BEKESBOURNE

ERE is a difficult: Village to locate. You naturally walk
towards the church, which stands on an eminence, or
rather on the slope of a hill. but when you reach the
road close by you see no village, no suggestion of a
street. Hasted tells us that in his day, a hundred and
fifty years ago, " the village consists of only five houses."

Those houses, all residences and farmsteads, remain, but some
distance away evidence of a real village and a few old houses can
be found. These Hasted must have missed.

The traveller of to-day might also be excused for mistaking the
street as a part of Bekesbourne, for it is close, very close, to its
neighbour, Patrixbourne. As a matter of fact, only the high road
separates them, and when you turn a corner and see the cluster of
houses you do not realise that on one side you are in Bekesbourne
and on the other side in Patrixbourne, with the glorious trees that
rise up in Bifrons Park and spread their branches across the road.
This road is a portion of the Pilgrims’ Vvay which ran from Dover
to Canterbury, and you can still follow it without a break. In
some places it ceases to be an actual road, becoming a mere
bridle—path in the woods, but even here it is possible to ride a
bicycle.

The mention of the Pilgrims’ Way takes back our thoughts

to centuries ago, when up by the church stood a magnificent

archbishop‘s palace. But before that we find the village mentioned

in Domesday, when the name was Livingsbourne, because 9. Saxon
chicftain named Levine possessed the manor. ‘Like mostiof the
property in this part of Kent, Odo, the Bishop of Bayeux, afterwards
became the owner, and, following precedent, the Crown took over
the property when the Bishop fell into disgrace. But I shall have
more to say about these ancient times when describing the Old
Palace which stands near the church. i‘

 


 

 

4 A SiRUNTER THROUGH KENT

Yes, the ‘so-called street of Bekesbourne is a beautiful spot of
the sylvan type, for even on the side of the road which belongs to
that parish, trees, _shrubs and flowers grow among the houses. From
whichever end you approach it the View is truly Kentish, for we
have mighty trees rising out of the park, with Patrixboume church
nestling in a wreath of wide-spreading branches. Beyond are the
pastured Downs as a background, and standing near by are oasthouses
that have alas! become a mere_ reminiscence of the past when hops
were grown in great abundance hereabouts. At the end‘ of the
street is a tiny triangle with a grass floor, from which rises a tall
conifer shrub, which the villagers tell you is hundreds of years old.
Let them rest happy in their pride. Anyway, it is a glorious
specimen of a \Vellingtonia not as old as they say.

You cannot miss the artistically-shaped Bifrons Cottage with its
closely-cropped yews in the garden. .How they love to train trees
to all sorts of shapes in this part of Kent! And then opposite
is a house where Tudor origin is evident in its fine gable and
overhang on one side, and at the other end a chimney-stack
rising above a gable-shaped wall. Seventeenth-century bricks are
everywhere, even in the tall garden walls. And this reminds us of
the hopelessness of Sfitting these old walls erected now-a-days owing
to the enormous cost. What treasures they have become! And
yet so frequently I see them bare of wall fruit by owners who fail
to appreciate their value. I recently saw a Kentish garden surrounded
by a brick wall no less than twelve feet high and its entire length
fifteen hundred feet. Three hundred years ago it was built and.
according to an old account, had cost £71 as. ad. What would
be the expense to-day? And yet on the whole stretch of this superb
garden wall I noticed only three ancient pear trees which might
have been planted when the wall was built, so crusted were the
stems and so worn out and unfertile their branches.

What a charming picture is made by that range of little houses,
in the midst of which nestles the general shop of the village, with
its quaint gable ornamented with a carved bargeboard. The large
building at one end is older than it looks, for its overhang has
been erfcased and its walls covered with mathematical tiles. On
one of the buildings is the date 1699. Not far away, and standing
isolated although flush with the road, is a half-timbered house, now
divided into two dwellings and known as Elephant Cottage and

 

BEKESBOURNE 5

Lion Cottage from the carved corner brackets. ln one case we see
the head and shoulders of an elephant and in the__other case a
full-length lion, while other designs represent human heads. And
so we stroll along the old street, along which the Canterbury
pilgrims once prancetl on their palfreys or struggled to keep up the
pace on foot.

On one side of us are cottages with large gardens in front-—
gardens with a cabbage patch in the centre, but fringed by flower
borders ablaze with all the homely old blossoms we treasure as the
special pride of our Kentish villagcs—Michaclmas daisies, dahlias
and rhrysanthemums, with a little rose tree proudly growing out
of a high standard stem. This l saw in the autumn-time. And
then—the coloured leaves of the trees opposite, from flaring flame
hue to every orange and yellow tint, and a few still deep green
with a tinge of the blue of the sky peeping through.

