waters of the Wantsum, on which floated the fleet of the Comes Littoris Saxonici. Doubtless these shallow waters of the Eutupian shore afforded safe and commodious harbours ; and Butupiae must have been a port of the first importance from the beginning of the Roman occupation. I propose to consider five points in connection with this ancient Eoman settlement:— 1. Was Butupice more than a port ? Was it also a town ? 2. At what period were the present walls constructed ? 3. Were there any defensive walls before the present ones ? or did the subterranean structure exist before these waUs were built ? lxii •PROCEEDINGS, 1910. 4. What is the date and what was the purpose of the Cross erected on the platform ? 5. What were the walls, of which fragments are found resting on the platform and surrounding the Cross ? For answer to our first question Butupice is mentioned by Ptolemy the geographer, who lived in the first half of the second century, as one of the three towns of the Cantii. In the Itinerary of Antonimus Butupice is called a port or haven. In the Notitia, written about A.D. 450, we find that the second Legion called Augusta was located at Butupice. Very few inscriptions have been found at Richborough, but a large number of coins, principally of late date—out of several hundred only five are earlier than the third century, and the series continues up to the time of Honorius A.D. 423. A few minimi of pre-Saxon times have also been found. These go to prove a prolonged occupation of Richborough, and there is little doubt that as a port it must have existed from an early period. 2. The present walls of Richborough seem especially designed to repel such sudden attack as might have been expected from the Saxon pirates. The walls were probably 30 feet high and 12 feet broad, thus not easily scaled. The Decuman or principal gate was of massive construction, the walls on either side sloping in towards the entrance, so that the defenders might observe the enemy on either side. The corners of tlie castrum were flanked by round towers, which doubtless commanded a view of the surrounding country, besides serving to defend the walls. There were also pairs of rectangular towers on the outside of each wall. The postern gate was especially designed to resist a sudden attack, and at the same time give the garrison an easy sallying point towards the sea. On the east side of the castrum Mr. Boys thought he could trace a wall flanking that side, which he has represented in his plan as below the cliff near the river, and during the construction of the South-Eastern Railway near this spot portions of the wall were met with, and another large mass 156 feet in length lies in the bed of the river. The walls therefore quite encircled the castrum, and on the eastern side they may have been below the cliff. That the sea did not cover this ground is evident from the fact that during the construction of the railway the foundations of a house were met with at the same level towards the south east, Tb§ castrum PROCEEDINGS, 1910. Ixiii appears to have been built at one time and uniformly of the same materials throughout, viz.: flint stones and chalk blocks, Portland stone with regular courses of Roman tiles laid in a mortar of lime, grit, and coarsely broken tiles. Mr. Dowker has suggested that the wall on the east side may also have enclosed a harbour to protect the fleet. 3. It has also been suggested that the present walls of the castrum occupy the place of an entrenched camp, and that the whole of Richborough island may have been previously occupied as a town and port, as the amphitheatre, the roads, streets, and coins, as well as the historical notices testify. The passage from Gaul to Britain must, from the nature of the tidal currents, have run diagonally across the Straits of Dover. At the eastern extremity was Butupice, at the western Portus Lemanis. With regard to this latter we have the important fact "that its walls had been built of material derived from a more ancient building, for inscribed tiles and an altar with an inscription shewing that it was dedicated to Aufidius Pantera, Prefect of the British Fleet, were built into the walls, and from the fact that the altar was covered with barnacles, it is evident that it had been moved from some building overwhelmed by the sea. The Portus Lemanis therefore in all probability dated anterior to the present castrum at Lymne. In like manner the Portus Butupinus may date earlier than the fort of the Littus Saxonicum. Richborough, as the most important station and more exposed to the attack of a naval force landing in Britain, may have been the first of these structures. I will now discuss the extraordinary mass of masonry within the walls, which has been usually described as the platform. It is 144 feet long, 104 feet wide, and 5 feet thick. It is not in the centre of the castrum but nearer the north-east. It is the position in which we should expect to find the