Aspects of Kentish Local History

So much for John Bowra's map. The information it gives is supplemental by a lease of the farm granted in 1778 by George Children to "Thomas Streaton of Ivy Hatch in Ightham, Blacksmith." The lessor excepted and reserved from the letting a "piece of ground containing in breadth [blank] feet of assize ...... " through the four named fields "in which ...... is a pipe or pipes laid for the conveyance of certain springs or wells of water on Ightham Common to the seat of the Rt. Hon. William, Lord Viscount Vane, called Fair Lawn."
   This passage establishes the use of the pipe. The distance from the source of supply to the mansion house at Fair Lawn is 1 1/10 miles in a direct line and half as long again by the nearest practicable route, which had to avoid the crest of the Ivy Hatch ridge above the level of the spring. Inspection of the ground suggests that the course of the pipe was kept as high as possible in order to shorten the route.
   A chance find enables a date for the making of these waterworks to be named with some confidence. After the death, in 1901, of Colonel D. W. G. James, Lord of the Manor of Ightham, numerous ancient books and loose papers were removed from the Court Lodge by a local dealer --- at one shilling a barrow-load, it is said! Among them was a fragment of a draft or copy of a deed dated 1646 containing the following passage:
   "All that triangular piece ...... of Waste land called Ivy Hatch Plane being parcel of the Common of Ightham, 

containing ......... eight acres, wherein the Fountain, wells and springs of waters are late found and made by the said Sr Henry Vane......... "
   This triangular piece of land includes the sites of the Pump House and spring.
   Sir Harry Vane bought several hundred acres of Ightham Common in 1633¹ and between that year and 1646 he had "found and made" his "Fountain." Whether these expressions cover the laying of the pipe to Fair Lawn is uncertain, but the inference that all the works were done soon after Vane added Ightham Common to his estate, and while the pride of ownership was still strong, is reasonable.
   The relation of a pump house to the works is obscure. Its site was behind the modern dwelling-house, a few feet above the level of the spring and off the line of the main conduit. The marking of "the Cistern" on John Bowra's map may give the key. The spring would fail or its flow be greatly reduced in dry weather, and a storage cistern filled by pumping from a well at the pump house might be needed to ensure an adequate supply of water to Fair Lawn in all seasons.
   In conclusion it may be noted that the field called The Moors adjoins Rose Wood,² Doll Field is also known as Dowles,³ and on
  ¹  Arch. Cant., LIII, 18.
   ²  Arch. Cant., XLV, 162, and XLIX, 76, 79.
   ³  Arch. Cant., XLIX, 71.