Frindsbury - Cliffe History

SOUTHWARD from Cowling lies FRINDS BURY, called in antient charters, Freondesbyri. It was likewise calledÆslingham, alias Frindsbury, from the manor of that name in this parish.

In the castle there is a magazine of powder, for the use of the navy, &c. for the security of which, here is an establishment of a governor, store-keeper, clerk of the cheque, a master-gunner, twelve other gunners, &c. There is likewise an officer's guard of soldiers, on detachment, which, with the rest of the forts on this river, excepting Sheerness, are under the command of the governor of Upnor-castle. One of these is the fort once called The Swamp, now The Birdsnest; but there has not been a gun mounted on it within remembrance, and the embrasures of earth have been long since mouldered away, and over-run with bushes and brambles. Another of them, called Cockhamwood fort, about a mile below on the same side the Medway, is yet to be seen; but with all the guns dismounted, and thrown by on the ground, the shot, &c. lying in the master-gunner's house just by, which, as well as the fort, is become very ruinous. The gift of the master-gunner's place, usually some invalid, is in the master-general of the ordnance; besides whom there is a quarter-gunner belonging to this fort.

Hooness-fort, commonly called The Folly, is situated still lower down on the same side the river, where there are no guns mounted; but there is a master-gunner from Upnor-castle, who lives at it for a week at a time, a boat being allowed for the transporting each gunner, and his provisions, weekly from Upnor-castle for the service of the navy. As to Gillingham-castle, on the opposite side the river, an account of it will be given in its proper place.

The south tower of Upnor-castle is allowed to the governor for his house, at which, on account of its unsitness for his reception, he never resides; but there are near the castle very good barracks, in which the gunners, soldiers, and officer commanding on the sport, are well accommodated. There is likewise a good storekeeper's house and gardens.

The honorable general James Murray was appointed governor of Upnor-castle in 1775, in the room of major-general William Deane, deceased, and on his preferment, captain William Browne succeeded in 1778, and resigned in 1784, on being appointed lieutenantgovernor of Guernsey. Colonel Jeffry Amherst is the present governor.

In the reign of king Edward I. on occasion of a long drought, the monks of Rochester set out to go in procession to Frindsbury, to pray for rain; but the day appointed proving very windy, they apprehended their lights would be blown out, their banners tossed about, and their order much discomposed; they desired leave therefore of the master of Stroud hospital to pass through the orchard of his house; who thinking it of no consequence, gave leave, without the consent of his brethren. They understanding this, and remembering, that the hospital was of the foundation of Gilbert, sometime bishop of Rochester, whom the monks predecessors had resisted in the erection of it, and fearing these would attempt an injury to their privileges, having hired a company of ribalds, armed with clubs and bats, waylaid them in the orchard, assaulted, beat, and put them to flight. After which though the monks desisted from going that way, yet they obliged the men of Frindsbury to come yearly on Whit-Monday in procession, with their clubs, to Rochester, as a pennance for their crime. Hence came the bye-word of Frindsbury-clubs, and most probably the custom which the boys of Rochester and Strood had, of meeting on Mayday yearly, on the bridge of Rochester with clubs, and there skirmishing with each other. (fn. 1)

This parish ought antiently, with others in this neighbourhood, to have contributed to the repair of the first pier of Rochester-bridge.

These estates were wrested from the church of Rochester in the troublesome times, which soon after followed by reason of the Danish wars. They came afterwards into the possession of Harold, and on the accession of William the Conqueror, were given by him among other estates to Odo, bishop of Baieux, his half brother, but archbishop Lanfranc recovered them again, in the solemn assembly held at Pinenden-health, in 1076, (fn. 3) and afterwards restored them to bishop Gundulph, and the church of St. Andrew; which gift was afterwards confirmed by archbishop Anselm, and by several of his successors, archbishops of Canterbury.

