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probably they who rebuilt the church in the thirteenth
century, from which work the chancel and the tower survive, and who were
responsible for the rebuilding of the nave in the following century; they
may also have contributed to the improvements carried out the fifteenth
century.4
The acquisition of the advowson seems to have been part of a
process whereby the Hospitallers became firmly established in the
north-westerly region of Kent. It was also in the reign of John that a
munificent benefactor, Robert Basing, gave them a manor at Dartford and
the manors of Sutton and Hawley. At Sutton they established beside the
Darent a commandery, of which only the chapel now survives. What else
remained was demolished when, in 1755, Edward Hasted,: the Kentish
historian, set himself on the road to penury by building the house which,
incorporating the chapel, is called St John's Jerusalem.
Over the years, the Hospitallers had their financial ups and
downs. A decided up turn occurred when the |
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Knights Templar were suppressed in 1313 and many of
their valuable possessions, including in these parts the Temple Manor at
Dartford, were passed to the Hospitallers. From these major accretions to
their wealth may have stemmed the Decorated work in Ash church.
At some time the Hospitallers also acquired an estate in Ash,
which came to be called the manor of St John’s Ash. Little is known of
it, save that it was apparently treated as an appendage of the Hospital’s
manor of St John’s at Sutton and administered from the Sutton
commandery.5
There is no evidence as to when the Hospitallers made their
first presentation at Ash, but it seems likely that the earliest rector of
Ash to whom it is possible to put a name, one Master Gregory, was chosen
by them. Gregory’s name has only survived because he was, in company
with other local worthies, a witness to a deed made in the |