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Thomas Darell, Esq., of Scotney Castle in
Lamberhurst. The family of Darell were of ancient descent — their name
occurs in the Battle Abbey roll — but their estates were in Yorkshire,
and they did not come to Kent until 1410, when John Darell purchased the
manor of Calehill in Little Chart. He soon assumed a prominent place in
the public life of the county, being made Commissioner of the Peace,
1411; Sheriff, 1414; and Commissioner of Array, 1415.1
He died in 1438, leaving by his second wife, Florence, niece of
Archbishop Chichele, a son, Thomas, who inherited Scotney, and whose
descendents continued in possession until the eighteenth century. At
what date the Darells of Scotney acquired the manor of Herst, and
consequently were likely to have placed their arms in the windows of
Chilham church, is, unfortunately, unknown: we can only say that it was
before 1539.
The remaining shield, that of Thwaits, would appear with
fair certainty to have dated from the time of Henry VIII, in whose reign
the manor of Esture (now East Stour Farm) in Chilham was acquired by
Edward Thwaits through his marriage to Mary, daughter and heiress of
Thomas Ellenden. About the middle of Elizabeth's reign the manor was
sold to the family of Moreton.2
The second MS. (B) which contains matter relating to the
Chilham glass dates from about 1794, and contains numerous careful
descriptions of the glass and monuments in a large number of Kent
churches, by Zachariah Cozens.3 |
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Of
Chilham it says (p. 483)4:
"In the nave.
"In the Eastern division of the East window at the
North side is a fine female head with long flowing hair, having on an
Earl's coronet; it is apparently the remains of a large whole length
figure. I well remember the head of a man in the other division of the
same window [p. 484] which has been taken out upwards of twenty years.
In the third window from the same end, are the Arms of Roos (now
Lord Ross of Ross in Scotland) viz. gu. three water
bougets Ar. [These were doubtless the windows of the clerestory: it
seems evident from what follows that they were not those which we have
been discussing. At present there are small fragments of grisaille and
yellow stain in the westernmost windows on north and south sides, and in
the middle window on the north side.]
"In the south transept.
"In the two Eastern windows are many pieces of
bordering, but no figures, only two fine heads, a male and female.
[There is only one east window, of three lights, to the south transept.
Small pieces of garments, and canopy work, wrongly made into a border,
remain in it.]
1 Calendars of Close and Patent
Rolls, Hen. IV and V passim.
2 Hasted, VII, 280.
3 For additional notes on this MS., see my
"Medieval painted glass of Boughton Aluph," in Arch. Cant.,
L. pp. 131-9.
4 The MS. is numbered by page, as in
a printed book, and not by folio. |