In the general survey of Domesday, Frindsbury is thus described under the title of Terra Epi Rovecestre, i. e. the lands of the bishop of Rochester, as follows:

The same bishop (of Rochester) holds Frandesberie It was taxed in the time of king Edward the Confessor at 10 sulings, and now at seven. The arable land is 15 carucates. In demesne there are 5 carucates, and 40 villeins, with 28 borderers, having 11 carucates. There is a church and 9 servants, and 1 mill of 12 shillings, and 40 acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of 5 bogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth 8 pounds, and now 25 pounds. What Richard held in his lowy was worth 10 shillings.

And a little further in the same survey:

In Rochester the bishop had, and yet has, four and twenty plats of ground, which belong to Frandesberie and Borestale, his own manors. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, they were worth three pounds, now they are worth eight pounds, and yet they yield yearly eleven pounds, and thirteen shillings and four pence.

Gundulph, bishop of Rochester, who was elected to that see in the time of the Conqueror, having after the example of archbishop Lanfranc, divided the revenues of his church between himself and the convent, (fn. 4) allotted the manor of Frindsbury, with its appendages, to the share of the monks, and it was confirmed to the church of Rochester, and the monks there, by king Henry I. king Stephen and king Henry II. and by several archbishops of Canterbury, and bishops of Rochester.

On bishop Gilbert de Glanvill's coming to the see of Rochester in 1185, the bishop claimed this manor, with its appendages, among other premises given to them by bishop Gundulph, as belonging to the maintenance of his table, to which the monks were at last forced to submit. In consequence of which, though he wrested the advowson of the church of Frindsbury from them, yet they continued in possession of the manor, with its appendages, till the dissolution of the priory in the reign of king Henry VIII.

In the 7th year of king Edward I. the bishop of Rochester claimed certain liberties by the grant of king Henry I. in all his lands and fees; and others by antient custom, in the lands of the priory in Frendesberi, as well as in all other lands belonging to the church. All which were then allowed him by the jury. (fn. 5) As they were likewise in the 21st year of that reign, and in the 7th year of king Edward II. to Thomas de Woldham, bishop of Rochester; and they were confirmed by letters of inspeximus, granted by king Edward III. July 13, in his 30th year. (fn. 6)

In the 21st year of the same reign, upon a quo war ranto, the prior of Rochester claimed that he and his predecessors had in the manor of Frendesbery, &c. view of frank-pledge, and all matters belonging to it, from beyond memory; and that these liberties had been used without interruption. All which were allowed by the jury, &c.

King Edward I. by his charter, in his 23d year, granted to the prior and convent of Rochester, freewarren in all their demesne lands of this manor; so that no one should enter on them, either to hunt, or to take any thing which belonged to warren, without the licence and good will of them and their successors, on the forfeiture of ten pounds. (fn. 7)

In the 15th year of king Edward I. this manor, with its appendages, Strode, Chetyndone, and Rede, was taxed at 24l. 6s. 8d. which latter was antiently called La Rede, and in the time of the Saxons Hreodham.

On the dissolution of the priory of Rochester, in the 32d year of king Henry VIII. the manor of Frindsbury, with its appendages, the manors of Chatindon and Rede-court, and other premises in this parish, were surrendered, with the other possessions of it, into the king's hands, who presently after, in his 33d year, settled the manor of Frindsbury and Rede-court, with other premises in this parish, on his new-founded dean and chapter of Rochester, with whom the inheritance of them continue at this time.

The lessee of the manor of Frindsbury is Philip Boghurst, esq. whose father of the same name erected the commodious and substantial court-lodge, situated near the church, and the lessee of the manor of Redecourt is Mr. John Boghurst, of Stroud.