Prcetorium, for the Decuman gate is more towards the north wall than the south, and the road from it would cut through the platform ; the road from the south entrance intersecting that from the west would mark the place of the Prcetorium. The Rev. G. R. Gleig many years ago, in tracing a cave that existed in the face of the sand cliff (also described by Leland), came upon the foundations of this platform at a depth of 30 feet, and from the excavations undertaken by the late Mr. Bolfe, and our Society, the stupendous nature of the substructure has been revealed. This platform, 144 feet long by 104 feet wide and 5 feet thick, reste pn and subtends other foundations 10 feet thick in one lxiv PROCEEDINGS, 1910. direction and 12 feet in the other, so that the deeper foundations are 132 feet by 94 feet, and of unknown depth, and the whole of this mass is built of flint stones, and mortar of wonderful tenacity without the least admixture of other materials, differing in this respect from the walls of the castrum, which have chalk and other materials, and pounded tile in the mortar. At each corner of the deeper structure are holes about 4 inches square, into which wood had been introduced, and the whole platform is covered entirely with a stratum of mortar and fine gravel. 4. Mr. Boys, the historian of Sandwich, uncovered the platform in 1792. He also dug round the cross and discovered its dimensions. It is situated in the centre of the platform, above which it rises 4 feet 6 inches at its south-east corner; it is 87 feet long from north to south, with a width of 7 feet 6 inches; transversely, east to west, 47 feet long and 22 feet wide. The longer arms run 35° east of north. Its masonry is composed of Kentish rag, oolite, tufa, and flint boulders, cemented with a concrete made of lime, broken tile, coarse sand, and grit, very similar to that in the outer wall of the castrum. Though resting on the platform the cross does not form part of it, but is laid on a foundation consisting of blocks of chalk and a layer of Kentish rag, broken very fine without mortar, this again resting on a layer of sand or gravel, which covers the entire face of the platform. 5. Starting from corners about 5 feet inwards from the northwest, and north-east holes through the platform, and then running parallel with its sides, have been found the remains of a wall, which may perhaps have been carried round its entire circuit. It is 3 feet 6 inches in height. It extends 26 feet southwards down the west side, with two more detached portions nearer the south end of this side. Along the north side it extends 12 feet eastwards from the north-western corner, and 30 feet westwards from the north-eastern, having apparently been demolished at the interval, and again down the east side southwards 14 feet. It is built of boulders (those on the outside squared) imbedded in mortar composed of lime, grit, and broken tile, but containing more sand than other mortar at Richborough, and easily crumbled in the fingers. I t stands, like the cross, not immediately on the platform, but on a layer of intervening sand. On the outer side of this wall, at all distances up to 10 yards from it, have been found architectural fragments of white marble, moulded shells for columns and pilasters, slabs for pavements and facings, and straight inpuldings for PROCEEDINGS, 1910. lxV base and cornice, even ornamental carvings and embellishments. In one place on the eastern side a piece of marble pavement, between the low wall and the edge of the concrete, was found in situ. All sorts of theories have been started in explanation of this marvellous structure. Mr. Boys suggested that it is the foundation of a lofty sea-mark to direct the mariner, or a cross to solicit his devotion. Mr. T. Godfrey-Faussett was of opinion that the Comes Littoris Saxonici designed to erect here within the camp a pharos or a watch tower of usual height, and mistrusting the sand of Richborough hill took the elaborate and thoroughly Roman step of digging it out for the required area. The Rev. Prebendary Scarth, in a Paper read before the Royal Archseological Institute at Canterbury in 1875, stated that he was inclined to think that the cross was intended to support a wooden superstructure, and quoted an instance of a similar cross within a fortified parallelogram at Banwell in Somersetshire, outside the Roman station. Mr. Roach Smith regarded the masonry of the platform and substructure as forming an underground building designed for great strength and solidity, which may have been an arsenal for arms or stores, and into which some entrance may be found. I think archaeologists are agreed that the platform and substructure have nothing to do with the cruciform structure subsequently erected on it, or with the walls, which are probably of a later date. Mr. Dowker concluded that these walls were the remains of a church or chapel noticed by Leland, and suggested that the platform and masonry