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Canterbury. On f. 34 of the MS. are drawings of four
shields of arms which Philipott had seen in Chilham church: those of
Ensinge and Roos which have already been described, and two others which
have since disappeared, viz. azure a lion rampant argent armed and
crowned gules (DARELL) and quarterly 1 and 4 argent a cross sable fretty
of the field, 2 and 3 sable a lion rampant argent crowned or (THWAITS).
In which windows of the church these shields were is not stated.
Some indication of the date of the existing glass is given
by the shield of Roos. On the death without issue of Giles de
Badlesmere, lord of Chilham Castle, in 1339-40, his estates were divided
among his four sisters, of whom Margaret, the wife of William, Lord Roos,
received Chilham as her share and entitled her husband to the possession
of it. In this family it continued until Thomas, Lord Roos, a firm
supporter of Henry VI, was attained and had his estates seized by Edward
IV in the first year of his reign. The glass cannot thus be later than
1461, and on the other hand its mature style suggests a date well after
the beginning of the century. We shall not, I think, be far wrong in
attributing it to the years 1420-50.
The family of Ensinge, whose arms accompany those of
Roos in the church, owned the manor of Ensinge, the house of which is
about a mile and a quarter northwards from the village. The earliest
occurrence of this family that I have met with is in the Kent Fines of 5
Edward II, when Nicholas de Ensinge is recorded as the purchaser |
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from
Benedict de Shamelesforde
and Ada his wife of 20 acres of land and appurtenances in Chartham.1
Later in the same year Nicholas made a further purchase of "2 acres
of land, 1 1/2 roods of meadow, and a moiety of two messuages and 5
virgates of land with appurtenances" in Wingham.2
Later entries in the Fines show that in the reigns of Edward II and III
the family owned property in numerous Kent parishes, including
Preston-next-Faversham, Selling, Ickham, Monkton, Lynsted, Teynham,
Doddington, and Wychling.
In the list of assessments in Kent for the Aid "to
knight the Black Prince" of 20 Edward III (1347-8) occurs the
following entry:
De Thoma de Enesynge pro vno feodo quod
Ricardus le Jouene tenuit in Chilham de Willelmo de
Wyltone vt de Castro de Chilham, xls.3
Robert of this family was in possession of the manor of
Ensinge in 1539, after which the property was alienated.
The manor of Herst (now Hurst Farm), in the south-eastern
quarter of the parish, was anciently held by a family of the same name,
who were in possession in 1347. Examination of the Fines and of the
Close and Patent rolls has failed to throw any light on the history of
the manor from that date until 1539, when it was in the possession of
1 Arch. Cant., XI,
345.
2 Ibid., 358.
3 Arch. Cant. X, 135. |