veyance for the timber of that neighbourhood, to the dockyards on the MEDWAY and the THAMES. A survey agreeable to these suggestions was made by Mr. Rennie in 1803, at the expence of Sir William Geary, Bart. whose liberality and public spirit on this and many other occasions, justly entitle him to the grateful thanks of the county.*

A partial report of this survey was made in a letter to Sir William, in August following; though it was further continued after that time, as appears by Mr. Rennie's printed report and plan of the canal, bearing date July 19th, 1809, in which the scheme was considerably extended, by the addition principally, of a collateral branch to Hever castle and an extension of the main line to St. Nicholas bay.+

Though the liberal and enlarged view of the subject taken by Mr. Rennie, was generally gratifying to the friends of the concern, it was deemed unadvisable to apply for such extensive powers, or brave the opposition which would be met with, in the prosecution of so extensive an undertaking. The committee of management therefore, directed in the year following, a more circumstantial and limited survey to be made; and a bill to empower them to carry the same into execution, was laid before parliament in the sessions of 1811, when, con

* The subscribers not considering it right to avail themselves of the unsolicited liberality of any individual, in a business of this public nature, and in the success of which he could be no otherwise interested than as wishing to promote a matter of common advantage; very properly, on the revival of the undertaking in 1810, reimbursed Sir William Geary the expences of this survey out of the general fund. This in no measure lessens the value of Sir William Geary's conduct on that occasion, nor should it be allowed to alter our opinion of it.

+ These surveys, under the direction of Mr. Rennie, were made by Messrs. Giles, of New Inn, whose diligence, zeal and accuracy in the numerous surveys of this kind, in which they have been engaged, have justly obtained for them the confidence of the public, and a pre-eminent rank in their profession.

trary to the original intention of the projectors of the undertaking, it was found advisable to unite it with the Royal Military Canal near Appledore: the delay unavoidably created, in adjusting with government the terms of this junction, and other unforeseen circumstances, arising from the spirited opposition of a few wealthy individuals, induced the promoters of the measure to defer the further prosecution of it until the ensuing sessions. It was then with certain modifications again submitted to the house, and at length after considerable opposition from its avowed enemies and pretended friends, was carried.

We have been thus circumstantial in detailing the progress of the present undertaking, in order to remove the idle and selfish misinterpretations of its enemies. This is not the project of a few desperate and visionary speculatists, but a wellgrounded and rational measure for the amelioration of the coun➡ try, graced with the sanction and support of persons of the first respectability, matured by time, and under the guidance of unequalled professional talents. As it is deserving of, so it is hoped it will meet with, support..

The WEALD OF KENT is in the diocese of Canterbury, and for the most part within the western division of the county. Its greatest length, namely from Edenbridge westward, to Alding. ton in the east, is about forty miles, and its average width eight miles and a half. The parishes described in the following pages, are either wholly or principally within the district under consideration; those which have only a small portion within the Weald (as Sevenoaks, &c.) it has been deemed unnecessary to notice particularly.

HISTORY

OF THE

Weald of Kent.

A.

ALDINGTON. The village of Aldington, or as it is

usually called in the neighbourhood, Allington, is pleasantly situated on the ridge of quarry hills, on the road between Límne and Ashford; from its elevated situation it commands extensive views of the Country round; but the most pleasing" prospects in this neighbourhood, and perhaps in the County, are obtained from the high land, a little to the Westward of Aldington Corner*, and on the right of the road from Ashford; the lower part of the hill southward is occupied with wood, over which a wide expanse of Marsh is seen, stretching to the Sea, and bounded on the west by the high land in the neighbourhood of Rye and Winchelsea; on the right are the extensive woodlands in the vicinity of Shadoxhurst, while the left presents a partial but distinct view of the Ocean, rising as it were above the wood; the numerous Churches scattered over the marsh, the beacons on the Coast, the venerable re

A

This place, though secondary to the Village, and called a Hamlet, is, by far the most considerable cluster of dwellings in the Parish, and it has to boast a very tolerable Inn.

mains of Bilsington Priory, and the moving scenes afforded by the shipping, which are distinctly seen in the direction of Hythe, form altogether, a picture of uncommon beauty and interest. The roads in these parts are hard and sound, but extremely rough; the water is good, and the air has the reputation of being particularly salubrious.

The MANOR OF ALDINGTON (Ealdintune) appears to have been formerly of very considerable compass, extending, according to the record of Domesday into the parishes of Limne, Stowting, &c. It was granted by Queen Ediva, anno 961 to the Priory of Christ Church, Canterbury, and on a partition of the possessions of that Church between the Monks and Archbishop Lanfranc (in the reign of the Conqueror) this Manor was allotted to the latter, and the manor house, in after times, made the occasional residence of his successors "who had a large Park here, and a chase for the beasts of the Forest."* Archbishop Morton, in King Henry the Seventh's reign, made considerable additions to the Mansion house; but in the succeeding reign it was alienated to the Crown, the Park rendered more complete, and extended by subsequent purchases. In the first year of Edward the Sixth, the Manor was granted to John Dudley Earl of Warwick to hold in Capite, but within two years afterwards was reconveyed to that Monarch, in exchange for Estates elsewhere; and from that time continued among the possessions of the Crown until the reign of Charles the first, when the MANOR, with its appurtenances and

**The remains of the Court Lodge, still inhabited, are on the north side of the Church Yard, and what is now called Aldington Fright (Frith) was. the chase above spoken of; at the south east Corner of it, is the Manor house of Poulton Stansted. About three quarters of a mile northward of Aldington Frith is a conical hill, with a large pond on the summit which is said never to have been dry, though the springs below it have frequently been known to fail in dry seasons.

$

rents of assise, were granted to Nicholas Siddenham, Esq. and Edward Smith, Gent. to hold in fee at the yearly rent of 2601. 17s. 4 d. but the scite and demesnes of the Manor, were granted to Sir Edward Hales, Knight and Baronet, as trustee for Sir Dudley Diggs, to hold of the Manor of East Greenwich by fealty only, in free and common socage, in fee fermè for ever. The latter is now in the possession of William Deedes, Esq. of St. Stephen's, Canterbury, also owner of the Manor of Shrympenden; and the fee farm rent before mentioned is vested in James Drake Brockman, Esq.

Aldington is rendered particularly remarkable by the wellknown imposture of Elizabeth Barton, "the Holy Maid of Kent." The place chosen as the principal theatre of this disgraceful trickery, (so strongly characteristic of the knavery and superstitious weakness of the times,) was in the Chapel of Court at Strete in this parish; the affair is thus related by Hume.

The

"Elizabeth Barton of Aldington in Kent, commonly called the Holy Maid of Kent, had been subject to hysterical fits, which threw her body into unusual convulsions, and having produced an equal disorder in her mind, made her utter strange sayings, which, as she was scarcely conscious of them during the time, had soon after entirely escaped her memory. silly people in the neighbourhood were struck with these appearances, which they imagined to be supernatural; and Richard Masters, vicar of the parish, a designing fellow founded on them a project from which he hoped to acquire both profit and consideration. He went to Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, and having given him an account of Elizabeth's revelations, he so far wrought on that prudent but superstitious prelate, as to receive orders from him to watch her in her trances, and carefully to note down all her future sayings. The regard paid her by a person of so high a rank, soon rendered her still more the object of attention to the neighbour