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“W%/

HISTORY OF CHARLTON PARK

THE HOUSE; THE LAND; THE PEOPLE

33 cw: Wales.

Haw; fgrckowivhm 190/k’ 0”!
11 October 2015

M 21mm swm ‘


1. Caesar's Battle with the Britons 54 BC

On his second invasion of 54 BC, Caesar landed ( as in 55 BC ) at Deal, having decided that
Dover harbour ( which was further up the Dour estuary than now ) was too well defended.

After a night march of 12 Roman miles ( 11 statute miles) he was attacked by the Britons from
higher ground to the north—east of Bridge on the morning of 8th July. They used their chariots and
cavalry effectively, but were easily defeated by superior Roman infantry and cavalry.

Caesar writes clearly ( if briefly) of this encounter in “The Conquest of Gaul”. He says the
Britons advanced to a river ( he uses the word “flumen” which means any watercourse; it does not
imply the English distinction between “river” and “stream” ) — clearly the Little Stour - and then
attacked him from higher ground. This is an obvious tactic for them, as it would give scope for
deploying their chariots. Barham ' wn was relatively open ground at that time; pollen evidence
shows that much of the woodland on the Downs between Bridge and Wingharn had been cleared
by the early Bronze Age. Afier defeating them, Caesar conducted mopping-up operations as they
hid in the woods at a well-defended point ( possibly Old England's Hole on Bridge Hill, or an
unidentified location ). His army stormed their position easily.

The next morning, he sent 3 columns of combined infantry and cavalry to pursue the fleeing
enemy, but then had reports that many of his ships had been damaged or lost in a gale, so recalled
his troops and returned to Deal. —

It is very likely that some of the mopping-up operations were through what is now Charlton park
and Boume park.

Spurious ideas have achieved some currency that a) the battle was “ at the river” - which is the
opposite of what Caesar says, and would make no sense for the Britons who expected their chariots
to be a key weapon; b) that the battle was at the Great Stour or even ( as claimed by Camden) at
Chilham, which is twice the distance from Deal; c) that the Britons initially retreated to Bigbury
west of Canterbury; d) that the neolithic long barrow in the Stour valley known as “Juliberries'
Grave” commemorates Laberius Drusus, who Caesar records as being killed in combat with the
Britons, but does not say where.

Some of this seems to come from Camden, who is frequently fanciful and inaccurate. Bede, who
is ofien used by historians of the 16th and 17th centuries, merely quotes what Caesar wrote,
without speculating fu.rther. None of these fictions have any evidential basis.


2. Bishopsbourne

The name is originally Bourne (Burnes in Domesday Book) and became known as
Bishopsbourne as a result of ownership of the manor by the Archbishopric of Canterbury fiom 811
to 1543.

There are no known remains of Celtic or Roman settlement in this part of the Elham valley,
although there are some individual remains. Along the Dover-Canterbury road above there are of
course many remains.

The Little Stour valley seems to have been settled in the Jutish period after 500 AD, initially from
Wickhambreux ( which remained the centre for many years ) and then developed up the river via
Littleboume, Bekesbourne and Patrixbourne. The various subsidiary settlements became
communities in thier own right over time. Burnes is an Old English word, unlike place-names such
as Dover, Cray, Lympne and Stuiry, which are pre-Roman Celtic.

By 800, Bishopsbourne was clearly a thriving agricultural community, which is presumably why
the Archbishop was keen to own it. In 799, Archbishop Aethelheard persuaded King Cenwulf of
Mercia ( then the dominant English kingdom ) to make various endowments and gifts to the
Church, some of which had been previously confiscated by King Ofi‘a. These included 4
ploughlands in Bishopsboume to the monks of St Augustine's Abbey. In 811, Archbishop Wulfred
( 805-33 ) took the Bishopsbourne ploughlands for himself, in exchange giving the Abbey his
lands in Eastry, Lympne and Old Romney. Wulfred was very acquisitive; in 809 he bought 7
ploughlands at Barham for £30. Bishopsbourne remained in the ownership of the serving
Archbishop until 1543. Both the Domesday Book ( 1086 ) and the Domesday Monachorum of
ChristChurch ( c.1100) make it clear that Bishopsbourne belonged to the Archbishop, not the
Abbey or the Church as such. Wulfred seems to have gone to some lengths to establish this. When
his nephew Werhard, a senior priest, died in 832, his will says that Wulfred had instructed him to
return to the church of Canterbury land he had given him, including 44 hides in Bishopsbourne and
36 in Barham.

At the Reformation in 1543, Sir Thomas Colepeper, the elder brother of the Thomas Colepeper
who was executed for adultery with HenryVIII's 5th wife, Catherine Howard, and a close associate
of Thomas Cromwell, acquired the manor of Bekesboume fi'om St Augustine's Abbey, which was
being dissolved. In 1544, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer agreed with Colepeper to swap
Bishopsbourne for Bekesbourne, which he preferred as a location for the retirement palace he
planned. So Bekesbourne, not Bishopsbourne, became the site of the palace. Colepeper, who
bought and sold property as a business, promptly sold Bishopsboume to Sir Anthony Aucher. The
Aucher family owned the manor of Bishopsbourne for the next two centuries. Sir Anthony himself
died of injuries sustained while defending Calais in 155 8. '


3. Domesday Book 1086
In Barham Hundred
Bishopsboume
In Lordship ( ie of the Archbishop of Canterbury)

6 sulungs (in theory, 240 acres each)
Land for 50 ploughs ( c.f Maidstone 30; Whitstable 26; Ickham 12; Chartham 15 1/2; Barham
32)
In lordship 5 ploughs; ( i.e. 45 held by others)
64 villagers with 53 smallholders have 30 1/2 ploughs ( i.e 117 dwellings; of Maidstone 44;
Elham 49; Barham 72; Eastry 94; Bekesbourne 29)
A church ( i.e Saxon; predecessor to the current Norman church )
2 watermills
20 acres of meadow
woodland (no size given)
15 pigs
from grazing 27 (1.
value £30

Plough - the taxable amount of land that can be ploughed by a team of 8 oxen

Sulung — 4 yokes or 8 hides

Hide - the amount of land that could support a family ( often stated as 120 acres )

- made up of 4 virgates or yardlands ( “Hide” appears to derive from a word meaning
“family” )
Yoke - 2 hides


4. The Little Stour

Clearly, the river along the valley was at one time a permanent stream. The villages would not
be there, otherwise, or have had the wealth and importance they had in Anglo-Saxon times and
later. In Domesday Book ( 1086) Bishopsboume had 2 watermills, and 117 dwellings, making it
the 18th largest of 377 locations surveyed in Kent, and a quarter the size of Dover, then the largest
town in the county. Barham had 25 commercial fishponds, as well as a Watermill. At some time
between then and the late 18th century, when surveyed by Hasted and Seymour, the river became an
intermittent winterboume. The Village had also declined in population, to the very small number
( 45-odd ) of houses shown on the 1839 Tithe map, and listed in the 1851 Census. Barham ,
Derringstone and Kingston also became very small, and remained so until into the 19th Century.

John Speed's map of Kent of 1610, which is normally accurate, shows the river as flowing from
Lyminge, along the current route of the Nailbourne. Saxton's less accurate map of Kent, Surrey
and Sussex of 1575 does not show the river upstream of Bishopsboume, but he is often vague
about the upper reaches of rivers, as of other things.

The change was too early to have been brought about by excessive human water use. A possible
reason is that the river comes from springs in the chalk body behind F olkestone, which is the UK's
most active earthquake zone. Possibly, one or more earthquakes disrupted the flow at some point.
There was a major earthquake around Hythe and Saltwood, for example, in 1580. Possibly also,
the recent higher activity levels of the Nailbourne may relate to recent earthquakes altering the
situation again, although disruption from the building of the Chunnel may have had an effect.


5. Charlton

The name derives from Anglo-Saxon Ceorl ( later churl ) who in Anglo-Saxon times were the
lowest and largest class of free men - with considerable status. They had the right to bear arms;
attend local courts, and ( crucially ) paid their dues and owed their allegiance direct to their local
King. Charlton is a common English place-name, meaning the settlement (normally a farm ) of
ceorls. The place-name Carlton and the names Carl and Charles also derive from ceorZ.. Ceorls
formed a relatively independent and powerful peasantry as existed elsewhere in Europe.

C eorls were a central and important element of Anglo—Saxon society, which was considerably
freer and more open than Norman society after the disastrous invasion of 1066. By the 12th
century, ceorls had lost much status and freedom, and many ended up as villeins - the semi-slaves
tied to local lords. ( Villein derives from the Roman villanus - employee of a landed estate ).

Charlton Farm in Bishopsbourne appears in the records as Cherlton in 1240, and as Cherltone in
1338. It does not appear ever to have been a separate manor, but was an established farmstead
within the estate or manor of Bishopsbourne. The name of course is of Anglo-Saxon origin.
Bishopsbourne was a flourishing agricultural community from before 800 AD, so it is likely that
there have been dwellings and farm buildings on this site for at least 1200 years.