John, bishop of Rochester, about the time of king Stephen, dedicated the chapel of Heslingham in honor of St. Peter, and endowed it with all liberties and customs, which it had from the time of bishop Gundulph, his predecessor, from the gifts made by Hugh de St. Clere and his family, and from the tithes of all his demesnes of the land, which he held of the fee of the bishop of Rochester, at the time the chapel was dedicated, from which lands the monks of the church of Rochester had yearly ten shillings, which were received by those who had the care of the manor of Frindsbury; and the mother church of the manor had likewise yearly thirty sheaves of wheat, thirty of barley, and thirty of oats, on account of the sepulture of the servants, who should die of the family of Hugh before-mentioned, or his heirs; but if the lord of Eselingham, his wife, his son, or his daughter should die, and be brought to the mother church of St. Andrew, although the profits of his chapel should be lessened by it, they should be buried there. And the bishop further granted, that the lord of Eselingham should freely have such chaplain as he thought fit in his house, to maintain at his own table, in like manner as it was known to be in the time of Gundulph, Ralph, Ernulf, and John, bishops of Rochester, and at the time of the dedication.

In the reign of king Edward I. the same John de St. Clere held this manor, as one knight's fee, of the bishop of Rochester. (fn. 8) After which William de Brampton and Alicia de Eselyngham held it, and their heirs paid respective aid for it, as one knight's fee, in the 20th year of king Edward III.

William de Halden died possessed of this manor in the 51st year of that reign. After which it came into the family of Neal, who had good estates about Higham, and from thence into that of Rykeld, or Rikhill, as the name came afterwards to be spelt; one of whom, John Rikhill, held his shrievalty at his manor-house of Eslingham, in the 3d year of king Henry VI. bearing for his arms, gules, two bars argent, between three annulets, or. (fn. 9) His descendant, Thomas Rikhill, alienated it to R. Frogenhall, whose heir passed it away by sale to Audley, and Fisher, and they sold it to Sir Thomas Cromwell, who was afterwards, anno 27 king Henry VIII. for his services in the suppression of the religious houses, created lord Cromwell, of Okeham, in Rutlandshire. He was the son of a blacksmith, at Putney, in Surry, and had been a common soldier under the duke of Bourbon, at the sacking of Rome; on his return home, he was entertained in the service of cardinal Wolsey, to whom he proved so acceptable for his dexterous management of particular matters, which the cardinal had then in hand, that he raised him from obscurity, and paved the way for his attaining those great and eminent dignities and titles he afterwards possessed. In the 23d year of king Henry VIII. which was after the cardinal's disgrace, he was made a privy-counsellor, and master of the jewel-house, the next year clerk of the hanaper, and in the 26th year of king Henry VIII. principal secretary of state, and master of the rolls. After which, for his artful management in the dissolution of the monasteries, in which he was the chief agent, he was made keeper of the privy seal, and soon after created lord Cromwell, as above-mentioned. (fn. 10)

But this hasty rise to so high a pinnacle of honor was as suddenly succeeded by his ruin; for next year on the king's displeasure, on account of his having been the chief adviser of his marriage with the lady Ann of Cleves, he was arrested at the council-table, and committed to the tower, and being convicted of high treason, he was condemned unheard, and almost unpitied, and beheaded on Tower-hill. (fn. 11)

On his attainder the manor of Eslingham came to the crown, at which time it consisted of the mansion and buildings, with the demesne lands, a fishery on the river Medway, and the rectory of Islingham, with all tithes of corn, oblations and emoluments belonging to it, parcel of the manor; the fee of all which continued in the crown till queen Elizabeth granted it to Sir William Drury, of Norfolk, one of whose descendants, in the reign of king Charles I. alienated it to Henry Clerke, esq. serjeant at law, and recorder of Rochester; whose descendant, Gilbert Clerke, esq. of Derbyshire, alienated it to Mr. Thomas Best, of Chatham, whose son, Mawdistly Best, esq. died possessed of it in 1744, and by his will devised this manor to his second son, Mr. James Best, of Chatham, who died in 1782, and his eldest son, Thomas Best, esq. of Boxley, is the present owner of it.

