Aspects of Kentish Local History

THAT curious and whimsical antiquary, William Gostling, taking his Walk In and About the City of Canterbury nearly two centuries ago, did not fail to wend his way down Northgate Street. First he came upon Jesus Hospital, the charitable foundation of Sir John Boys, and then "farther on and within the city liberty  . . . . . on the river a little way from the road" he espied Barton Mill. There he observed that "some remains of flint walls by the wayside thither, and a chapel near the mill, pretty entire, seem to show there was once a considerable enclosre"; but, he added, "neither the Canterbury antiquarians, nor common tradition give any history of it."¹ Unhappily Gostling had omitted to consult the Antiquities of William Somner, for it is that most redoutable of Canterbury antiquaries who tells us that "Barton Mill was sometimes, and that from old times belonging to Christ Church, where the Monks' Corn was ground for their own spending within the Court."² In the Dean and Chapter Library, Canterbury, there have fortunately survived a large number of documents bearing upon the history of the Barton and its management. It is therefore proposed in this article to amplify the statement of William Somner and to show the peculiar importance of the Barton in the

domestic economy of Canterbury Cathedral Priory.
   The name barton (O.E. beretun) is derived from two Old English words, bere = barley, and tun = an enclosure. In its primitive form, therefore, the word barton simply designated a granary for barley. Soon, however, in its Latin guise bertona, which is common in Christ Church records before the end of the twelfth century, it came to have a more extended meaning and to be used for a home-farm, —an area of land held in demesne for the lord's own profit. With this second and wider connotation the word barton is frequently encountered in this country in the later middle ages. Thus the Manor of Barton was the home-farm of Ramsey Abbey, and manors of the same name served a like purpose for houses as wide apart as the cathedral priories of Ely, Bath, and Winchester. The monastic barton, or home-farm, was, in fact, a common institution in medieval England. Bartons were also to be found, though less frequently, on collegiate and lay estates.
The barton of Christ Church, which must be at once distinguished
  ¹ 1825 ed., p. 35.
   ²  Ed. N. Battely (1703), p. 25.