are both delightfully placed, commanding extensive views, bver a rich and varied country.

The conveniences afforded by a daily post, and the passing to and fro of the Rye coach, with the advantages of good shops, a plentiful supply of all the necessaries of life, good water, and healthy air, render Hawkhurst peculiarly desirable as a place of retirement.

The manor of SLIPMILL, alias MOORHOUSE, which includes the denne of Hawkhurst, was anciently esteemed as an appendage to the royal manor of Wye, the liberty of which extends over the greatest part of this parish, and passed as such with that manor, in the gift made of it by William the Conqueror, to the Abbey of Battel, at the first foundation of it in the year 1067.

In the reign of King John, Odo abbot, and the convent of Battel, granted by charter, (to which there is no date) to the owners of the lands in this parish, within their liberty of the manor of Wye, by the name of his men of Hawkhurst, the ville of Hawkhurst, at a certain rent in money, hens, and eggs. And afterwards the abbot and convent, anno 14th Edward I. granted to them, by the name of their tenants at Hawkhurst, all the tenements there which they held of his fee, in certain dennes therein mentioned, to hold at a yearly rent, reserving suit to their court of Wye from three weeks to three weeks, by two men only.

In this state it continued until the suppression of this abbey in the 30th of Henry VIII. when it came with the manor of Wye, into the hands of the crown, whence the royalty, with the quit-rents at Hawkhurst appendant to that manor, which still continued there, was granted, by the name of the manor of Morehouse, with its appurtenances, anno 33d Henry VIII. to Sir John Baker, of Sissinghurst, to hold in capite by Knight's service. His descendant Sir Henry Baker, Knight and Baronet, anno 17th King James I. conveyed his interest in it to

Henry Carey Lord Hunsdon, lord of the manor of Wye, which had been granted to his grandfather* of the same name, by Queen Elizabeth, in her 3d year. He was afterwards created Viscount Rochford, and Earl of Dover; soon after which he sold both the manor of Wye, and this of the denne of Hawkhurst, alias Moorhouse, with their appurtenances, to Sir Thomas Finch, Knight and Baronet, of Eastwell, who, on the death of his mother in 1633, succeeded to the titles of Viscount Maidstone and Earl of Winchelsea. In his descendants these manors continued down to Daniel, Earl of Winchelsea and Nottingham, who died in 1769, without issue male, and by his will devised them, among the rest of his estates in this county, to his nephew George Finch Hatton, Esq. now of Eastwell, the present possessor of them. †

The court baron held for this manor, still continues to be kept under the same form, for the purpose of presenting alterations of tenancies and the choice of reeves, who collect the reserved rents still paid to the Finch family, who are owners of the royalty, but have no other claim on the property of the freeholders.

This parish hath several lands, &c. belonging to it, left to pious and charitable uses, viz.

Henry Parson and William his son by deed anno 22d Edward IV. conveyed to the use of this parish for ever, a messuage and an acre of land, adjoining to the church yard, called the church house, the rent of which is employed towards the reparation of the church. Kilburne in his survey, p. 134 says, upon part of this land was erected an alms house, and another

→ This is the same to whom Elizabeth granted the manor of Bidborough, &c. was Earl of Monmouth and cousin german to Elizabeth, and educated with Charles I. He was a great traveller, and suffered much by the civil wars. He composed nothing of his own; but translated from several foreign authors, no less than seven folios, two octavos, and a duodecimo. Died 13th June 1661, aged.65.

+ Hasted.

frouse, usually called the Sexton's house, the same having been, from about the beginning of the reign of King James I. used for the habitation of the Sexton.

Thomas Iddenden devised by will in 1556, several messuages and lands at or near Highstreet, in this parish, to be for ever employed for pious uses, and are now of the annual value of being vested in the churchwardens and four other trustees, the produce of which is given away at christmas yearly, in gift money.

Thomas Gibbon, by deed, anno 15th of Elizabeth, granted to trustees for ever, an annuity of 43s. and 4d. per annum out of his messuage and three pieces of land upon the denne of Amboldeshurst, containing seven acres; which annuity was purchased of him by the parishioners, to be employed towards the maintenance of the church.

Sir Thomas Dunk, by will in 1718, gave the sum of 20001. to be laid out in building and endowing a free school and six alms houses at Highgate, for six decayed housekeepers, three men and three women; the schoolmaster to receive 161. per annum, and the alms people 61. each. The school and aims houses were accordingly erected and endowed, by William Richards, Esq. his executor; (the surplus of these sums, after the compleating of the buildings, being laid out in the purchase of a farm); who, to make the building and endowment more compleat, added to the 20001. about 6001. of his own money, and further by his will ordered, that a further sum not exceeding 2501. should be laid out in the purchase of lands, the income of which should be employed to augment the salary and pensions payable to the master and alms-people. In pursuance of which bequest, George Dunk, Earl of Halifax, who married Anne, only daughter and heir of William Richards, (as being the representative of the executor of Sir Thomas Dunk, as perpetual visitor) in 1753; in consideration of the said 2501. and 701. raised from the sale of timber from Tilden, the estate settled before on this charity, conveyed to the trustees of it, and their successors for ever, being the minister of Hawkhurst, and ten others, a messuage and land lying near Fourtrows, in this parish and in Sandhurst, of the yearly rent of 171. by which means the salaries of the Schoolmaster and alms-people were increased. The present salary of the master is 581. per annum, and of the alms-people 171.

The school and alms-houses, (a neat, uniform, brick struc ture, situated on the north side of the road at Highgate) are under the management of respectable trustees.

A fair is held yearly near the church, on the 10th of August,

P

(St. Lawrence's day, the patron of the church,) ünder a grant from King Edward I. and Kilburne mentions another having been kept on the 14th of February, but which in his time had been long discontinued.

Within the parish were formerly five crosses, two alone of which remained in Kilburne's time, which he terms Watch-houses, and very probably were so converted, after the reformation. These crosses were intended as stimulants to piety, in the dark ages of popery and superstition. *

The most considerable portion of woodland in this parish, is on the western side adjoining to Goudhurst, being part of the Fryth woods, at present the property of E. J. Curteis, Esq. of Windmill-Hill, near Battle. The soil is various, generally a clay, abounding with marle, but in the northern parts, there is a considerable portion of sand. The only manufactory cars vied on in this place, is of worsted, by Mr. B. Winch, who employs a number of hands."

Hawkhurst contains several genteel residences, of which it may be expected some notice should be taken.

The most ancient, perhaps, is ELFORDS, which, passing through the families of Castleman, Conghurst and Roberts, was, in the 12th of Elizabeth alienated by Edmund Roberts to Richard Boys, Gent. in which name and family it remained upwards of two centuries; but by purchase has become the property of Mr. Richard Winch. It stands, a small distance eastward of the church and is an object of much picturesque interest; being analagous with the surrounding scenery.

A little removed from this, southward, is a substantial residence erected within these few years by Jesse Gregson, Esq. at a considerable expence.

And beyond this last is Lillisden, a neat modern fronted

For an account of religious, memorial and boundary crosses, &c. see Britton's arch. antiquities. vol. 1. I