Betteshanger - Bradshaw's Directory 1847
BETTESHANGER PARISH
BETSHANGER, written in ancient records Betteshanger, is a small pleasant and healthy parish, 3½ miles S.S.W. from Sandwich, it contains 396 acres of land, mostly inclined to chalk. In 1841, here were 3 houses and 18 inhabitants; population in 1801, 38; in 1831, 20. Rateable value £1,331
THE CHURCH, dedicated to St. Mary, is a neat little edifice consisting of two aisles, chancel, and low spire with three bells; over the south door is a circular arch with zig-zag moulding, under which is the figure of our Saviour, this seems much older than the church itself. In this church are buried many of the family of Boys, and thirteen neat marble tablets adorn the walls. A magnificent memorial, made by Sheemaker, upwards of twenty feet high, with the arms of Morrice and Wright elaborately carved, is erected to the memory of Salmon Morrice, Esq., Vice-Admiral of the White, who died in 1740, and of Elizabeth his wife, daughter of William Wright Esq., who died 1733. There is no parsonage or glebe, though in the 26th of Henry VIII, it is stated there were then seven acres. The living is a rectory, valued in the King's books at £6 4s. 4d., enjoyed by the Rev. N.D. Morris, in whose family the patronage of the rectory is vested. Rent charge £169 4s.
The Manor of Northbourne claims paramount over this parish, subordinate to which is the MANOR OF GREAT BETSHANGER, which was among the lands assigned to Hugh de Port, by the service of performing ward to the Castle of Dover. It was held of his descendants, St. John's by knight's service, by a family named De Marinis. Roger Lychfield died possessed of it in the fourth year of Henry VIII, and his eldest daughter carried it in marriage to Thomas Cocks, Esq., who, at the latter end of that reign, sold it to John Boys, Esq., afterwards knighted, he died without issue in 1612, leaving this estate to Edward Boys, his nephew who resided here for nearly fifty years, and it is supposed re-built the mansion. His son, John Boys, possessed it, and was a member of the long Parliament, which began in 1640. He died in 1678, and was buried here. Edward Grotius Boys, by his will, gave this manor to his kinsman the Rev. Thomas Brett, rector of this parish, and he, about the year 1713 sold it to Salmon Morrice, Esq., a captain in the royal navy, and in 1733 was promoted to the rank of Admiral. He nearly re-built this seat in which he resided till his death in 1740. It is now the seat of William J. Denne, Esq. Mr. Richard Edwards is also a resident in the village.