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NORTHFLEET was very anciently possessed by the See of Canterbury, but was alienated by Archbishop Cranmer, in exchange for other lands, with Henry the Eighth: it has since had some intermediate possessors, but was finally granted, by the Crown, to the late Earl of Besborough, about the year 1758, at the annual rent of six shillings and eight-pence. This Nobleman sold it, with Ingress, to John Calcraft, Esq. whose son was the late pos

sessor.

The north-west part of this Parish is a low marsh, formerly covered by the Thames, and now crossed by a high causeway, and bridge, with flood-gates, to prevent the tides flowing beyond it, and at the same time to give issue to the freshes. The village is irregularly built round Northfleet Green, and at the sides of the high road, which passes close by a large building erected as an Inn, but from the scheme not answering, since let out in tenements. The contiguous Chalk Works employ a great number of hands, and extend from the northern side of the village to the Thames; their average width being nearly two furlongs.

The Church, which is one of the largest in the diocese, and a peculiar of the Archbishop of Canterbury's, is dedicated to St. Bo tolph, and consists of a nave, aisles, and chancel, with a low tower, erected within the site of the foundation walls of the preceding one, at the beginning of the last century, and by no means correspondent with the rest of the building. The nave is separated from the aisles by octagonal massive columns, which spread off into pointed arches, without the intervention of capitals: in the chancel, which is very spacious, are remains of some ancient oak Stalls; and in the south wall, of the south aisle, are three Stone Seats. On a slab in the pavement of the chancel, is a full-length Brass figure of a Priest standing beneath a rich ornamental canopy; and round the verge of the slab, this imperfect inscription: On

ns Petrus de Lucy quonda Rector istius ecclie et prebendarius p’bende de Swerdes in ecclia Cathedral Dublin qui obiit decimo octavo die mensis Dctobr. dni milimo CTC Septuagesimo quinto cujus

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The grave beneath this stone was opened about thirty years ago, and the body of Peter de Lucy was found wrapped in leather, a mode of interment not unusual in early times.

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On the south side of the chancel is a Piscina under a neatly-ornamented pointed arch; and on a carved wooden Screen, of the time of Queen Mary, which separates the chancel from the nave, is a range of heads, of the Saviour and twelve Apostles, now mostly defaced. Another Piscina, with plainer ornaments, is in the north chantry: and on a grey marble slab, raised a few inches above the pavement, are small whole-length Brasses of a Knight and his Lady, with two escutcheons above, one of which displays the arms of Rykeld, or Rickhill, a family long seated at Eslingham, in Frindsbury Parish, viz. Gules, two bars, argent, between three annulets, Or. The Knight is in close armour, standing on a lion, with a long sword at his left side, and a dagger at his right: his Lady is in a long cloak, the folds elegantly disposed, with a necklace and rose, and a small dog, collared, at her feet. The inscription is imperfect, which renders it difficult to ascertain the persons these figures were intended to represent; but from the costume, and other circumstances, Mr. Thorpe has assigned them to Sir WILLIAM RYKELD, Knt. and his Lady; the former of whom was a Justice of the King's Bench in the time of Richard the Second, and died about 1400.*

GRAVESEND,

WRITTEN Graves-ham in the Domesday Book, and Gravesande in the Textus Roffensis, is thought, by Lambard, to have derived its name from the Saxon word Gerefa, a Ruler, or Portreve, and to signify the end or limit of his jurisdiction;† yet, supposing the name to be correctly spelt in the Domesday Book, it will then signify, the Ham, or Dwelling of the Greve, or Reve; an etymology that seems the more probable of the two. A third, however, has been proposed, from the Saxon Graf, implying a coppice, or small wood, which, compounded with ande, would form Graf's-ande, and thus signify the place at the Wood-end.

This

These figures are engraved in the Custumale Roffense; as is that also of Peter de Lucy; and the bust of another Priest, named William Lye, which is likewise preserved in this Church.

+ Peramb. of Kent, p. 349,

This town consists of several narrow streets, built on a declivity leading to the Thames; and is partly situated in the Parish of Milton, which adjoins to that of Gravesend on the east side. At the period of the Domesday Survey, the Manor belonged to Odo, Bishop of Baieux; but after his disgrace, it became the property of the Cramavilles, or Cremilles, who had many other manors in Kent, and whose family continued in possession till the reign of Edward the Second, about which time it escheated to the Crown. Edward the Third granted it, in his fourth year, in special tail, to Robert de Ufford, for his better support in the wars in Gascoigne. This eminent statesman and warrior, was created Earl of Suffolk in the eleventh of the same reign, and was one of the first Knights of the Garter in succession to those who had been admitted on its original foundation. His grandson reconveyed it to the King, who, in his fifteenth year, granted it, with other manors, for the endowment of his newly-founded Abbey of St. Mary of Graces, on Tower Hill; and the grant was confirmed by Richard the Second. After the Dissolution, the Manor of Gravesend was granted successively to different persons for life; till at length, in the twenty-third of Elizabeth, it was sold, under the Queen's license, by Robert, Earl of Leicester, to Thomas Gawdye, and James Morice, and their heirs. Two years afterwards, Sir Thomas Gawdye alienated it to William, Lord Cobham, on the attainder of whose son and successor, Henry, in the first of James the First, it fell to the Crown; and in the tenth of that reign, was granted to Lodowick Stuart, afterwards Duke of Richmond; whose collateral descendant, the Earl of Darnley, of Cobham, in this county, is now owner.

The

"The Lords of the Manor of Gravesend have a right to hold a court for the regulation of the boats and water-carriage between Graves. end and London. This Court is called, in an old roll, dated in the thirty-third year of Elizabeth, now in the possession of the Earl of Darnley, Curia Cursus Aqua: in that year it appears to have been held by William Lambarde, Steward to William, Lord Cobham. This Court has not been held for a great number of years; notwithstanding which, in the several Acts for regulating the navigation of the river Thames, there is in general a reservation of the rights of the heirs of the Duke of Richmond and Lenox, which clause was added in respect to this water-court at Gravesend." Hasted's Kent, Vol. I.

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