Aspects of Kentish Local History

wood which is on a bend and it is in fact at the angle of a V-shaped stretch of woodland at the head of a valley. We have now to discover the Sutton from which it took its name. It is proposed to show that the Sutton in question is probably Waltham itself, and in support of this thesis to adduce evidence that Waltham was the southern part of the Manor of Petham and that it has probably no right to the -ham ending which now distinguishes its name.
   Waltham is not mentioned in Domesday Book but is included in the paramount Manor of Petham. This is said to have two churches and, since a D. Mon. Record shows that Waltham and Petham churches together paid the Easter fee of a single church, there can be no doubt that the second church in Petham Manor was that of Waltham lying to the south. Other records in the D. Mon. speak of named places, now in the parish of Waltham, as being parts of Petham Manor. There is therefore no doubt at all that Waltham was part of Petham Manor and, since it lay directly to the south of it, may well have earned and obtained the name suth-tun.
   The obvious objection to this theory is that any name with a -ham ending (unless corrupted) must be regarded as amongst our oldest settlements and little likely to have had a subordinate position at any early date. It is therefore interesting to note that, although Waltham is written "Wealtham" in the D. Mon., there are other records which make it appear that it may once have been spelt differently. 

In a charter written three hundred years earlier, i.e., in 824 (B.C.S. 372, 378), the boundaries of Godmersham are described in some detail. One of these is "Northan Wol Tune" and its position shows that this must be the detached portion of Waltham which lies to the north of the main part of the parish. This charter is a record which still remains to us and the boundaries are carefully written and do not show any spellings which would cast doubt on the knowledge or carefulness of the scribe responsible for them. We must therefore accept Woltune as the then name of what we now call Waltham. There is a further record which bears on this point although it is known only from a very late transcription in the Monasticon (II. 373). In 1084 Lanfranc established the Priory of St. Gregory outside the walls of Canterbury. He endowed it, inter alia, with the tithes of Whiteacre and Wadden Hall (both of which are in the parish of Waltham) and with those of a place called "Wolton." In the valuation of the Priory's property at the Reformation it appears that it had responsibilities in respect of the church of Waltham, and I do not know what other place "Wolton" can possibly be. We have therefore two records which suggest that about the time of the Conquest Wolton became Waltham and so remained for ever afterwards. This change is not so surprising as it may seem. King Harold's foundation of the Holy Cross at Waltham must have been well known to all churchmen and a scribe who merely heard the name