THE ESTATE, called BROMHEY , or Bromgeheg, mentioned before to have been given to the church of Rochester, in the time of the Saxon heptarchy, was the gift of Egeberht, king of Kent, in the years 778 and 779, which was confirmed afterwards by Offa, king of Mercia, and was said to be situated within the limits of the castle, called Hrosecaester, having on the east, Wuodafleet, and on the north a marsh called Scaga, which the water of Jaenlade surrounded. (fn. 12) This estate seems afterwards to have been divided. Part of it remained, as appears by different records in the possession of the bishop of Rochester, for Richard de Greenstreet, in consideration of one marc sterling, granted to Thomas, bishop of Rochester, and his successors, certain land in the manor of Bromhei, adjoining to the bishop's barn there, (fn. 13) and in the year 1337, bishop Hamo de Hethe repaired, at great expence, his grange at Brumheye. (fn. 14)

Another part of this estate was granted to the family of Cobham, of Cobham, in this neighbourhood, by the bishop of Rochester, to hold of him and his successors, and a third part was in the possession of the prior and convent of Rochester, as appears by the Book of Aid taken in the 20th year of king Edward III. at which time Sir John de Cobham, and the prior of Rochester, held half a knight's fee in Bromhege.

Sir John de Cobham held his part of the bishop of Rochester as before-mentioned, and his descendant, John, lord Cobham, died possessed of it, by the name of the manor of Bromhei, in the 9th year of king Henry IV. since which I imagine this estate, which has for many years lost its antient name, has passed, in like manner as Cobham-hall, to the right honorable John, earl of Darnley, part of whose possessions in this parish it now remains.

It appears by the Textus Roffensis, that there was once a chapel at this place, bishop Thomas de Woldham, by his will, in 1316, bequeathed to the poor of this chapel of Bromhei eight marcs.

CHATTENDEN is an estate in this parish, which was once accounted an appendage to the manor of Frindsbury, and was as such given with it to the church of Rochester, in the time of the Saxon heptarchy, and re mained part of the possessions of the priory at its dissolution in the 32d year of king Henry VIII. when this manor, with the rest of the possessions of the priory was surrendered into the king's hands, who that year granted the manor of Chattenden, and its appurtenances, to Sir George Brooke, lord Cobham, since which it has descended in like manner as Cobham-hall, and the rest of the late duke of Richmond's estates, which in this parish consisted of 650 acres of land, to the right honorable John, earl of Darnley, the present owner of it.

William de Hoo, prior of St. Andrew's, Rochester, having for two years endured much ill usage, for not consenting to alienate the wood of Chetindone, changed his habit and died a monk at Woborne. (fn. 15)

On the division of their inheritance, this estate became the property of William Snaith, who was in his wife's right possessor of Addington, and afterwards sheriff of Kent in the 9th year of king Henry IV. He died possessed of it in 1409, leaving Alice, his sole daughter and heir, married to Robert Watton, esq. who thenceforward resided at Addington, in her right. His descendants continued in possession of Goddington, holding it of the king, as of his duchy of Lancaster, by knights service, (fn. 17) till William Watton, esq. of Addington, in the reign of king Charles II. alienated it to Francis Barrell, esq. serjeant at law, and recorder of the city of Rochester, who bore for his arms, Ermine, on a chief sable three talbots heads erased of the field.

Francis Barrell, esq. the son and heir, was of Rochester, which city he represented in the last parliament of king William's reign. He died in 1724, leaving by Anne Kitchell, his wife, who died before him in 1717, one son and heir, Francis, and four daughters; Anne, who died unmarried in 1780, and Catherine, who married Josiah Marshall, esq. Frances, wife of Mr. John Page, and Elizabeth, wife of the Rev. William Louth, prebendary of Winchester, and elder brother to the late bishop of London. Francis Barrell, esq. the son, married first, Anne, daughter of Thomas Pearse, esq. of Rochester, by whom he left two surviving daughters, who will be further mentioned hereafter; secondly, Frances, daughter of Thomas Bowdler, esq. who died in 1736; and thirdly, Frances, daughter and at length coheir of William Hanbury, esq. of Herefordshire, by whom only he had one son, Francis, who died before him, æt. 17, in 1755; so that his two daughters, by his first wife, who survived him, became his coheirs, viz. Anne, married to the Rev. Francis Dodsworth, vicar of Doddington, in this county, treasurer of Salisbury, and prebendary of York, &c. and Catherine, married to the Rev. Frederick Dodsworth, brother of the former.

