Kent, has lrlli Old Palace of BCl{CSl)Oll1'llC, in a most interesting iistory, and has passed through the lllll(lS of a great number of owners. It was first known‘ as t.he Manor of Jvingsborne, " from one Levine, a ;axon, who held it in the time of Kiiig Edward the Conlessor, and from the mall bourn or 11 r 0 11 g h 1 1; s . .. rounds. After the Norman Zonqucst, Odo, the ‘ r e a t Bishop of iayeux, b e e a m re 3rd of this inanor—~ mention of which s made in t h e stream which l‘llllS HE lovely old dining-room at Bekesbourne. The walls are beautifully panelled, and on the leit of the fireplace is a picture or Lord Anglesey driving it cabriols. L’:/[try If/L 4/L One of the oldest palaces in England, Belt l ‘T B I S_ might easily be ‘the sitting-room in any modern hon_1e——-actually ,it is a. corner of the pretty tblne and white lb 0 u d o i r in diekesbourne ;Palace, and in the alcove on ,’t h e right is isoine very old ,a n d valuable , china. HOME CHAT Kent, is still in use as a lovely reside Domesday Book, 1o4.8——but when -the bishop fell into disgrace the Crown confis- cated the manor ainoiigst the rest of his ’ possessions. After the bishop, this manor ',was held by a family of the name ot_ Beke, whence it acquired the name of Bekesborne,” and in 1--lenry VIlI’s reign William de Beke appears to have held this place -in feudal tenure, "on condition of finding one ship for the king when he passed the seas, and a present to him of three mares.” \’Ve next hear of the manor passing into the possession of Walter de Bourne in the thirty—seventl1 year of Edward III’s reign, and he changed the name from Bekesborne to that by which it is known to—day— 13ckesbour11e. lt then. seems to have belonged to various owners until 1-lcnry Chicheley, Archbishop of Canterbury, and his trustees bought it, and in the twenty- second year (it llenry VI’s reign gave it to John 1’rior, of Christ Church, Canterbury, and his siiccessors. In the reign of Henry VII one of these suc- cessors, named a HE low-ceilinged hull still stands as it was rebuilt during the R.estoratioii,withbeautiiul old oak beams and the walls almost four teet thick. I l I I , on it. ‘the situation that he Aiigrist ltltli, 1933. Qbztlzzce ’Flio1iizis Goldston, " rebuilt the Prior's apartment: here and the chapel; he likewise built the hall adjoining to the l’rior's dorniitory." ALL the bed- rooms open on to this quaint corridor, which is divided up in- to four sections 11 y , wonderful old oak doors. Cranmer Lived There. IT remained like this until the suppression of the Priory in the thirty-first year of Horny VIII. Tlien the king seized it and granted it as the Priors’ house to Thomas Colepepcr. Three years later this gentleman, by a special Act of parliaincnl‘. passed for the purpose, " ex(:li.anged it for the l\l'anor of Bishopsborne and other premises, with Thomas Cl'£ll1lllCl', Archbishop of Canterbury, to hold and his successor in tree pure and perpetual arms.” Cranmer then turned his manor into one of his palaces for retirement, making a number of alterations and builcling on to it. In 1552 the Gate House was tinislied, and to this day his name and the date is still to be seen Also the gateway, which has long since disappeared, had in centre of the front of it the arms of Cranmer, and his motto: " Nosce te ipsum ” (“ Know thyself ”). On the gates were the arms of the Archbishop Parker. Cranmer would have continued improving this palace (as it now was) had he continued in the prelacy. 'J.‘l1en Archbishop Parker took up residence here, and was so delighted with determined to enlarge the palace still further. But he died before his plans could be put into execiitiori. In Charles I’s reign, during the Civil War, altliougli this place was not pillag.3;e(l, G E N E R A L 1 view of the spacious to u n g e hall, which h as been made such a. comfortable place to live in. Against the back wall. can be seen the old oak c h e s t w h i c h belonged to S ir John Peeke of Lulliugstone Castle. THE picturesque Gate House, which was com- pleted in 1552, still stands exactly as it was built._ Crom- well’s soldiers were quartered here. the fanatics pulled nearly all of it down. But the Gate House, which quartered Cromwell’s soldiers, was‘ left untouched,- and l'(‘]l1Z1ll1S to-(lay as it was originally built. After the Restora- tion it was rebuilt: and, at that time at any rate, his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury retained the Old Palace and' its estate. (tbnlimwrl an 27(l_l/P 375). ' they were many, many years ago. Also the August 19th, 1933, - 375 LKVXNG IN AN OLD PALACE. (Contimzed from page 365.) The present Chatelaine of the old palace is the I-Ion.Mrs. Matthew Bell, a sister of Sir Oliver Hart Dyke, of Lullingstone Castle, and once a Lady-in- « V . p , I ‘ waiting to her M21le5’CY Queen Alexandra. - ~ - ' ' r - V_ ' I The old palace is one of those long, low buildings, two stories high, covered with : ' ._ ‘- r ‘ * _ . - _ _' creeper. \‘l.~'e entered the beautiful lounge hall ‘The 'ref're-Shing ‘and. . — and at once became aware of the real meaning - v - of the words, restful peace. The deep coral Invigorating quali~ velvet curtains brought out the rich colour of “es ‘sf’ u-4711"‘, the panelled walls and lovely pieces of old 7 furniture. genuine Eau de, Ancient Treasures. C°l°'9"el linked HE dining—room leads off the hall, and its Willi lher alluring bouquet of “Tosca." oak panelling is further enhanced by the golden-brown hangings. The portrait you see in the photograph (in the centre pages) is of _ Mrs. Bell’s great-grandfather, the Marquis of PRICES Anglesey, who lost a leg at the Battle of \Vater1oo, riding in his cabriola drawn by a I restive steed. Coming out of the room I 13 26 almost stumbled over the door-stop, a cannon. 4/6 7/6 ball, dating from Cromwellian days. The little Georgian boudoir was charming, Trial 9310 95- all in white and several shades of blue to tone with the over—two-hundred-year-old collection of china arranged in the alcove. I peeped into a disused cellar which, alas ! is all that remains oil. :.. = ~ the one-time chapel—_only its Elizabethan roof remains. The corridor, as you see from another photo- graph, is quaint. All the bed-rooms are on the right side and open on to it. Four doors,the hinges of which are four hundred years old, shut it into four different sections. The wonderful old door leading to the garden dates from Cranmer’s time, with a huge old lock on it and a latch—key to fit it which is just nine inches long. The Old Stairs. IT is but a step from the old palace to the ‘ Gate House. The walls are over two feet 1;, with real old mullioned windows just as tiny stoop is there in what is now a larder. The front stairs are old, narrow, and heavily beamed overhead. The back stairs lead through a cellar and spiral into one of the bed-rooms. Mrs. Bell told me these stairs were uncommonly useful in the good old days, for your pursuer's sword could only get half your body at a time ; but it struck me that half was quite enough to do very painful damage! A Most Helpful “Seven-day Beauty Chart "— _H.-XS been prepared by the Oatinc Company, ‘ i . ~ -7 whose excellent Oatine Powder Base Cream ‘ V is so very well known. A postcard addressed to the i & Oatme Co., 250, Oatine Buildings, London, S.lZ.1, ’ will bring you the booklet, post free. Gar:1‘.E. No. 21: