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Archaeologia Cantiana -  Vol. 1  1858   page 41

Archbishop Warham's Letters (1518? to 1528?), (from H. M. State Paper Office)

first, as the correspondence of one of their Archbishops, a right famous man in his better days of Henry VII., before he was eclipsed by Wolsey; and secondly, for their local interest.
   Otford, from which several of them are dated, the favourite residence of the Archbishop, was rebuilt by him on his quarrel with the citizens of Canterbury, at the enormous cost of £33,000. It pleased Henry VIII. to cast an eye of favour on the place, which was resigned by Cranmer to his Majesty in 1537.
   The College of Maidstone, originally the parish church of St. Mary of Maidstone, created into a college by Archbishop Courtenay, was parted with by Archbishop Cranmer to Henry on the same terms and at the same time. It is now part of the estate of Lord Romney. Charring, spoken of at p. 16, followed the same fate as Maidstone and Otford. It was part of the most ancient possessions of the Church of Canterbury. Eventually it passed into the hands of the Whelers. An account of its remains at the beginning of the last century is given by Hasted. (Hist, of Kent, iii. 213, n.) It may be needful to state that the Chronology of the letters has been determined by internal evidence alone. 
   Of the persons mentioned in these letters, William Whetnal, at p. 32, was of Hextalls, in East Peckham; William Waller, of Groombridge, a collateral ancestor of the poet; Henry Fane, of Hadlow, of the lineage of the celebrated Treasurer of Charles I.'s time. Sir Edward Wotton, at p. 39, was of the Wottons of Bocton Malherbe; Richard Clement, of the Mote, in Ightham; Serjeant Willoughby, made Chief Justice, 29 Hen. VIII., was of Bore Place, in Chiddingstone. We shall print an ancient survey of Otford in a future number.

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