But this estate of Goddington was devised by the will of Mr. Serjeant Barrell, who died in 1679, to his second son, Mr. Henry Barrell, who dying unmarried in 1754, gave it by will to his nephew, Francis Barrell, esq. for his life, with remainder to his niece, Catherine, wife of Josiah Marshall, esq. and her heirs for ever. Her eldest son, the Rev. Edmund Marshall, vicar of Charing, sold it in 1780 to Mr. Thomas Ayres, who rebuilt the house, and dying in 1796, gave it by will to his niece, Mary Anne Hopkins, who sold it to George Gunning, esq. the present possessor of it.

There was an estate in this parish called THORNDEN, or Thornindune, which was held of the manor of Frindsbury, by the wife of Robert Latimer.

The monks of St. Andrew's claimed the reversion of this estate at her death, but she affirmed that the inheritance of it belonged to her kindred. However, before her death, she gave it up, with all that she had upon it, to the monks, to be possessed by them for ever, placing at the same time the grant of it from bishop Gundulph, on the altar of St. Andrew, for which the monks gave her sixty shillings, and promised her besides, food and cloathing so long as she should live, food from the celerer, as much as for one monk, and one dish of flesh four days in the week; and cloathing from the chamberlain, honorable, such as became her age and person, and to such man and maid servant, as she should have, such food as the rest of the servants of the church had; and further, they gave her twenty shillings yearly to pay their wages, and cloath them, and procure other necessaries for herself, and when she died the convent agreed, that they would bury her, and keep her anniversary yearly.

ROBERT GUNSLEY, and the PARISH OF FRINDSBURY, jointly purchased by deed in 1632, a mill and twenty-seven acres of land in Hoo, from the yearly produce of which the yearly sum of 1l. 13s. to be applied to the repairs of the church, the remainder to the poor in bread, vested in the minister and overseers, of the annual produce of 5l. 10s.

PHILIP STAINES gave by will, to be laid out in bread, lands vested as above, and of the annual produce of 3l. 2s.

JOHN WOODGGRENE gave, to be laid out in bread, lands and tenements, vested as above, and of the annual produce of 5l. 10s. but subject to repairs.

A PERSON UNKNOWN, gave seven acres of land in this parish, the rent accruing from which has always been expended in repairing the church.

BOWHAM PENNISTONE gave an acre of land near Upnor, towards the same use.

THE RENT of the Green, containing one acre, was given to repair the church.

FRINDSBURY is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese and deanry of Rochester.

At the time of Gundulph's coming to the see of Rochester, anno 1075, there was no church here, but there was not long afterwards one built of stone by Paulinus, sacrist of the church of Rochester, (fn. 19) who ornamented it with books, vestments, &c.

John, bishop of Rochester, in the reign of king Henry II. gave this church, together with the chapel of Strodes belonging to it, and all lands and tithes, to the church of St. Andrew, in Rochester, towards the finding of lights there, and on condition that the sacrists (fn. 21) of it should give after his death, for the good of his soul, yearly, on the day of his anniversary, one mark of silver; to buy bread to be distributed to the poor, which was confirmed by pope Celestine II. with licence to appropriate it to the use of their almonry. Walter, bishop of Rochester, soon afterwards, in the reign of king Henry II. confirmed this grant, together with the free disposition of the church, and the presentation of the vicarage, but bishop Gilbert de Glanvill, who came to the see in 1185, finding the revenues of his bishopric impoverished by these gifts of his predecessors to the priory, re-assumed the possession of many of them, and though he left the monks in possession of the appropriation of this church, yet he annexed the advowson of the vicarage to his see again, and in 1193, the bishop, with the consent of William, archdeacon of Rochester, then rector of this church of Frindsbury, made Strood an independent parochial district.