Bishopsboume was a fieehold estate from 1544. Whether the Herringe family bought Charlton
farm from the Aucher family at some time after that, or - more likely - it was a hereditary holding,
with some clues payable to the lord of the manor, has not been established.


6. Herringe family

James died in 1598

In his will of 1598 he refers to himself as a “yeoman”.

His eldest son John was born in 1563, and apparently died 1565.

David or Daniel Herringe died 1600, and Matthew Herringe in 1594. They were probably
James's brothers. '

James's other children were;

William, born 28 December 1573, who inherited and sold the property in 1606,
Edward, born in 1567 but who appears to have died young

Robert born in 1579 d.l580

Martha born in 1571

Joan, born 1565


7. Gibbon family

John Gibbon ( 1557-1617 ) was the third son of Thomas Gibbon of Bethersden.
He married first, Elizabeth; second Jane, who later married Edward Rolt ( d.1625 )
His son William ( b. 1600; d.1632 ) inherited.
His daughter Mary ( d.1680 ) married Edward Aucher of Willesborough. Edward was the
younger son of Sir Anthony Aucher of Bourne, and brother of Sir Anthony Aucher. Bt.
This was clearly the link by which ownership of the Charlton estate came into ( or reverted to )
the Aucher family.
The Gibbons were collateral ancestors of Edward Gibbon, the historian.


8. Aucher family in Bishopsbourne

The manor of Bishopsbourne came into the hands of the Aucher family via Sir Thomas
Colepeper.

Colepeper was a close associate of Thomas Cromwell, as was Sir Anthony Aucher, who was one of
the Commissioners for Kent dealing with the dissolution of religious houses. Colepeper acquired
many properties in Kent and elsewhere, and traded a lot in property . He owned Bedgebury
Manor, Goudhurst, Kent, fiom 1541 until his death in 1558. He bought Higharns Park, Bridge, in
1534. He acquired the manor of Bekesboume from St Augustine's Abbey as it was being dissolved
in 1541.

When Colepeper agreed to swap Bekesbourne for Bishopsbourne with Cranmer, a specific Act
was passed in 1544 giving him the freehold ownership of Bishopsboume. ( Cranmer was obviously
Very keen to get Bekesbourne ). Colepeper also acquired the manor of Kingston in 1544 fiom Lord
Thomas Wentworth of Nettlested, and rapidly sold it to Sir Anthony Aucher.

Kingston was sold by the later Sir Anthony in 1647 to Thomas Gibbon of Westcliffe, who in 1648
settled it on his second son Richard Gibbon. They were collateral descendants of the Gibbons who
owned Charlton park 1606 - 36.

Sir Anthony Aucher ( 1500 - 1558 ) acquired the manor of Bishopsbourne from Sir Thomas
Colepeper in 1544. He already owned the manor of Otterden. He was Marshal of Calais, and was
killed defending it when it was lost to the French in 155 8 .

His second son Sir Edward ( 1539 -1568 ) married in 1560.

Edward's son Anthony Aucher( 1562 -1610) married Margaret Sandys, and had 2 sons,
Anthony (his heir) and Edwin, who married Mary, a daughter of John Gibbon. His daughter
Elizabeth married into the Hammond family, owners of St Albans Court, Nonington.

His son Sir Anthony Aucher ( c.1586- 163 7) was knighted in 1604, married Hester ( d.1637) in
1605, and inherited Bishopsbourne and 3 other Kent manors on his father's death in 1610. He had a
colourful life, with many financial problems, which led him and his business partner Sir Thomas
Hardres to flee the country in 1623 for several months to escape their creditors. He had transferred
his estates to feoffees (trustees for land) to preserve them, and it seems that it was a considerable
time before they were all released.

The Aucher family and their descendants owned the manor of Bishopsbourne for over 2 centuries
from 1544, acquiring ( or re-acquiring ) the Charlton estate in 1636 from the Gibbon family.

Sir Anthony Aucher b. 1614, became a baronet in 1666. He died in 1692. He was MP for
Canterbury from 1660. He married twice; first in 1635 Elizabeth Hatton ( d.1648), with whom he
had 7 sons, all of whom predeceased him. He married Elizabeth Hewytt ( b. 1652 ) in 1681 , by
whom he had 2 sons and 2 daughters. His successors were his son Anthony, who died aged 10 in
1695, and his son Hewitt ( b.1687 ), who died unmarried in 1726. The baronetcy then became
extinct. The Aucher estates were inherited by his daughter Elizabeth, who had married John Corbet
in 1710.

Aucher was a Royalist in the Civil War, and was imprisoned in the Tower by Oliver Cromwell for
a period in 1643 as a result. It seems that when the Dower House was built in the late 1600's, the
tunnel linking it to the main house was built also. It is brick, of the same type as the Dower House,
and is approximately 5ft 6 inches wide and 7ft high. It has a concealed entrance in the Dower
House into the side of a double inglenook fireplace. Its most obvious use is as an escape tunnel -
presumably Aucher's experiences gave him a healthy regard for personal security. It is not clear who
in the Aucher family lived in the house; typically, it would have been used as the home of one of


the sons or another important’ family member. John and Elizabeth Corbet appear to have occupied
the house fiom 1710 until 1726, when Sir Hewitt died, afier which they lived at Boume Park.

Sir Anthony had a long and eventful life. Apart from his spell in the Tower, his opposition to
Cromwell meant that he was to flee abroad in 1648, at which time his first wife died at Calais. He
was also fined £700 for supporting the King, and had to sell his manors of Kingston and Lyminge in
1647 as a result. He returned from the Netherlands after a while and lived quietly until 1659,
when he helped organise a Cavalier movement to support the return of Charles H. Charles was
suitably grateful and gave him a baronetcy in 1666.

Sir Hewitt Aucher left Charlton farm among other estates to his sister Elizabeth ( b.1682 ) , who
had married John Corbet ( d.l735 ) in 1710. On her death in 1764 the estate was inherited by her
5 daughters, who sold individually to Francis and later John Foote. One of the daughters married
Stephen Beckingham, and the Beckingham family remained involved in Bishopsbourne for another

century.


9. The Foote Family

The property was originally bought in segments by Francis Hender Foote ( b.1723 ) , from the 5
surviving granddaughters of the Aucher family, from 1764 onwards, when Elizabeth Corbet, ( nee‘
Aucher) died . He died 1773, and his son John Foote completed the acquisition of the property in
1785. Francis married Catherine Mann in 1749, a sister of Sir Horace Mann, a famous cricketer of
the time, and also an MP. She died in 1776.

John Foote died 1800 at only 45, and the property was inherited by his son Robert, at the age of
17. Robert married Charlotte-Augusta Keppel in 1802 aged 19. She was the daughter of the
Bishop of Exeter, and her grandfather was Earl of Albemarle. The Keppels had come to England
with William 3rd in 1688. She was born in 1771 , so was 12 years older than him. They had one
son, Keppel Robert Edward Foote in 1811, who died in 1851. He and his wife Helen or Ellen
( nee‘ Whitfield, who he married in 1834 ), who died in the same year, had no children. In 1843 he
was described as a wine and brandy merchant of 35, Seething Lane, in the City of London, and in
1841 he and his wife were living in Guilford St, St Pancras with a staff of 1.

Robert was High Sherifi of Kent in 1815, and a Gentleman of the King's privy chamber.
The Foote's link to the King - in itself surprising for relatively obscure country gentlemen - most
likely arose via Edward Foote.

Robert and Charlotte-Augusta F oote by the 1840's were living in reduced circumstances in
Bedford Place, Sidmouth, Devon, where Robert died in 1845, and his wife in 1852. In the 1851
Census, she still referred to herself as “ Earl's granddaughter” so was presumably fairly snobbish.
Robert Foote's death certificate refers to him as “Gentleman of the Queens’ Privy Chamber”. They
clearly clung to their Royal connections.

George IV and Elizabeth, Marchioness of Conyngham.

Their affair apparently started in about 1819, and continued to his death in 1830.

She was his last and very favoured mistress, with her own suite of rooms at Windsor Castle.
Her husband, who gained fiom her liaison with the King by becoming Marquess of Conyngham,
was happy about the affair. Their country home Bifrons in Patrixbourne was close by.
Presumably it would have been bad form for the King and his mistress to stay together under her
husband's roof; hence the need for an alternative. Elizabeth was 3 years older than George, and
similarly plump. He was devoted to her.

There is a verbal tradition that, at a party in the ballroom, an ofiicer of George's household, for a
bet, jumped 21 white horse out of one of the ballroom windows. The horse is said to have died.
Nothing is known of what happened to its rider.

George visited the area frequently from the 1790's, partly to review troops - for whom Barham
Down was a frequent bivouac - and also to attend the famous annual races in August on Barham
Down. It is possible that he Visited Charlton Park from the early 1800's, which would agree with
one tradition that the ballroom was built to entertain him in about 1811, to a design by Hemy
Holland.


Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Foote.

Born at Charlton Park in 1767. Like many second sons, he went into the Navy, where he did
well, becoming a post-captain of the red in 1794 and a favourite of both George III and George IV.
He became a vice-admiral of the blue in 1821. In 1798, he was given command of the Seahorse
in the Mediterranean at the King's request. In June 1799 , he was the senior naval officer in
Naples when he signed a convention with defeated rebel leaders after the collapse of the French-
created Parthenopean Republic, assuring their safe transfer to France if they handed over the city
peacefully, which they did.

When Nelson arrived, he countermanded Foote‘s orders. The rebels were handed over to King
Ferdinand IV and most, including women, were executed. Nelson had broken Foote's word.
Nelson was criticised for his role in this, but Foote maintained silence on the issue until long after
Nelson was dead. Foote never had a war command again. Instead, from 1802 to 1812 he was
captain of successive Royal Yachts. After that he became semi-retired. He was made KCB in 1831.
In 1810 he published a justification of his conduct in Naples. Jane Austen had a high opinion of
him.

Jane Austen (1775 -E817)

Tantalysingly, JA knew two branches of the Foote family well, and as Charlton Park is
between Godmersham and Goodnestone ( both places where she spent quite a lot of time), it is
unlikely she did not visit the house fiequently. However, none of her surviving letters mention
Robert Foote, his wife, or the house. Of course, only about 5% of her letters survive.

Her links with the area were extensive. Her brother Edward ( 1767-1852 ) was adopted by
the Austen's childless relations Thomas and Catherine Knight, who owned Godmersham, and he
inherited the estate on their death. He married Elizabeth Bridges ( 1773 - 1808 ), sister of Sir Brook
Bridges of Goodnestone in 1791. Their eldest daughter Fanny ( b.1793 ) was a great favourite of
J A's. They spent the early part of their married life at Rowling, before moving to Godmersham
when he inherited. Elizabeth died in childbirth with her 11th child, to the great sorrow of her
husband and JA.

She knew Robert Foote's uncle, Captain ( later Admiral) Sir Edward Foote RN, his second
wife Mary, and his daughters Catherine and Caroline from his first marriage. His four daughters
with Mary were still infants when J A died. She refers to dining with him in Southampton, where he
lived, and Catherine — who JA liked - visited the Austens in London.

She was also very friendly with Robert F oote‘s cousins, the children of John Foote, a banker
in London. John Foote ( b.1747) was the son of Francis Hender Foote's elder brother Benjamin
Hatley Foote, and was married to Eleanor  His children included several daughters who JA
knew well, and who were close - as she was - with the Bridges family of Goodnestone. All will
have stayed at Charlton Park frequently, as well as at Goodnestone. Eleanor Foote ( b. 1778 )
married Sir Brook Bridges in 1800, becoming Lady Bridges, and produced 3 sons, but died in
1806. ( Bridges's second wife produced no children ). Harriet ( 1791 - 1864 ) married Sir
Brook's younger brother Edward Bridges ( 1779 - 1825 ) who went into the Church, in 1809.

JA was critical of Harriet in some of her surviving letters, and clearly had a soft spot for Edward.
There have been suggestions that JA and Edward might have contemplated marriage around 1805.
Lucy Foote ( b. possibly 1786 ) was described as also wanting to marry into the Bridges family,
but failed, and married William Locker of Newport, Isle of Wight in 1823. He died in 1843.
Whether I A met the Prince Regent at Charlton Park is an interesting speculation.


10. General Sir Frederick William Mulcaster

Bought the Charlton estate after a successful and lucrative military career. He added the east
wing some time between 1839 and 1846. He had the road moved to the other side of the
Nailbourne, building the two small bridges to do so. He also had the lake dug.

Interestingly, the Tithe map of 1839 does not show the road between Kingston and
Bishopsbourne, which passed through the park. It is clearly marked elsewhere, for example on the
map of the Kinghamford Hundred prepared for Hasted's book in 1799, and on the first Ordnance
Survey map in 1819.

The suspicion must be that Mulcaster hoped to close the road, and had sufficient clout to persuade
the makers of the Tithe map to exclude it.

The Mulcaster family clearly saw Charlton as the family seat, and several who do not appear ever
to have lived there have memorials in the church. In fact, Mulcaster's ownership lasted only 18
years.

Tattersall family.

William, who bought the house, was born in 1817 and died in Canterbury 1902. John Cecil de
Veel Tattersall was born 1856, died 1930. He married Nora Mary Dorothea Beatson in 1910,
when she was ( apparently) 44. Their son was born in 1915, but died on 11 June 1936.

From 1851, Census returns give full details. (This started in 1841, but Bishopsbourne is one of a
few places in Kent where the 1841 Census returns are missing). Interestingly, from 1851 to
1911, there are always about 10 stafi‘ in residence at Charlton Park, but with rare exceptions names
do not recur.


11. Sir John Prestige ( 1884- 1962)

One of the more colourful characters who have lived in Bishopsboume, Prestige was clearly a
very effective operator, if somewhat autocratic.

In 1937, when the Tattersall's sold Charlton Park, Prestige wanted to buy it, in order to pull it
down, and was annoyed with Sir Francis Humphrys for buying it instead.

The Prestige's were partners since the 1840's in J. Stone and Co, founded by Josiah Stone, who
were brass, copper and iron workers and mechanical and general engineers in Deptford. The
owners did very well out of World War 1 and later. John Prestige had spent time around 1900 with
car manufacturers in Paris as part of his engineering apprenticeship, which left him with a lifelong
interest in expensive cars.

He formed the 16th battalion ( Deptford) County of London Volunteer Regiment. during WW1
and received the territorial rank of Major.

He was one of approximately 1500 men who bought a knighthood through Lloyd George's agent
Maundy Gregory , which he did in 1919. The going ( and well-publicised ) rate was £10,000. It
was a famous scandal that Lloyd George and Gregory operated during the Liberal Government
between 1916 and 1921. ( They also invented the OBE for those who could not afford a
knighthood, and sold about 25,000 of them. )

He bought Bourne Park in 1927, and is chiefly known for pulling down the historic rectory where
Hooker lived; pulling down part of Oswalds, and trying to have Bourne Park pulled down. Luckily,
he did not manage to buy and pull down Charlton Park.

George De Chabris ( self-styled “His Serene Holiness the Prince de Chabris” )
An even more colourful character

A Canadian con-man who appears to have arrived in the UK in the 1960's, claiming to be a multi-
millionaire. He married Joan Marks in London in 1971, after which he styled himself George
Marks De Chabris. His main claim to fame was that Jeremy Thorpe gave him the job of running
the National Liberal Club (which was a huge, grand and rapidly deteriorating building) in 1976.

He sold off the library, moved his family into the club, paid his children's school fees from club
funds, and ripped the club off for large sums. He was fired after a year, but not prosecuted as the
Liberals found it too embarassing. He fled to Florida, where he died in Coral Gables in 2001.

A company he set up in Florida ( long since defunct) was C.P. Holdings Inc , which may refer to
Charlton Park.


APPENDIX 1
Charlton Park, Bishopsbourne
Owners

1 The Herringe family, who presumably built it around 1570. It was probably on the site of, or
adjacent to, and earlier farmhouse. James Herringe, the likely builder, died 1598. He had married
Margerie Chamber at St George's, Canterbury on 22 January 1563, so was probably born aroxmd
1535-40. His eldest son, John, was born in Bishopsbourne on 1st August 1563 and apparently died
2 years later. He describes himselfas a yeoman in his will in 1598. His son Wflliarn ( b 1573 )
sold in 1606 to John Gibbon. There were numerous members of the Herringe family in East Kent ,
with several living in Bishopsbourne in the 16th century; the first record is of a birth in
Bishopsboume in 1563.

2 Gibbon family. John Gibbon (b. Bethesden, 3rd son of Thomas Gibbon) d. 1617

William, his son, d. 1632

William's heirs sold it to Sir Anthony Aucher, the lord of the manor of Bishopsbourne, in 1636

Aucher was the owner of Boume Park, which his family had owned since buying it from Sir
Thomas Colepeper ( elder brother of the Thomas Colepeper who was executed for his affair with
Catherine Howard, 5th wife of Henry VIII ) in 1544 after the Reformation.

3 Aucher family, initially Sir Anthony Aucher( 1586 -1637 ), whose male line died out, and with
it the baronetcy created in 1666, in 1726. It was inherited by his daughter Elizabeth Corbet, and
then by her 5 daughters. The first one sold her share in the property to Francis Hender Foote on
Elizabeth's death in 1764, followed by others. He died 1773. The Foote family gained full
control 1785.

4 Foote Family. - Francis Hender Foote ( 1723 - 1773 )
Son; John Foote ( 1755 - 1800)
His son ; Robert ( 1783 - 1845 )

It was while owned by Robert that the house hosted several female cousins who were close
friends of Jane Austen. Later, King George IV and his mistress Elizabeth, Marchioness of
Conyngham stayed at the house on numerous occasions, for which the western extension including
the ballroom was built. It is possible that George, when Prince Regent, visited the house before his
affair with Elizabeth Conyngham started in 1819, which raises the interesting point of whether he
and Jane Austen met there. If so, it is likely that any letter she wrote on the topic would have been
high on her sister Cassandra's list to destroy.

