Perambulators of Kent

 Kent has received more than its share of visitors over the years, some of which have left their thoughts on the county. This is a brief summary of some of them, with particular reference to our corner.

John Leland (1503 - 1552) was a humanist antiquary in and around the court of Henry VIII. He warned Thomas Cromwell of the risk of losing the wealth of monastic libraries during the Dissolution, and searched out books thereafter. The five volumes of his Itinerary included a chapter on Kent "Let this be the firste chapitre of the booke", he wrote; "The King hymself was borne yn Kent. Kent is the key of al Englande."

His Itineraries were made between 1538 and 1543 at the height of the Reformation. The structure of the work, divided into counties, set the form of local historical writing for the future. He commended the results to the king, writing "there is almoste nother cape, nor bay, haven, creke or peere, river or confluence of rivers, breches, waschis, lakes, meres, fenny waters, montaynes, valleis, mores, hethes, forestes, wooddes, cities, burges, castelles, principale manor placis, monasteries, and colleges, but I have seene them". If we could only say the same.

Leland does not refer to our area, save to say "Walmer is about a mile from Dele shore, and looke, as from the farther syde of the mouth of Dovre the shore is low to Walmer, so is the shore al cliffy and hy from Walmere to the very point of Dovar Castel, and there the shore falleth flat, and a litle beyound the toune of Dovar the shore clyvith to Folkestane."

Apart from noting the castle and Maison Dieu at Dover, he writes "On the toppe of the hye clive betwene the towne and the peere remayneth yet, abowt a flyte shot up ynto the land fro the very brymme of the se clyffe, a ruine of a towr, the which hath bene as a pharos or a mark to shyppes on the se; and therby was a place of Templarys. 

"As concernyng the river of Dovar it hath no long cowrse from no spring or hedde notable that descendith to that botom. The principal hed, as they say, is at a place cawlled Ewwelle, [a] and that is not past a iii. or iiii. myles fro Dovar. Ther be springes of frech waters also at a place cawled Rivers. Ther is also a great spring at a place cawlled .[Lydden Spout] and that ones in a vi. or vii. yeres brasteth owt so abundantly, that a great part of the water cummeth into Dovar streme, but els yt renneth yn to the se bytwyxt Dovar and Folchestan, but nerer to Folchestan, that is to say withyn a ii. myles of yt. Surely the hedde standeth so that it might with no great cost be brought to run alway into Dovar streame."

Out of our area, south of Maidstone "At Farley is the greate quarre of hard stone: and in the quarters betwixt it and Maideston ... there cummith a water into the great streame about a 2. miles beyound Farley caullid Lowse. It is no very greate brooke. Louse village standeth a myle-warde into the land above the confluence of it with Medewege Ryver."

William Lambarde (1536 - 1601) was a lawyer and Justice of the Peace for Kent, living in Halling and Greenwich.  

A near contemporary of Camden (and also Queen Elizabeth), he had a particular interest in Anglo-Saxon history which he used to great effect in his Perambulation of Kent (first published in 1576). In doing so, he applied his wide knowledge and studies to the towns of Kent, setting them in context and producing the first "county history".

In our area, he commented upon Richborough describing "the ruines of the auncient wals yet extant, the matter whereof is flint, long, white and red brickes of the Bryttaine fashion, and a cement of lime and sea sand, or the remnants of the Romane coyne more often found there, and in greater plentie than elsewhere"

Sandwich gets a long section about the invasions by Saxons "the  Danes (for so our histories cal by one general name the Danes, Norwaies, Gottes, Vandals, and others of that part) made vpon England: after which time, what horrible inuasions, miseries, calamities, and oppressions followed, and fell vpon the inhabitants of this countrie". 

Sandwich "is called in Latine, Sabulouicum, in Saxon Sondwic, that is to saie, the Sandie Towne, bicause the coast thereabout aboundeth with Sande".

Eastry is remembered as the site of a "Palaice" where King Egbert murdered his two popular kinsmen, Ethelbert and Etheldred.

Deal, Sandown and Walmer castles are mentioned, as Henry VIII "builded Castles, platfourmes, and blockhouses" as protection against "the intolerable yoke of Popish tyrannie".

It is a joy to me that an 1826 edition of Lambarde's Perambulation is available to borrow from Deal Library.

William Camden (1551 - 1623)

Renowmed Dele doth vaunt it selfe,

with Turrets newly raisd:

For monuments of Cæsars hoste,

A place in storie praisd

Daniel Defoe (c1660 - 1731) wrote about his tour around the coast of Kent in A Tour thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain (1724–1727). He also wrote an account of the catastrophic storm of 1703 (The Storm) which wrecked so many ships in the Downs; some years later he published Robinson Crusoe (1719) perhaps thinking of the storm's destructive force.  He makes an interesting observation on the destruction of oak trees - at the same time as so many ships of the Navy were wrecked, the source material for their replacement was also lost -  " the multitude or magnitude of trees blown down, whole parks ruined, fine walks defaced, and orchards laid flat, and the like: and though I had, myself, the curiosity to count the number of trees, in a circuit I rode over most part of Kent, in which, being tired with the number, I left off reckoning after I had gone on to 17000". And he was saddened that so many apple-orchards were destroyed, since "we shall Want liquor to make our hearts Merrie".

