3 Bifrons, a brief history; Bargravcs; Conynghamsg Patrixbourne Road
[Arch Can! 4; 1861 pedigree of Bargrave: ]/lrch Cant 14, 1882 p 173: suggestion
that Bargrave or Bargar derives from Baracre or Beracre. Edward Taylor succeeded
to Bifrons in 1767. Died 1792. Erected new Bifrons on site close to the old one. His
building is the present house, but its exterior has been cased. and it has been
otherwise altered.
Illustrations oTBiFrons in Arch Cant I07, 1989, pp327-332: — The first house, and in
1794 before 1911‘ e remodelling. Demolished 1948. First built ca 1600. Painting by Jan
Siberechts ca 1705/ 10. new building 1767 by Rev Edward Tay1or.. Minor alterations
atler Conynghams bought in 1830, by Thomas Hunt (d. 1831) and his pupil GH
Smith in 1835. Major rebuild in 1863/64. The early Georgian House was virtually
demolished. Predominant bricks in rebuild were Faversham sofl reds and LBC
yellows.
Arch Can! I ()8. 1990 p 270 (PH Blake) adds that Robert Bargar of Bridge, Yeoman,
was a tanner, buried in Bridge chancel on 4/ 1/ 1600/01 Had his tanhouse in Bridge.
His eldest son John was ‘of Patrixbourne’, but did not inherit the tanhouse», though his
son was baptised in Bridge. John reputed to be the builder ofBi1'rons, ca 1607-1611.
In 161 1, too, John Bargrave alias Bargar of Patrixbourne had a grant of arms from
Camden. Garter. Family were of humdrum station in Willesborough. Wealth may
have come through J ohn"s marriage to Jane, daughter of Giles Crouche of London. ca
1597.
Arc/1 Cant 110, Z992: pp3 1 3- 329 : BM T1 IOMASI A History ofBifrons Manor House
Built on site ofa previous house, unknown. Sold by Bargraves to Sir Arthur Slingsby
in 1662, Thomas Baker before 1673, Thomas Adrian 1680. John Taylor 1694, 29
September. Taylor born 1665, son 01' Nathaniel Taylor a Shropshire barrister. Rev.
Edward Taylor died 1798: 4 sons. Eldest was Edward, who married Louisa
Beckingham o1°Bourne in 1802. He became MP for Canterbury in 1807. They moved
to Bourne in 1824. Her mother died in 1844 in Dover (Bourne then bought by
Matthew Bell). First tenant of Bifrons was 2"‘! Marquess of Ely in 1825. In 1828 Lady
Byron tenant. 1830 Bifrons sold to Henry, Marquess Conyngham, Lord Steward of
the Household to George IV. Died 1832, widow died 1861 aged 91. Then Francis. 2“d
Marquess C., died 1876. Lord Chamberlain 1835-39. Major changes to house 1863.
Cost £12014 4s 9d. 3"‘ Marquess brother o1"2"d, George Francis, 1876. d. 1882.
Ilouse passed to 41" marquess Henry Francis, but house let: to Edward Weinholt, JA
Miller, Frank Penn, Col. The Hon. Milo Talbot, died 1932. but Mrs Talbot remained
till 1939
Car Park
Gives us an oppoitunity to point to the most significant and influential site in all of
Bridge - Bifrons.
Bifrons was built by John Bargar or Bargrave (an old Kentish family, with enterprises in
Virginia) in 1634. (Dean Robert Bargrave of Canterbury Cathedral, and John Bargrave,
traveller and collector of Curiosities). Family tombstones in Patixbourne Church.
Grandson John Bargrave (?the collector) sold Bifrons in 1662 to Sir Arthur Slingsby, and
his son Sir Charles Slingsby in 1677 alienated it to Thomas Baker, a London merchant,



on whose death it came to William Whitton of London, and he in 1680 passed it to
Thomas Adrian. He alienated it in 1694 to John Taylor (1665-1729 son of Nathaniel
Taylor, Barrister-at-law), and his wife Olivia (d.17l6) (portrait with his family, 1696, in
NPG) who had tour sons and tour daughters (Olive b l681??, married John Bowtell DD,
vicar of Patrixbourne (and Bridge)), Margaret (1683-1738, unmarried), Brook, DD
(1685-1731) - a celebrated mathematician, the inventor oFTaylor‘s Theorem, worked
with Kepler on the laws of planetary motion, FRS; worked with D‘/\lembert in Paris on
the theory ofrcfraction, Mary (1690-1771 - died aged 91? At Bridge Place), Upton (b
1696) (is this Herbert. second son, who succecdcd to all the estates by his fathers will,
and died 1763?), Nathaniel (b 1687), Charles (merchant in Moscow), John (b 1687),
Hannah, Bridges (1698-1754). (Something wrong, here. That makes eleven.)
llerbeit (d 1763) had two sons, Herbert (d 1767 unmarried) and Edward (1763-1798)
who succeeded him and who about 1770 demolished the old house and rebuilt it using
some materials from Bridge Place (which had been partly demolished in 1704). 1n 1796
Jane Austen visited Bifrons. Edward had tour sons: Edward (an Army Captain), Herbert
(ditto), Brook (Private Secretary to Foreign Minister), Bridges (Naval lieutenant).
Edward Taylor sold Bifrons in l820[no, 1830] to the Marquess of Conyngham (d, 1832)
who extended the house. Elizabeth (Marchioness, b ca 1770) continued to reside there
until her death in 1861. She was responsible for opening a school For girls at the lower
Lodge Gate (uniform like Little Red Riding-Hood), and supported the free schools of
1-‘atrixbourne and Bridge. She helped towards the formation of a Volunteer Fire Brigade
and the establishment of a small gasworks (1859) to supply the mansion and the villages.
She was a favourite (but not necessarily mistress) of George 1V, notorious for her elegant
enbonpoint and large posterior: ‘fat, handsome, kindly, shrewd and extremely fond of
jewels.‘ A rhyme suggested that they spent their time
‘Quaffing their claret, then mingling their lips,
Or tickling the fat about each othcr's hips’
Bifrons remained in the Conyngham Estate (1874 - Earl & Countess Mountcharles) and
then let to tenants: 1893-97: John A Miller, Esq,; 1903-4. Frank Penn, Esq.; 1907-13,
Robert Henry Bullock Marsham; 1915-18 Frank Penn & Mrs Penn; 1924-30 Col. Hon.
Milo George Talbot (incl 230 acres of finely timbcred park); 1934 Hon. Mrs Milo Talbot.
1940 Empty. Later used as a billet for Canadian servicemen and a home for displaced
persons. Finally demolished in ‘P1949/51.
Subsequent excavations have laid bare the cellars once more.
Arch Can! I20, 2000 pp 77-105 MG BRENNAN: The Exile oftwo Kentish Royalists
during the English civil war deals with Bargrave cousins John (c1610-1680) and
Robert (1628-61) Robert was son of Isaac B (1586-1643) John son oflohn d. 1625
(who built Bifrons). Ref to “Mr Cooly of Trin Coll Cambs was secretarie to the Lord
X”(3l May 1645) on p 86 (nobody ofthat name listed in the Trinity Alumni, but John
Cooly appears in the Churchw-arden’s records for 1673/5 as a tenant of Anthony
Aucher of Boume with 6 acres of land.)



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