Robert and his wife Charlotte Augusta raised a mortgage of £9000 in 1826, and then sold to
Major-General Frederick William Mulcaster for £14,000 on 16.10.1828

5 Mulcaster ( 1772 - 28.2.1846 ). And his wife Esther ( d. 27.7.1845 )
His heirs sold to John Sneller 6.8. 1851 for £12,000.
The 1839 Tithe map shows Mulcaster owning approx 452 acres, of which about 300 acres was
tenanted. Mulcaster added the East wing in the 1840's. He also moved the road to the other side of
the Nailboume, building two bridges to do so, and had the lake dug.

6 John Sneller sold to F W Curteis 26.1.1853 for £8500

7 Curteis sold to William Scott 20. 10 1859 for £8625


8 Sold by Scott at auction 4. 6. 1868 to William Tattersall for £3000 ( 159 acres freehold).
One obvious reason for the decline in the price of the estate over this period was that approximately
300 acres ( probably the part previously tenanted) had been sold off.

Tattersall family. Afier the death of William's son Capt. John Cecil de Veel Tattersall in 1930,
and his only son, Robert Cecil Beatson Tattersall in 1936 at the age of 21, trustees for his widow,
Nora Mary Dorothea Tattersall ( d. 1942 ) sold to Sir Francis Humphrys 29.1. 1937. The purchase
by Humphrys forestalled an attempt by the then owner of Bourne Park, Sir John Prestige, to buy the
property and pull it down.

9 Sir Francis Humphrys raised a mortgage on the property from Samares Investments on 22 5

1 942.

The house was requisitioned by the Ministry of Defence 1939/40 -1945, then sold by
Humphrys to Dr Bamardo's on 10.1.1946. On 8 12 1947 Humphrys sold another property to
Ba.rnardo's - presumably Tudor Cottage. It seems he never moved back to Charlton Park, but when
he died in Berkshire in 1971, a memorial to him was placed on the north wall of the church.

10 Dr Bamardo's home 10.1 1946 - 31. 12. 66 The house was then empty for 2 years until
sold at auction to Underwood.

ll Bought at auction 23.7.1968 for £24,000 by Lt-Col Michael Underwood and his wife
Rosalind together with 47 acres. On 8.7.1968, 107.8 acres of land was sold by Barnardo's to
Hubert Hemy Smith Roberts, ofAckho1t House, Nonington for £19,500. This parcel had been
sold by Humphrys to Dr Barnardo’s on 10.1. 1946. Barnardo's sold other properties such as the
Dower House and Tudor Cottage separately. The acreage involved suggests that it had not changed
appreciably since the sale by Scott in 1868. Underwood had been in the Cameron Highlanders,
had served in the Malaya emergency, and hoped to make money running pop concerts.

One, starring Pink Floyd in 1970, was fairly successful. A later attempt in 1972 was not, and caused
great annoyance in the village.

12 Bought by George de Chabris, the Canadian conman, despoiler of the National Liberal Club

and friend of Jeremy Thorpe, in 1972

He was rarely in Bishopsbourne. He had married Joan Marks in 1971, after which he referred
to himself as George Marks de Chabris. He also awarded himself an ill-defined European title.
He sold off most of the National Liberal Club in 1976 for personal gain, and nearly bankrupted the
party. They did not prosecute because it was too embarrassing. He fled to Miami, where he died in
2001.

13 Bought by Valerie Bailey 1 9 1978
14 Bought by Jonathan Ewart and Heather Hay F french 1980
15 Bought by Kenneth Brown 20 11 1981

l 16 BoughtbyMrandMrs P. ATwigg 25.8 1988


APPENDIX 2

1 Francis Foote (b.1696 ) and his wife Mary Hatley, heiress of Benjamin Hatley ( b.1695 )

3
Francis Hender Foote
(b. 1723; d 1773)
m. 1749 Catherine Mann
(d.l776 )

children

1 John Foote (b 1755; d.1800)

Foote family relationships
Malling Abbey, Kent
children
1 2
Benj amin-Hatley Foote John Foote
(b. c. 1720 )
wife Mary Mann -
children -
1 George Talbot Hatley Foote none

2 John Foote ( b. 18 January 1747)
Banker in London
In. Eleanor Martin 1775

John Foote (London) 's children

1George (b.1776 )

2 John (b. 1777 )

3 Charles (b 1780 )

4 E1eanor(1778 - 1806)
5 Harriet (1791 - 1864)
6 Lucy (?b1786-)

7 Anne

8Mary

m. Mary Cocket 1778
2 Robert (1757 - 1804)
3 Sir Edward, RN ( 1767 -1833)