below were constructed for the purposes of the fleet and harbour, that they were intended to carry and hold a strong fulcrum of Roman machinery for drawing up the ships within an extended camp, to protect them from the enemy, or for repairs or building, and that a large square mass of masonry, discovered by Mr. Gleig on the eastern face of the platform, was intended to facilitate this. The holes in the corners of the platform had wooden posts; the central part may have been left for a cavity for a capstan of large dimensions. At a subsequent period of the Roman occupation this platform had been utilized for the foundation of the temple and praetorium, and the walls of the castrum made to coincide with this, the harbour being enclosed by return walls. The Temple included a cruciform raised floor, perhaps with steps towards the centre. At this period foreign materials, oolite, and marble were used. Finally a Romanesque or Saxon Churph was built, enclosing the cruciform base, yon. xxix, e lxvi PROCEEDINGS, 1910. and built with Roman materials. It is worthy of notice that many of the Roman castra contain a Christian Church. In Kent we have the Church of Reculver, formerly the Prcetorium, within the walls of the castrum; at Dover a Church of a very early date, and built of Roman materials, occupies a similar position. We know that a church existed at Richborough, for Leland in his Itinerary writes: " Within ye castel is a little paroche church of St. Augustine, and an hermitage (I had antiquities of the heremite, the which was an industrious man), not far from the hermitage is a cave where men have sowt and digged for treasure. I saw yt by candel withyn and there were conys, yt was so straite that I had no mynd to crepe far yn." Mr. Roach Smith, in his History of Bichborough, however, states that "the popular notion that the cruciform foundation upon the platform is the base of a cross need scarcely be refuted, and the opinion that it may have supported a Pharos is equally untenable. There is more weight in the supposition that it may have been the site of a small chapel, especially as there is evidence of the existence of one within the castrum, at a period not very remote. But the materials incline us to attribute it to the Roman times, whatever may have been its use, and on the eastern side, towards the cliff, are, or recently were, the vestiges of walls, certainly of mediseval date, which may be considered as the remains of the chapel." I will only mention in conclusion that the wall towers of the castrum are octangular in form, while the corner towers are round, and that both are external. The whole enclosure is of rectangular form, 600 feet by 450 feet, with an area of just over 6 acres. In plan and size Richborough is conformable with twenty-two other large forts in the country, and its lower sea wall is uniform with others on the sea coast. But the peculiarity of its defences, the external towers, the paucity of stone cut inscriptions, and the preponderance of coins of the declining years of the Roman Empire, all point to a date not far from the latter part of the third century. The Annual Dinner was served at the Bell Hotel, at which Lord Northboume presided. After the usual loyal toasts had been proposed by the President, the Rev. C. E. Woodruff proposed the toast of "Prosperity to the Kent Archseological. Society," which he coupled with, the panics, of Lord Northboume and t^e Eev. W, PROCEEDINGS, 1910. Ixvii Gardner-Waterman, the acting Hon. Secretary, whose services to the Society he highly eulogised. The noble President replied, and then proposed " The health of the Mayor and Corporation of Sandwich and the members of the Local Committee," to whose energetic co-operation the Society owed much. The Mayor of Sandwich acknowledged the compliment. In the evening the members assembled in the Town Hall, where a very interesting Paper on " The home life of the Benedictines " was read by Mrs. Aubrey Waterfield, who thus had the honour of being the first lady to read a Paper before the Society. Mrs. Waterfield was followed by Mr. J. A. Jacobs, who dealt with the ancient records of the town and port of Sandwich. Friday's proceedings commenced with a visit to the beautiful thirteenth-century chapel attached to the hospital of St. Bartholomew, outside the town walls, and the Chaplain (Eev. 0. D. Bruce Payne) gave a particularly lucid description of the building and its history. Eastry Church was next visited, the members being received by the Vicar, the Eev. C. D. Dampen, who read the following Paper:— I t is only possible in a brief Paper to give a slight sketch of the points of interest in this remarkable Church, so closely knit as it is with the beginnings of English history and with the royal line of our kings. A large volume setting forth the history of the parish, with much concerning the Church, was published by my predecessor, Dr. W. F. Shaw, in 1870, but during the subsequent forty years