right of his wife, Jane, a daughter of Sir Edward Guldeford; and he with the license of Henry VIII conveyed it to Sir Thomas Cromwell (created Earl of Essex for his services in suppressing the religious houses, afterwards attainted and executed). He sold it to Henry VIII, and it remained in the hands of the Crown until the next reign, when it was granted to Sir John Baker, of whom I shall again speak.
   On Leigh Green (which also gave the name to a dene) stood Finchden, which I am disposed to think was held by one family for a longer continuous period than any other property in Tenterden; say for more than 400 years. "Dene" appears to have been a suffix to the original name, and afterwards dropt. One of this family, William de Fynchdene, was Chief Justice of the Common Pleas (not King's Bench, as stated by Hasted) in the reign of Edward III. Elardendene, or Elarndene, was held of the manor of Frid, in Bethersden, and belonged to the Maneys of Biddenden in the fourteenth century.
   The Hales family, owners of Hales Place, at one time held about one-sixth of the town; and the Guldefords

were possessed of Kenchill and East Asherinden; but these families were comparatively modern owners, who flourished during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Mention of them will be made by the Rev. R. Cox Hales and Canon Jenkins. I will therefore close my account of the early owners and their estates with a reference to Light -Notinden, Gatesdene, East Asherinden, Godden, and Morgue; and I trust I shall succeed in attaching a little more interest to some of these places than they have hitherto possessed.
   Light's-Notingden and East Asherinden (a forgotten name) were two small manors, and before that denes. Our three Kentish historians, Philipot, Harris, and Hasted, all class them together, and tell us that they belonged partly to a chantry in Tenterden founded by John Light, and partly to the manor of Brook, near Wye, held by the priory of Christ Church, Canterbury, and were granted by Henry VIII, on the suppression of the chantry and priory, to his Attorney-General, Sir John Baker, of Sissinghurst, who was also the Attorney-General of Edward VI and Queen Mary. Here