This was confirmed by the bulls of the popes Alexander and Clement IV. and by cardinal Ottobon, the pope's legate, who allotted it to the maintenance of the bishop's table for ever. (fn. 22)

Bishop Gundulph, in 1091, with the assent of archbishop Anselm, had granted to the monks of St. Andrew's, the tithes arising, as well from the food of their cattle, as from their agriculture, within the manor of Frindsbury, and others within his diocese, to the use of their refectory; which gift was confirmed by archbishop Theobald, by Ralph Prior, and the convent of Canterbury, by Walter Gilbert, and Henry, bishops of Rochester, &c. which latter further granted to them the small tithes, together with the other tithes arising from their manors and demesnes in Frindsbury, and their other manors within his diocese, according to former custom. All which was confirmed by Richard, bishop of Rochester, in 1280, who at the same time, at the instance of the prior and convent of Rochester, made enquiry, by a solemn inquisition, in what manner the monks used to retain tithes in their manors, and in what manner they used to impart them to the parish churches; when it was found, that the parish church of Frindsbury was formerly endowed, in the name of a portion of tithes, in land called Nelesfelde, parcel of the demesne land of the manor of Frindsbury, which belonged to that church; and that they gave yearly, in the time of harvest, to the church in the name of tithe, one acre of wheat, one acre of barley, and one acre of oats of middle corn; but of wool, or the produce of the dairy, of other small tithes, the church did not, nor had used to take any thing. But in the grange of Chatingdone, which was a member of the manor of Frindsbury, the church took only the whole tithe of sheaves. At La Rede, which was a member of it likewise, the almoner of the priory took, as had been used of antient time, only the whole tithe of sheaves But that the church of Frindsbury did not, nor had used to take any thing there. And of other small tithes, as well as of the mills, and hay in the manor of Frindsbury, and in their other manors, the parish church did not, nor ever used to take any thing; and he decreed, that the parish church of Frindsbury should be content with the endowment of the aforesaid land, called Nelesfelde, with which it remained endowed of antient time of the demesne land of the manor, in the name of tithes, and of the three acres of corn in the time of harvest, to be taken as before-mentioned, and in the tithes of sheaves in Chatingdone only; and that the monks should have and retain for ever all other tithes, both great and small, by whatever names they were called, in all their manors and places within his diocese, the tithes of sheaves, &c. in each of them, as were particularly mentioned in his instrument, only excepted.

This vicarage is valued in the king's books at 10l. 3s. 11 1/2d. and the yearly tenths at 1l. 4 3/4d.

The parsonage of Frindsbury and advowson of the vicarage, still continue part of the possessions of the bishopric of Rochester. The endowment of the vicarage is not extant, but the vicar by usage, is entitled to all tithes, except those of corn and grain. The vicarage house is situated at an inconvenient distance from the church, and not in a very healthy situation, there are fifteen acres of glebe land. The register does not begin till 1669.

The family of Watson, who bore for their arms, Barry of six argent and gules, three crescents ermine on a chief of the second, two tilt-spears, their heads broken off, in saltier, or, were lessees of this parsonage many years. William, son of John Waston, of Riverhall, in Essex, settled in this parish in the reign of queen Elizabeth, and his descendants continued here afterwards for more than a century. (fn. 24)

This portion of tithes is commonly called Goldock's Portion, and arises out of certain fields in the parishes of Frindsbury and Stroud. In 1650 these tithes were valued at 10s. and the yearly reserved rent was 2s