our knowledge has continued to accumulate, and there is now enough material at hand for a more complete work. First, as regards the history of this village, formerly a royal city, burgh, or ville. The origin of the name Eastry has been variously interpreted. Lambarde thinks it may have been so called to distinguish it from West-Eye, now Eye, in Sussex. The more probable derivation of the name is that our Saxon forefathers, on their arrival in the year 477, erected on this spot a temple to Eastre, the goddess of Spring, from which name we also derive the title of our Spring feast, Easter, just as the neighbouring Woodnesborough is Wodensbourg, the bourg of Woden, the god of war. But this is not the beginning of our history. Upwards of 400 years earlier the conquering Eomans had made a road from Dover to Eichborough, which passed through Eastry, at that time a, clearing in the woods, e % lxviii PROCEEDINGS, 1910. and many interesting remains, from a Eoman burying-place, have been found in and near the village. In the dim and misty past, when Sandwich, if it then existed at all, consisted merely of a few mud huts, Eastry had grown to be an important town. This, no doubt, was caused by the fact that the local chieftains, dignified by the title of kings of Kent, resided here for at least a portion of each year in the royal palace, which perhaps we may identify with Eastry Court, which adjoins the Church. It was probably at Eastry, and not on the shores of Thanet, that Ethelbert, the fifth King of Kent, and his Queen Bertha met the Eoman monk Augustine. For we learn from our proto-historian Bede that Augustine "crossed over the water," i.e., over the estuary and marshes between Thanet and the mainland, for the King and his court would naturally be coming to the royal palace at Eastry, and not to Thanet. It was at Eastry Palace, in the time of King Egbert (664), that the Saxon Princes Ethelbert and Etheldred were murdered. It is here that their ghosts have frequently appeared, of which a full account appears in the chronicle of Simon of Durham. For upwards of 400 years Eastry remained a royal town. But in 979, when Dunstan was Archbishop, a great change came, for the King, our first Edward, called " the martyr," made over to the prior and monks of the Cathedral of Christ at Canterbury his palace and manor in Eastry. The following is a translation from the words of his charter (the original is quoted by Dugdale) : " In the year of Our Lord's Incarnation 979, I, Ethelred, King, Monarch of all Britain, for the safety of my soul, give to Christ's Church, Canterbury, the Lands of My Eight, to wit, in Sandwich and Estree, to the use of the monks serving God in the same Church, free from all secular service and taxes. Whosoever shall presume to violate this My bountiful munificence let him be placed with the wicked in the day of judgment at the left hand of Christ, and receive the sentence of damnation with the Devil and his angels." It was on November 2nd, 1164, being All Souls' Day, that Thomas Becket, A.rchbishop of Canterbury, disguised as a monk, came to his favourite country house, the Court at Eastry, as he fled from Northampton. Here he remained in concealment for a full week, before embarking at Sandwich for his six years' exile from his country and See. From the secret chamber in the adjoining court the Archbishop entered Eastry Church and blessed the people assembled fa bear ]Mfass. The " Pilgrim's Way," which skirts PROCEEDINGS, i9io. lxix Eastry, still reminds us of the days which succeeded Becket's murder. Nor was Becket the only ecclesiastic of eminence whose career was connected with Eastry. In 1287 the monk Henry of Eastry, " a native of this our parish," as Shaw puts it, was elected to the exalted position of Prior of the monastery of Christ's Church, Canterbury. His work there is well known. At Eastry he restored the private Chapel in the adjoining court. It is' now used as a kitchen, and the stone altar-slab is said to be concealed in the roof. He died at the age of 92. Speaking of monks reminds me that I must not forget to mention the three ecclesiastical houses in this parish—the Eectory, the Vicarage, and the Parsonage, all still existing. The Eectors and owners of the Greater Tithes, as I have said, were the Prior and monks, now the Dean and Chapter. Their Eectory is the former King's seat, Eastry Court. The Parsonage, until the Eeformation, was the abode of the almoner, and perhaps of some of the chaplains. The Vicarage was first assigned to the use of a secular priest in 1367. The Vicar is now Chaplain to the Eectors, the Dean and Chapter. And now to speak more particularly about the Church. As I have said, this building is probably the third on the present site. The first, or Saxon building, may even have been erected originally as the Temple of Eastre nearly a century before Augustine arrived on this spot. Undoubtedly, as Shaw says, the Church of Eastry had a royal