A narrow road leads from one end of the village to the church.
but the usual approach is from the railway station and the viaduct.
Along this road we find a few modern houses, but thus far they
are not crowded; then past the modern rectory and a halt on 3
small bridge, erected in 1830, that spans the Nailbourne_, sometimes
in Hood and overflowing its banks and at other times with its bed
as dry as a bone. This is a tributary of the remarkable Nailbourne
that rises at certain periods in the Elham and Alkham valleys.
(This Nailbourne is fully described in Volume ll. of the “Saunter
Through Kent" under the heading of Elham.)

No road leads to the church and you approach it along the
footpath of a hill, similar to the entrance to the church of Reading
Street in the Isle of Uxney. And here l might mention a local
superstition which I unearthed at Reading Street. Here it is: Of
necessity the corpse had to be lifted over the gate when a funeral
took place, and on the return of the mourners they stuck a pin
in the gate over which the body of their friend had been carried.
lt gave future happiness to the dead and prevented bad luck from
bcfalling the living. I asked an old Bekesbourne inhabitant if the
same superstition was carried out during the funerals in his
churchyard, but he replied, “I think l heard of some rubbish of
that sort, but we are too sensible to think of doing it now.”

As you ascend by a green path the slope in the meadow the
beautiful position of the church of St. Peter is impressive, and the

...e. .. . ,..,... P\,I'ClI ... ...-............. ..,.,..,__,,__...,..-...r ..... .._e.,.,_...,,,,.._,  ,

 

 


 

6 A SAUNTER 'l‘HRUl.‘Gl{ KENT

,n_1odern lych-gate is appropriately placed. On a carved inscription

you are told that it was erected in 1870 in memory of George Gipps,
of Howletts. Passing through the gate you find several stone steps
leading to the porch, which is undoubtedly the most precious
possession of the church. It is of Norman date and consists of
two shafts with carved capitals. The corbels are human faces.
Above the cylindrical ‘mouldings is a chevron design, while the outer
moulding is ornamented with nail-head design. The fool who
wishes to perpetuate his memory has been at work on this doorway
with wondrous industry. And the breed must have lasted many
generations, for we find initials and dates cut into the masonry as
far back as 1611 and as recently as the present century.

A wall around the church shows that restoration has been freely
carried out; as a matter of fact, it was started in 1881 and
continued for nine years, the fabric being in such a dilapidated
state that the work was costly and the parish not rich enough to
raise all the money at once. Happily, the Gipps family came to
the rescue and gave great financial assistance. The upper part of
the tower was almost re-built, and all the mullions of the windows
save those in the chancel are new. The walls are of flint and
superbly built, but a transept was added in 1876, unfortunately of
brick on one side and of plaster on the other, and it is quite out of
keeping with the rest of the building. Two long, narrow original
lancets are to be seen at the east end and a smaller one in the
other walls of the chancel, but two Norman lancets have been
blocked up.

The churchyard is a spacious one to-day, but not so long ago
it was very restricted. So the parishioners made representations
to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who purchased a plot of land
adjoining, but there was not a farthing in the coffers to pay for
laying out the new hit of God's Acre. Not to be beaten, the men
of the parish determined to carry out the work themselves. They
began in September and worked every evening and every Saturday
afternoon, and when the day of consecration by the Bishop of Dover
arrived, what pride was in their hearts! They had completed their
work-—footpaths, the turf brought into cultivation, and a neat iron
fencing placed around it all. Here in the centre of the new
churchyard is the stone cross surrounded by a box hedge containing
the names of Beltesbourne heroes who died in the Great War :—

 

.a,/,1

 

BF.Kl'-ZSBOFRNF. 7

Captain W. Howard, W’. T. Goldup, P. Moore, F. W. Kingsford,
S. J. Bushell, A. Bean, \\'. Gibbs, H. Hoare, J. Knight, W. C. V.
Newport, G. E. Cage and _l. Mepsted.

A dark little church is St. Peter's, for the windows are few
and small, with deeply-tinted stained glass. You can enter either
by the west door under the tower or from the Norman doorway
in the north; but whichever way you walk inside you are struck
by the darkness, the narrowness of the building and the tlint walls.
For there»are no aisles or chapels—just the nave, the chancel and
the modern transept, which is now used as a vestry. But there is
something charming about the crudencss of these polished l'lints—
they have nothing to hide by the aid of plaster. Here you see
them just as the masons laid them centuries ago. And what arduous
work with old—\vorld tools!