Defoe's Tour is uncomplimentary about Sandwich and Dover, although the countryside is pleasant:

"Sandwich ..... lying in the bottom of a bay, at the mouth of the river Stour, an old, decay'd, poor, miserable town, of which when I have said that it is an antient town, one of the Cinque Ports, and sends two members to Parliament; I have said all that I think can be worth any bodies reading of the town of Sandwich.

From hence to Deal is about-----miles. This place is famous for the road for shipping, so well known all over the trading world, by the name of the Downs, and where almost all ships which arrive from foreign parts for London, or go from London to foreign parts, and who pass the Channel, generally stop; the homeward-bound to dispatch letters, send their merchants and owners the good news of their arrival, and set their passengers on shoar, and the like; and the outward-bound to receive their last orders, letters, and farewells from owners, and friends, take in fresh provisions, &c.

From hence we pass over a pleasant champain country, with the sea, and the coast of France, clear in your view; and by the very gates of the antient castle (to the town) of Dover: As we go, we pass by Deal Castle, and Sandown Castle, two small works, of no strength by land, and not of much use by sea; but however maintained by the government for the ordinary services of salutes, and protecting small vessels, which can lye safe under their cannon from picaroons, privateers, &c. in time of war.

Neither Dover nor its castle has any thing of note to be said of them, but what is in common with their neighbours; the castle is old, useless, decay'd, and serves for little; but to give the title and honour of government to men of quality, with a salary, and sometimes to those that want one."

But the greatest damnation of the area is reserved for Deal, of which the inhabitants are accused of profiting from the storm while letting survivors drown. In The Storm he wrote "the barbarous hated name of Deal shou’d die, Or be a term of infamy; And till that’s done, the town will stand, A just reproach to all the land."

The fine micropub The Just Reproach bears the slur with humility.

William Cobbett (9 March 1763 – 18 June 1835) published Rural Rides in 1830.  I see him as a portly man with sideburns, sitting on a horse, gazing across farmland which talking to a shepherd.

"The corn was chiefly cut between Dover and Walmer. The barley almost all cut and tied up in sheaf. Nothing but the beans seemed to remain standing along here. They are not quite so good as the rest of the corn; but they are by no means bad.

Deal is a most villainous place. It is full of filthy-looking people. Great desolation of abomination has been going on here; tremendous barracks, partly pulled down and partly tumbling down, and partly occupied by soldiers. Everything seems upon the perish. I was glad to hurry along through it, and to leave its inns and public-houses to be occupied by the tarred, and trowsered, and blue-and-buff crew whose very vicinage I always detest. From Deal you come along to Upper Deal, which, it seems, was the original village; thence upon a beautiful road to Sandwich, which is a rotten borough. Rottenness, putridity is excellent for land, but bad for boroughs. This place, which is as villainous a hole as one would wish to see, is surrounded by some of the finest land in the world. Along on one side of it lies a marsh. On the other sides of it is land which they tell me bears seven quarters of wheat to an acre. It is certainly very fine; for I saw large patches of radish-seed on the roadside; this seed is grown for the seedsmen in London; and it will grow on none but rich land. All the corn is carried here except some beans and some barley."

https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/travellers/Cobbett/15

Edward Hasted, William Boteler and William Boys

Edward Hasted (1732-1812) spent many years collecting material for his four-volume History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent (1778-1799)

https://northbourneblog.wordpress.com/2016/11/08/hasted/

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/65df7835178a9d2b20f8d501/t/67589512edd5dc465b8c26d8/1733858579026/archaeologia-cantiana_111-01_hasted_as_a_historian.pdf

A good friend and correspondent of William Boteler and William Boys, who provided Hasted with much information about East Kent.

William Boteler 1745-1818: husband of Sarah and Mary

All three are buried in Eastry church.

William Boteler, Armiger, SAS, is buried next to the parish of the same name, a resident from adolescence to advanced age, a man of letters devoted to the history and topography of Kent, most learned in historiography and public office; in his public office, firm and diligent; in private life, most devoted to love; most faithful to all his faith: died at Canterbury on the 4th day of September, 1818. Aged 73. Wives Married, First, Sarah, Daughter of Thomas Fuller, Esquire: Second, Mary, Daughter of John Harvey, Esquire, and King of Navarre; by her only son, William Fuller, by whom six sons, Richard, Henry, John Harvey, Thomas, Edward, Robert, Five daughters, Mary, Eliza, Julia, Agnes, Bertha; The others, taken away by premature death, survived their father. Maria, the second wife, died on the 24th day of October, 1831. Age: 89. and buried next to him.

On Sarah's memorial:

She Died January 9th 1777 Aged 29.
Leaving Issue (alas) one Son,
William Fuller Boteler
How dire the purchase, how severe the cost,
The Fruit was saved the Parent tree lost.

William Boteler’s interest in natural history is mentioned by Hasted in his History: ‘Mr. Boteler, of Eastry, found near Little Betshanger, the plant astragalus glycyphyllos, wild liquorice, or liquorice vetch, which is very scarce, and has never been observed by him any where else’.[2] Hasted was also a friend of the well-known Kentish antiquary the Rev. Bryan Faussett, and had been on some of Faussett’s archaeological excavations.

William Boys (1735-1803)

JS Mill

Mee

Syme