foundation. When that Church disappeared a second Church was erected, about the end of the eleventh century; the west doorway is of this period. We may surmise that it was by the exertions of the Prior and monks of Canterbury that the second Church was demolished and the present one built. The first parish priest of Eastry of whom we have a, fixed date was a certain John Bacon, who resigned his benefice in 1288. Time does not permit me fo do more than to point out certain salient features of the present building. To begin with the Tower. I t is peculiar in being supported on three arches. The north tower aisle had formerly a floor dividing it into two stories, being anciently used as the lodging of one of the chaplains. There is good architectural detail in the arch of the buttress which divides it eastwards from the north aisle. The similar portion on the south of the tower was blocked up by brick-work about the sixteenth century, to strengthen the buttress on that side. The nave Ixx PROCEEDINGS, 1910. is of the early English period. At the east end of either aisle there were formerly chapels—on the north that of the Holy Trinity, and on the south that of St. John the Baptist. These were the parochial altars. The piscinas remain. In 1512, at the Visitation of Archbishop Wareham, the rood-loft and screen " lacked great reparation." Alas ! the Vicar and churchwardens destroyed them, as also, at a later period, they destroyed the oak Misericord stalls in the chancel. The low chancel arch is remarkable, and before the screen was removed the chancel was almost entirely divided from the nave. It is said to have been used as a private chapel by the Eectors, the Prior and Chapter of Christ Church, Canterbury. Under the high altar, " the Altar of Jesus " as it was called, there formerly existed a crypt, named the chapel of St. Mary the Virgin, which seems to have been entered by a separate staircase from the churchyard. It is my hope to explore the said chapel when funds permit. A sum of £5,000 has been spent on the Church since 1870. There are remains of frescoes on the west side of the chancel arch, as well as on the east and north walls of the chancel. The objects which strike every eye are the rows of medallions over the chancel arch, discovered when the thick coats of white-wash were scraped off walls and pillars. The two lower rows were revealed forty years ago on the removal of framed canvases on which the Decalogue was painted. Strangely enough the bottom row was afterwards again covered up. Seven years ago the three upper rows were disclosed. They were covered by thick successive coats of lime-wash, over which, at one time, had been painted stars on a blue ground. The subjects from north to south are a lion, a griffin, two doves feeding upon a bunch of grapes, in the centre a conventional lily, two birds again, a lion as number one, and a griffin as number two. The colours are dark brown, red, and yellow, on a buff ground, and they seem to have been painted on the original plaster when it was wet. Possibly this may have been the background of the rood, and the rood-beam may have been placed on brackets, the stumps of which we found in 1903. In this case the rood would not rest upon the screen. The present fine chancel roof was at the same time disclosed by the removal of the plaster ceiling, as were also the rafters over the north and south aisles. The nave was re-roofed and restored to its original height in 1869, the pitch having been lowered in 1687. Contrary to what is usual, the line of the chancel inclines PROCEEDINGS, i9io. Ixxi towards the north instead of the south. There is a carved female head and bust outside the priest's door in the south chancel wall; it may be a figure of the Virgin. The aumbry on the north side is interesting; over it is carved the head of a bishop wearing a mitre. On the south wall of the sanctuary is a recess in which the carving is much hacked away "by axes and hammers." It may have contained a crucifix. During structural alterations forty years ago a portion of a black velvet vestment, on which is some fine needlework, was found. The registers date from 1559. Many interesting details are to be gathered from them. John Orgraver, who became Vicar in 1542, retained his benefice throughout the Eeformation changes, a remarkable proof that no new Church was founded by Henry VIII. During the Commonwealth Nicholas Brett, who was not in Holy Orders, was intruded into the Vicarage in 1653. What became of him when John Whiston, a priest, was appointed at the time of the Bestoration, is not known. A lay-registrar was appointed by the Vestry in Brett's time. There is a curious entry in the days of Vicar Cressener, who came in 1698, and was here nearly fifty years. He writes: " Astley Cressener, Vicar, Inducted by ye Eeved. Mr. Tho. Mander Dec. 11, 1698 among the savages of Eastry, who us'd my Good Predecessour almost as 111 as my Self, but Death in a little Time gave him a