The original Early English arch leading from the nave to the
tower is acutely pointed, and the style of the chancel arch carries
out the idea of the original one. It was entirely re-built as we see
it to-day during the restoration which commenced in 1881, and at
that time the oak screen was placed here. The only other arch is
the one that leads into the transept, and this is wooden with
ornamental capitals. Above the altar are two beautiful, long, narrow
lancets, and in three niches large carved figures. Other things to
notice are a remarkable double piscina and a benitier. The piscina
is in the chancel and consists of two bowls, with a shaft, obviously
of later date, running up between them. The benitier is just within
the entrance on the north side of the nave and, although somewhat
rough in formation, has a good ogeed head. All the equipment of
the church—choir stalls, pulpit, lectern and font—is "modern, but
the deeply-splayed thirteenth-century windows of the chancel are
worthy specimens of the style of the Early English period.

There are only two brasses in the church, both mere inscriptions.
One is dated 1593 and commemorates Henry Porredge, with Latin
verses; the other records the death in 1600 of Margaret, daughter.
of john Coppin, wife of Mark Cullinge. It states that she left one
son named Mark and one daughterhamed Katherine.

The west window was erected by the widow of George Gipps,
of Howletts, who died in 1883. The two lancets in the east end
of the chancel were placed there in memory of their parents by the
children of George and Jane Gipps. On the south wall of the

 

 


 

 

8 A SAUNTER THROUGH KENT

chancel is a‘window erected in 1885 by George Bowdler Gipps f‘ in
thankful remembrance of a special mercy." The two-light window
on the same side of the chancel was erected in 1893 to the memory
of David Thomas Smith, churchwarden. On the north chancel wall
is _a lancet erected to the memory of three members of the Gardner
family—Austen, Harriett and Reginald Charles«—all of whom died
between x853 and 1860. Also in_this wall is a lancet erected in
1886 to Johannis Mears. The coloured windows in the nave are
erected as follows :—-A two—lig_ht window to William and Elizabeth
Sharp and their son William, in x886; a three-light window to the
memory of Eliza Sargent in x890; a single-light window to Mary
Wardell and Mary Ramsay, erected in x883; a window of two
lights to James Craiqie Robertson, fourteen years vicar of the parish
and late Canon of Canterbury Cathedral; and a three-light window
dedicated to Jane Gipps, the younger, the date being 189:.

On the walls are many mural tablets, far more than in most
village churches, and they recall the names of many local worthies.
Here is the list :—-To the children of the Honble. and Rev. Wm.
Eden and Anna Maria Dowager Baroness Grey de Ruthyn; to the
Hon. and Rev. \‘Vm. Eden, who died in 1859, and his widow,
Anna Maria Lady Grey de Ruthyn, who died in 1875; to the Rev.
William Bedford, fifty-seven years vicar of the parish and fifty-six
years rector of Smarden (1783); to Isabella May Wardell, seventeen
years organist, the memorial having been placed here by many of
her friends in 1926; to Sir Thomas Pym Hales, Bart. (1773),
representative of the Port of Dover; to Annae Battely, with a Latin
inscription; to Sir Philip Hales, Bart., at whose death, in 1824, the
title became extinct, and also his wife, Dame Elizabeth Hales, who
died in 1833, and their only child, Elizabeth; to Lady Yates, relict
of the late Mr. Justice Yates and of Dr. Thomas, Bishop of
Rochester, her death occurring in x808; to Robert Peckham, late
of Archbishop‘: Palace (1795); to Richard Fogg, Esq., “descended
of the ancient family of Foggs of this county. He faithfully served
King Charles the First as captain of several of his men-of-war at
sea, and he died in 1681"; to Henry John Wardell, seventeen
years vicar of Bekesbourne, erected by his parishioners and friends
in 1893:’ to Commander George Gipps, R.N._, who died in 1916,
the stone having been placed by his sisters, Edith Weir and Maud
Hill; and to john Peckham, Esq., who died in 1792 and was
descended from the ancient family of the Peckhams, of Chart Sutton.

 

aaxasaouam-2 9

By the pulpit is a tablet to the memory of Norman Ramsay,
Second Lieutenant, xbth Battalion Rifle Brigade, youngest son of
Robert Ramsay, of Howletts, killed in action in France, 19:6. This
pulpit was erected by his brothers and sisters in 1921. Half hidden
by the organ is a memorial to Philippi Branden. An inscription on
a brass tablet on the south wall reads as follows :—"This church
consecrated to the Glory of God in Xll. Century was restored
A.D. I88:-I890 chiefly by Jane Gipps the younger Who also gave
6 bells and by other members of her family—Henry john Wardell,
M.A., Vicar." Two other brass tablets are to the memory of
Richard Nelson Bendyshe in 1915, and to Cuthbert Gardner and
Florence Balleine, the date being 1895.