4 Caroline (1749 -1778;
died unmarried)

5 Catherine ( 1754 -1808)

6 Mary (d. 1789 unmarried)

John Foote (Bishopsboume ) 's children
1. Robert ( 1783-1845)
m. 1802 Charlotte-Augusta Keppel
( 1771-1852)
2. Edward James ( Major) ( d. 1824 )
3. John ( Capt. RN)
4. Mary ( 1772 - 1848)

5 . Adeline


Robert Foote inherited Charlton Park at 17 in 1 800, and married Charlotte-Augusta Keppel
(1771-1852) at 19 in 1802.

They had I son; Keppel Robert Edward Foote, b.1811. He married Helen (also “ Ellen” )
Whinfield in 1834. they had no children. Both died in Southampton in 1851, possibly from the
same cholera epidemic.


APPENDDC 3
History of the land, house and people of Charlton Park 11.10. 2015
Relevant books, documents and maps
A. General and specific history

1 Caesar; The conquest of Gaul ( 54 BC ) ( short account of battle against Britons on Barham
Down )

2 Bede; Ecclesiastical History of the English People ( c.730 AD )
(recounts Caesar's account of the battle )

3 F R H. DuBoulay; The Lordship of Canterbury ( 1966)
(re agreements and charters on the ownership of Bishopsboume 600 -1300 )

4 Alan M . Everittg Continuity and Civilisation — the evolution of Kentish settlement ( 1986 )
(re the period 500 — 1500 )

5 Domesday Book; Kent ( 1086)

6 The Domesday Monachorum of Christ Church, Canterbury ( c. 1100 )
7 Christopher Saxton; map of Kent, Surrey and Sussex ( 1575 )

8 John Speed; Map ofKent (1610)

9 Charles Seymour; Topographical, historical and commercial survey of Kent ( 1776)
( aspects of Bishopsbourne, Charlton Park and related history 800 ~ 1770 )

10 Edward Hasted; History and Topographical survey of Kent Vol. 9. ( 1799)
( similar, including map of Kinghamford Hundred )

ll Ordnance Survey Old Series; Kent ( 1819)

12 Tithe Map and field, crop and and ownership analysis of Bishopsbourne parish ( 1839 )

13 Frederic Seebohm; The English Village Community ( 1883 )
( re Anglo-Saxon and later village social structures and holdings )

14 F TV'me; Caesar in Kent ( 1887)
(reconstruction of Caesar's battle against the Britons, July 8,54 BC )

15 H F Abellg History of Kent ( 1898)
( repeats several earlier errors )

16 Charles Igglesden; A saunter through Kent ( 1923 )


17 C W Chalklin; Seventeenth-Century Kent ( 1965 )

18 Frank Jessup; A History of Kent ( 1974 )
( general historical summary)

19 Terence Lawson & David Killingray; An Historical Atlas of Kent ( 2004 )
( general historical summary, with some data on Bishopsbourne )

20 Stuart Brookes and Sue Harrington; The Kingdom and People of Kent AD 400-1066 (2010 )
21 Judith Glover; The Place Names of Kent ( 1976 )

22 Peter Heather; Bishopsbourne (Unpublished thesis, University of Brighton 1979)

B. The Jutish period ( c.50O — c.800 )

1 J E AJoliffe; Pre-Feudal England — the Jutes ( 1933 )

2 K P Witney; The Kingdom of Kent ( 1982 )

3 K P Witney; The Jutish Forest ( 1976 )
(re the Weald of Kent 450 — 1380)

4 John H Williams; The Archaeology of Kent to AD 800 (2007 )

C. Memoirs etc
1 Jane Austen; Letters (Folio Society 2003 )
2 Admiral Sir Edward J. Foote RN; Captain Foote's Vindication

3 Christopher Scobleg Letters from Bishopsboume ( 2010)


D. Well-known geographical and historical surveys which do not have any useful material
on Bishopsbourne or Charlton Park.

1 John Leland; Itinerary; Kent ( 1545 )
2 William Larnbarde; APerambulation of Kent ( 1570)

3 William Camden; Britannia; Kent ( 1586)
( Discusses Caesar's battle 54 BC; inaccurately. Sloppy on some other history )

4 John Ogilby; Survey of the principal roads of England and Wales ( 1675 )
5 Celia Fiennes; The Journeys of Celia Fiennes ( 1685 — 1703 )
6 Daniel Defoe; A Tour through the Whole Island of Great Britain ( 1726 )

7 William Cobbett; Rural Rides ( 1830 )