Happy Deliverance." This vicar presented to the Church its paten and handsome flagon of silver in 1718. The total weight of the silver is 106 ozs. troy. Lastly I must draw attention to the Dominical Circle on the octagonal pillar, of which an account was printed in the Archceological Journal just forty years ago by Mr. W. S. Walford. The Sunday Letters within the Circle are carved in Lombardic capitals of the date of, say, 1325. The whole is a highly interesting specimen of a fourteenth-century parish almanac. The safe in which the registers are kept may be Jacobean; its exact date is unknown. I shall be glad if the members of this learned Society can throw light on the following points :— 1. The symbolical meaning of the pictorial designs over the chancel arch ; for instance, why is a griffin depicted ? 2. • What is the date of the stonework of the Aumbry in the north wall of the sanctuary ? I x x i i PROCEEDINGS, 1910. 3. What is the reason for the replacing of a round pillar by an octagonal one on the south side of the nave ? 4. Is the niche in the wall of the north aisle near the organ a Reliquary, as Archbishop Benson surmised (he visited this Church six weeks before his death), or is it a very small Easter Sepulchre ? Leaving Eastry the party drove to Betteshanger Park, the seat of the President, where Lord Northboume was waiting to give the members a welcome and to entertain them to a hospitable luncheon. In the afternoon the beautiful little Church, with its many memorials of the Boys family, was visited and described by the Rector, Rev. Canon Bliss. Before leaving Betteshanger Mr. F. F. Giraud voiced the cordial thanks of the members to their President for his hospitality, and his Lordship acknowledged the compliment. Northboume Church was next visited, where the Rector, Rev. W. C. Thomas, gave an able description of this interesting late-Norman structure. The members then adjourned to Northboume Court, where the large party were hospitably entertained to tea in the beautiful gardens by Mr. and Mrs. Aubrey Waterfield. A visit to Woodnesborough Church on the way back to Sandwich, which was upon the programme, had to be omitted through lack of time, but the Paper prepared by the Vicar, the Eev. F. Savage, is printed below:— This Church, dedicated to St. Mary the Blessed Virgin, was built in 1180 by a pious lady, Ascellina de Wodenberghe, and attached to the Priory of Ledes. I believe that that date is borne out by the bases of the columns on the north side of the nave. The columns themselves have been restored at some previous time, and one old section (I presume of Kentish rag) can be seen outside the west door, one or two others being built into the wall of the south aisle, and are visible outside. Evident also are fragments of two small lancet windows which lighted this south aisle, being quite low down, no doubt on account of the roof of the nave being carried down to form the roof of the aisle. The east end of the south aisle was used probably as the Lady Chapel; at all events there was an altar, and the piscina and a small aumbrey opposite are in situ. In this south aisle, on the south side of the westernmost pier, there is a small piece of Norman string-course. Mr. Caroe conjectured that there might have been a small and earlier church there. On these square niers may be seen many interesting pilgrims' marks. PROCEEDINGS, 1§10. Ixxiii Going towards the chancel and close to the present reading desk there is an indication of steps, perhaps to a rood-loft. In the chancel one is struck by the beauty of the sedilia, date about 1350, with its delightful columns and delicately-carved caps and groined canopy. The structure, very beautiful in detail and wonderfully well preserved, is well worth a close inspection. On the inside wall is a small brass to the memory of John Parcar, vicar, 1513, and also one to a member of the Spencer family. The line " Vir pietate gravis, vir gravitate pius " always strikes me as being particularly pleasing and euphonious. In the wall opposite and close by the priest's door can be seen the end of a moulded beam, probably a candle beam. There may have been originally a triple light in the east wall, for there appear to be indications of the apex of a central light above the centre of the present window. The shafts which form the corner of the opening with the east wall seem to be of an earlier date than the tracery of the window. The aumbrey in the east wall, which is divided into four compartments, is somewhat unusual. It was discovered underneath the plaster on the restoration of the nave some years back. The roof of the Church was ceiled inside before that restoration. A good idea of the interior may be gained from the water-colour drawing taken about 1882. The picturesque tower and superstructure deserve attention. The west door and also the noble arch leading into the nave are quite early-English. The capitals of the shafts have been carved in accordance