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Edward Hasted 1799

The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent

Vol IV.

[p. 180]

HAM

The parish of Ham, in the hundred of Eastry, lies the next to that of Northborne, described above in the hundred of Cornilo, north-westward. It is written in the survey of Domesday, Hama, and in several records, as Kings Ham (p).

THE MANOR OF HAM,

At the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in the 15th year of the Conqueror's reign, was part of the possessions of Odo, Bishop of Baieux, his half-brother, under the general title of whose lands it is thus entered in it;

In Estrei Hund. Osbn fili Letard ten de epo Hamma. p uno solin se defd. Tra e. . . . . . In dnio. e. 1. car. cu uno villo & 2 bord & 2 servis. T. R. E. valeb. 50 sol. & post 20. sol. modo. 60 sol. Tres teigni tenuer de rege. E.

Which is: In Estrei Hundred. Osbern, son of Letard, holds of the Bishop, Hama. It was taxed

[p. 181]

at one suling. The arable land is . . . . . In demesne there is 1 carucate, with one villein, and 2 borderers, and 2 servants. In the time of K. Edward the Confessor, it was worth 50 shillings, and afterwards 20 shillings, now 60 shillings. Three thanes held it of K. Edward.

Four years after which, the Bishop of Baieux was disgraced, and this, among the rest of his estates, was confiscated to the Crown; and the King having put the Castle of Dover under a new order of government, assigned this manor, among other lands, to Hugh de Port, for his assistance under John de Fienes, in the defence of that castle. These lands together made up the baroncy of Port, and were held by barony of Dover Castle, by the service of performing ward there for the defence of it.

In which grant this manor was esteemed as one knight's fee, under which notion it was held of his descendant, John de St. John (q), in K. Henry III's reign, by John Fitzbernard; soon after which, it appears to have been separated into moities, one of which was held by Henry de Sandwich, heir of Ralph Fitzbernard, in K. Edw. I.'s reign, in manner as above-mentioned (r), as it was by Ralph de Sandwich afterwards; soon after it passed into the family of Leyborne, for William, son of sir Roger de Leyborne, appears by the Escheat Rolls to have died seised of it in the 2d year of K. Edward II, leaving Juliana, the daughter of his son Thomas, who died in his life-time, usually styled from the greatness of her possessions, the Infanta of Kent, his next heir. She carried this estate successively in marriage to her three husbands, the last of whom was William de Clinton, created afterwards Earl of Huntingdon, and he in her right was seised of it in the 20th year of K. Edward III, when he, together with Richard Fitzbernard, paid aid at the making the Black Prince a knight, for the whole of this manor, as one knight's fee, which Ralph de Sandwich and Richard, son of John Fitzbernard, before held in Ham of John de St. John.

William de Clinton, Earl of Huntingdon, in the 28th year of that reign died possessed of his moiety of this manor (s), as did his widow Juliana, in the 41st year of it, without issue, and there being no one found who could lay claim to her estate, even by a collateral alliance, this estate, among the rest of them, escheated to the Crown (t), where it remained till K. Rich. II, granted it to sir Simon de Burley, knight-banneret, Warden of the Cinque Ports, and knight of the garter, but he being attainted in parliament in the 10th year of that reign, and afterwards beheaded, it became again vested in the Crown, and the King, in his 11th and 22d years, settled it on the Priory of Canons, alias Chiltern Langley, in the co. of Hertford (u), where it remained till the suppression of that house, anno 30 Henry VIII, when it came into the King's hands, and was next year granted, with the site of the priory and other estates and lands belonging to it, to Richard, Bishop Suffragan of Dover, to hold for his life, or until he should be promoted unto some ecclesiastical benefice of 100l. yearly value (v), which happened before the 36th year of that reign, in which this moiety of the manor was granted by the King to sir Thomas Moyle, knt. (w) who alienated it in the 2d year of K. Edward VI, to sir Robert Oxenbridge, knt. (x) who becoming possessed of the other moiety in right of his wife Alice, daughter and coheir of sir Thomas Fogge, knt. enjoyed the whole fee of this manor, which his descendant passed away at the latter end of Q. Elizabeth's reign to Edward Boys, of Betshanger, esq.

The OTHER MOIETY of this manor, which in the 20th year of K. Edward III, was held by Richard, son of John Fitzbernard, passed from him into the family of Criol, and sir Nicholas de Cryell, or Keriell, died seised of it in the 2d year of K. Richard II, and from him it devolved at length by succession to sir Thomas Keriell, knt. who was slain at the second battle of St. Alban's, in the 38th year of K. Henry VI, in asserting the cause of the House of York; on whose death, without male issue, his two daughters became his coheirs, and on the division of their inheritance, this moiety of the manor was allotted to Alice, married to John Fogge, of Repton, esq; afterwards knighted, and he in her right became possessed of it, and by his will devised it to his son sir Thomas Fogge, knt. Sergeant-Porter of Calais, both under K. Henry VII. and VIII, who dying without issue male, Alice, one of his two daughters and coheirs, upon the division of their inheritance, first carried it to her husband

[p. 182]

