the King’s disposal of the manors of Ash and Holiwell and of the advowson. All three were granted to Sir Martin Bowes, a Yorkshireman by birth who had sought and achieved advancement in more southerly climes. Bowes was master of the Mint for more than a decade, and in 1540 was Sheriff of London. In 1545, about a year after he became lord of Ash, he was Lord Mayor. Subsequently, he was a member for London in several Parliaments and for three years was Prime Warden of the Goldsmith’s Company.²  In so busy a life, he may not have found time to reflect that his possessions in Ash had stemmed from his sovereign’s unhappy passion for one lady or distaste for another.
   Although Bowes became a Kentishman by adoption, there is no reason to suppose that he ever made his home in the parish of Ash, even if, which may be doubted, suitable accommodation existed for him there. He already owned Suffolk Place Farm at Plumstead, 

which he had bought from the Duke of Suffolk, and he received from the King at the same time as Ash the manor of Ruxley. Two years later, he added to Ruxley by purchasing the adjoining manor of North Cray. All those were nearer than Ash to the place where his principal interests lay. Certainly in his later years he was living in or near Woolwich, where he built in 1560 five spacious almshouses, traditionally as a thank-offering for the rescue of his son from drowning. He died in 1566 and was buried, as were also his three wives, in the church of St Mary Woolnoth.³
   From Bowes time forth, the manor of Ash passed by descent, partition, marriage or gift, but never by sale. So, too, has passed the advowson, which still remains in private patronage. From the same time, or a little earlier, dates another, but more usual, continuity, the keeping of the parish registers. For