At the last restoration a fine monument was removed from another
part of the church and placed in the tower wall. it is of marble
and the figure of a knight in armour is represented as kneeling on
a cushion at a prayer desk. It is a very fine bit of carving. Sir
Henry Palmer, to whom this memorial was erected, died in I611
after living at Cobham Court for many years and becoming a leading
man in this part of the county.

In addition to the church, Bekesbourne, so strangely neglected
by historians and equally unknown to the average wayfarer owing
to its obscure position, can boast of much old-world history. In
fact, this tiny inland hamlet was a limb of the Cinque Ports and,
more strangely still, connected with Hastings, which is not a Kent
port. As such it was compelled to contribute men or money to
the Cinque Ports‘ fleet. and in the thirteenth century it provided
one ship. One peculiarity of its position was that Bekesbourne was
outside the police jurisdiction of the county of Kent, and malefactors
at one time had to take their trial at Hastings. \Vhat was the
elfect of this law‘-’ Felons and others would rush to the place as

a sort of sanctuary, for no other than the Hastings authorities dare
arrest them. At last the Mayor of Hastings hit upon a happy
solution—he appointed a leading inhabitant of Bekesboume as his-
deputy mayor, and this important personage was empowered to try
prisoners at the Court House, now known as Cobham -Court. To
be practical one of the Mayors of Hastings at last refused to appoint
his deputy of Bekesbourue, and as years passed the parish became
merged into the police administration of Kent. But during its
existence as a limb of Hastings it came into notoriety when in the

;

   


 

12 A SAUNTER THROUGH KENT

many mistakes when he states that this gate-house was demolished,
for here you see it to-day—a square brick building of the very early
Tudor period. The doorway is of stone, and windows at the side
have also stone mullions deeply set in the walls of great thickness.
On one wall are two stones let into the brickwork, on one of which
is inscribed the arms of the See of Canterbury and Archbishop
Parker, while on the other one is carved “A.D.—T.C.—i552" and
underneath Archbishop Cranmer's motto, “ Nosce Teipsum et Deum."
inside the building, which is now used as a residence, are to be
seen some old beams, a chimney corner, and ancient stained glass
in a window.

There is no doubt that this part of Kent was a vast settlement
of the Romans, and every mile of land, if it could be dug up, would
disclose remains of that period. When the railway was being made
a remarkable wooden structure was discovered thirteen feet below
the surface of the soil. A shaft had been made out of heavy beams,
and below was a cavity no doubt used as a sepulchre. The timber,
which had become jet black by age but had remained quite hard,
formed a shaft three feet three inches in diameter. In the sepulchre
were found several urns in which had been deposited the burnt
bones of the dead. It is probable that it was the burial place of
an important Roman and his family. Later on, close to the same
spot, was found another shaft, but this was not composed of timber
and was a mere hole dug in the ground. At the bottom were Hints,
but no human remains could be discovered.

Whispers only were heard during the Great War; you dare not
speak about it. Like mushrooms, strange buildings sprang up
in various parts of England, and especially just inland from the
coast of Kent. Herc were quartered our gallant airmen, ever
watching for the approach of the enemy from across the Channel.
No longer was Bekesbourne a peaceful little village, silent save for
a passing train or motor, or the song of the ploughman and chirruping
of birds. Sometimes at night the distracting buzzing of airplanes
starting on a flight broke the silence and the'old people of the
village who had been left behind and the youngsters would listen
in fear lest ill should befall these young heroes of the Air Force
who had endeared themselves to everyone. On more than one
occasion the Germans spotted the aerodrome, but the bombs they
dropped just missed the hangars, the workshops and the quarters

 

BEKESBOURN ii 13

of the garrison. Then came peace and the cluster of buildings was
empty until bungalow dwellers found them out and formed the
colony which lives there to-day. The huge hangar is used by the
members of the Kent Flying Club.

Here at Bekesbourne l came across an old Kent superstition. ln
days gone by the village midwife provided two garments—a boy's
nightshirt and a girl's nightgown.

“To be quite prepared if the child was a boy or girl?" I
suggested to the dear old lady who was telling me the story.

“Next 'zackly,“ she replied. "I only put these clothes on just
for a moment, just for luck. lf it was a girl I puts on the boy's
shirt; if it was a boy l puts on the girl's nightgown. lt meant
that when the boy growed up all the girls would fall in love with
him, and the opposite with the girl——she'd have all the lads after
her!”