Edward Scott, of the Moat in the co. of Sussex, esq; and afterwards to her second husband sir Robert Oxenbridge, knt. (y) who having purchased the other moiety of this manor of sir Thomas Moyle became entitled to the entire fee of it, which his descendant passed away as above-mentioned, at the latter end of Q. Elizabeth's reign, to Edward Boys, of Betshanger, esq; whose descendant, Edward Grotius Boys, dying without issue in 1706, gave it by will to his kinsman, Thomas Brett, LL.D. (z) who not long afterwards alienated it to sir Henry Furnese, of Waldershare, bart, whose son sir Robert Furnese, of the same place, bart. died possessed of it in 1733, as did his son sir Henry two years afterwards, under age and unmarried, upon which this manor, among the rest of his estates, by the limitations of his grandfather's will and his father's settlements, became vested in his three sisters as coheirs of their father in equal shares in coparcenary in tail general, with such remainders over as the same was limited to. After which, by a decree of the Court of Chancery and agreement between the sisters, a writ of partition was executed, anno 9 George II, by which this manor was wholly allotted, among others, to Anne, the eldest sister, wife of John, Viscount St. John (a), which partition was confirmed by an act of parliament passed next year (b).

Their son Frederick, Viscount St. John, succeeded to it on his father's death, and on the decease of his uncle Henry, Viscount Bolingbroke, in 1751, to that title likewise, and dying in 1787, his eldest son George, Viscount Bolingbroke, became possessed of it (c), and in 1790, sold it to Mr. Thomas Petman, of Eastry, and he is the present owner of it (d).

A Court Baron is held for this manor

There is a yearly fee-farm rent of 7s. paid for this manor of Ham, alias Kings Ham, and another like rent of 1s. 6d. for another part of this manor.

UPDOWNE PLACE

is a seat in this parish, situated in the hamlet of Updowne, in the north-west extremity of it, adjoining to Eastry. This seat, for beauty of situation, for healthiness of country, and extent of prospect, stands almost unrivalled, even in these parts, where pleasantness and beauties of situation are entitled to constant admiration. The prospect from it commands a delightful view over the adjacent country, the North Foreland, Ramsgate, the Town of Deal, the Downs, and the adjoining channel.

The estate formerly belonged to Mr. Richard Thompson, of Waldershare, who alienated it to Captain Thomas Fagg, of Dover, who first fitted it up as a gentleman's residence. He died in 1748, and was buried in this church. After whose death it was sold, according to the direction of his will, to sir George Oxenden, of Dean, bart. and he, in 1752, conveyed it to his son Henry Oxenden, esq; who, as his father had before, resided here occasionally, and made some improvements to it; and afterwards passed it away, in 1761, to Matthew Collett, esq; who laid out much money in the further beautifying of it, making several plantations round it, and purchasing an adjoining farm, which he added to the grounds of it (e). He died possessed of it in 1777, and was buried in the nave of this church, after which his widow became entitled to it, and resided here, during which time she purchased of sir Edward Dering, bart. another small farm, part of the Furnese estate, adjoining to the former in this hamlet (f); but she alienated the whole of her estate here in 1778 (g) to John Minet Fector, esq; of Dover, Banker and merchant, who in 1786 enlarged his property here by the purchase of an estate, called Updowne farm, in this hamlet (h); since which he has added considerably to the size and improvement of his seat, and has imparked the lands

[p. 183]

round it, and he is now the possessor of it, and resides here occasionally (i).

PRESENT STATE OF HAM

The village of Ham, having the church adjoining to it, contains only four houses. It is pleasantly situated on high ground, the hill sloping towards the north-east. There are about 500 acres of land in this parish; the soil of it is in general fertile, consisting partly of chalk and partly of a rich loamy earth. The grounds, which are mostly arable, are open and uninclosed, at the extremity of which, towards the east, is the high road to Deal. Northward of the village, the ground falls towards Ham bridge, over the south stream (k), where the lands are marshes and pasture. About three quarters of a mile southward from the village is the hamlet of Updowne. This parish is about a mile and an half from north to south and not more than half a mile in breadth from east to west. There is no fair, nor is there any parochial charities.

BOTANY

The following scarce plants have been observed here:

Sysimbrium sylvestre, water rocket; found in the ponds of this parish.

Nymphæ alba ^{[white water lily]}; found among the same (l).

THE ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION.

Ham is within the eccesiastical jurisdiction of the diocese of Canterbury and deanery of Sandwich. The church, which is dedicated to St. George, is but a small mean building (m).

The church of Ham was granted and confirmed by Archbishop Baldwin, about the latter end of K. Henry II.'s reign, on the resignation of Stephen de Leyborne, sometime Parson of it, and at the petition and presentation of sir William de Norfolk, knt. lord of the soil, to the Prior and Convent of Ledes, to hold to them in pure and perpetual alms; and he constituted them canonically Parsons in the said church (n). After which, Archbishop Edmund, in the year 1235, granted to them, in the name of a perpetual benefice, forty shillings yearly from the said church of Hammes (o).

In which state this church continued till the dissolution of the Priory of Leeds, in the 31st year of K. Henry VIII, when it was surrendered into the King's hands, and the advowson of this rectory has ever since continued in the Crown, the King being at this time patron of it (p),

This rectory is valued in the King's books at 5l. 6s. 5½d. and the yearly tenths at 10s. 7½ (q). In 1588, here were communicants 29, and it was valued at 50l. In 1640, only 20 communicants, and it was of the same value. It is now computed to be of the yearly value of 60l. (r) There is some glebe land, but no parsonage-house.

CHURCH OF HAM

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