with a fragment that was fortunately in existence, though much time-worn. The windows above are of course a later insertion. The small pointed windows in the second story on the north and south sides had square heads before 1884, which heads were formed by the cut-away sides of the two round-headed stones now close to the sundial in the churchyard. I should be glad to know what these stones were. It has been suggested that they are gable crosses, but others have held a different idea. We come then to several courses of bricks on the top of flint and rubble work. Originally the steeple carried a tall shingle spire, and this getting into bad repair was pulled down. Such a prominent object was made use of as a landmark for vessels entering Bamsgate Harbour or Pegwell Bay, I believe, and when the spire was pulled down the tower was heightened by the addition of the building material of that day, and surmounted by the picturesque cupola and balustrade, and used as a landmark, l x x i v PROCEEDINGS, 1910. though now that has ceased to be. Mr. John Scott, when he saw the tower, said: " This is most charming and almost unique," so that in the restoration which has just been completed the lines of the old work were faithfully reproduced, and all old material used again if it were possible. There was in 18S3 a very ugly brick porch on the north side of the Church, with the date 1720 on the keystone of the arch. On the brick buttress built against the south wall of the Church the date 1745 is inscribed, so probably it was about this period that the spire was taken down. I have never been able to come across any print or picture of the tower with the spire, and should be grateful for any information on that point. I do not profess any archseological knowledge, so am quite open to correction in any of the points that I have mentioned. I trust that the members of the Society may be pleased with their short visit to this ancient village of Woden worship. September 8th, 1910.—The Council met at the Bridge Wardens' Chamber, Eochester, the members being entertained to luncheon previously by Mr. A. A. Arnold. Seven members present, Mr. A. A. Arnold in the chair. The question of the Otway sword and the leaden seal, postponed from the last Council meeting, was considered, and it was decided to return the sword on the Bev. Hyla Holden undertaking to replace it in the Church of Smarden under a faculty. The Council thought that the seal was suitably placed in the Society's Museum, but would be pleased to permit Mr. Holden to take a cast of the same. The Society of Antiquaries not having made a grant towards the excavations at Eichborough the Society bore the entire cost, amounting to £30 13s. 3d., of the work done previous to the Sandwich meeting. The Hon. Secretary reported the death of Earl Amherst, one of the Trustees of the Society. The Hon. Secretary to send the usual letters of thanks in connection with the Annual Meeting. The following were elected Ordinary Members: Dr. W. B. Brunton, F. 0. S. Parker, Cararichael Thomas, Bev. J. Eveleigh Woodruff, and Mrs. Pearman. PROCEEDINGS, I&IO-IL lxxv December 8th, 1910.—The Council met in the Library of Canterbury Cathedral. Eleven members were present, Lord Northboume in the chair. Mr. St. John Hope wrote asking what was proposed to be done at Eichborough in the future, in reply to which the Secretary was directed to state that while the Council were fully prepared to expend the balance of the £50 originally voted towards excavations at Eichborough, they felt that in this case at least an equal sum, £50, should be contributed by the Society of Antiquaries. The Eev. Hyla Holden wrote expressing the thanks of himself and the Churchwardens of Smarden to the Council for " their gracious act" in returning the Otway sword to be replaced in the Church, and at the same time assuring them that every care would be taken in future to retain it in its original place. It was decided that the next Annual Meeting should be held at Greenwich. The members of the Publication Committee, having met previous to this meeting, reported that at present there were no records ready for publication. I t was decided, as last year, to have an Evening Meeting at Maidstone on the day of the meeting of the Council in March. The following were elected Ordinary Members: E. T. Clark, G. Hewitt, Eev. C. D. Dampen, J. Ward, Miss Hart Dyke, C. W. Bowles, Bev. L. P. Craufurd, Eev. B. W. Galpin, and Mrs. E. Scott. On March 9th, 1911, a Meeting of the members was held at the Museum, Maidstone, when a large number assembled in the Bentlif Gallery to hear Sir Martin Conway's historical sketch of Allington Castle, a description of the excavations recently conducted by the Woolwich Antiquarian Society at Lesnes Abbey, by Mr. F. C. Eliiston-Erwood, and Papers by Mr. Arthur Barton on " The Hall of the Corpus Christi Fraternity in Earl Street, Maidstone," and the Eev. W". Gardner-Waterman on " Dode Church."