The River Limen at Ruckinge

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THE RIVER LIMEN AT RUCKINGE.

BY GORDON WARD, M.D., E.S.A. IN a paper entitled " Sand Tunes Boc " in Arch. Cant., XLIII, 39, there is evidence that the River Limen, in A.D. 732, ran south of West Hythe in or near the line of the WiUop Sewer. It is now proposed to consider another group of early references to the same river which show that in A.D. 724 it passed through the southern part of the parish of Ruckinge. It might seem that this could hardly be doubted and so needs no discussion ; but this is not the case. There are those who think that any waterway which existed near West Hythe could only have been an inlet of the sea and need by no means have been connected, at that date, with any actual river. Indeed, one has only to glance at the huge literature of the geology of Romney Marsh to perceive that any hght which history can throw on its welter of conflicting theories wiU be gladly welcomed. Hence this essay. In the year 724 Kong Ethelbert of Kent (which was stUl an independent Kingdom) gave to the Abbess MUdrith (of Lyminge) certain land " circum flumen Limenae quam dudum possederant qui in Ieccaham pro tempore habitabant," that is, land " about the river Limen which those who hved in Ickham at that time had formerly possessed " (Birch, Cart. Sax., 141). There is here no mention of Ruckinge, but that the land " about the river Limen" was reaUy at Ruckinge is shown by subsequent records. In 785 Offa of Mercia, who had by that time conquered Kent and confiscated whatever he wanted, gave to his thane Ealdbeorht and Selethryth his sister certam lands at Ioccham (Ickham) and Palmstead (Perhamstede) together with named dens in the Weald and elsewhere (Birch, Cart. Sax., 247). This grant was renewed or confirmed in the year foUowing. The dens in the Weald are the same but the principal lands are now

16 130 THE RIVER LIMEN AT RUCKINGE.

Iocham, Peorhamstede and Hroching (Birch, Cart. Sax., 248). In the year 805 King Cuthred granted or confirmed to the same thane and his sister, who has now become Abbess Selethryth of Lyminge, two ploughlands " in loco qui dicitur Hrocing quod est positus in utroque parte fluminis Liminea " —" in a place which is caUed Hrocing which is placed on either side of the river Limen " (Birch, Cart. Sax., 1336). One further series of records connects Ruckinge and Ickham. These are those of the Domesday period by which time Lyminge Monastery and its possessions (aU that the Danes had left) had long passed into the possession of Christ Church, Canterbury. In Domesday Book we read under the description of Gecham (Ickham) : "Of the land of this manor WUham the Archbishop's man holds as much as is worth seven pounds." In the Domesday Monachorum it is worded rather differently and for our purposes much more helpfully, thus—" WiUiam de Hedesham [Adisham] has one suhng at Rocinges worth seven pounds." This also is entered under the description of Ickham and as part of the possessions of Christ Church. Without going more deeply into the matter of these various charters it seems fairly clear that the " land about the river Limen " of 724 was the " land on either side of the river Limen " of 805 and also the " Rocinges " of 1086/7, and, one may add, the Archbishop's manor of Ruckinge of stiU later years. We must turn next to the map. The Court Lodge or Manor house is stiU shown and also the adjacent manor church with its elaborate Norman doorways. But the River Limen is less easy to discern. The church stands on a low hill overlooking the marsh to the south. Below it we come very quickly to the upper hmit of Sedbrook Watering, that is, of the jurisdiction of the old drainage authorities of the Marsh in this area. Just south of this the Royal Mihtary Canal crosses the map and its towpath levels are marked as 10, 9, 10, 10, 9 and 10 from west to east. From one to two-thirds of a mUe south of the canal are the loops and bends of the Sedbrook sewer. Surface levels are rarely THE RIVER LIMEN AT RUCKINGE. 131

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marked here but what there are show the same levels as the canal towpath. A mUe to the south of the Sed-brook (as it must once have been caUed) we reach the hmits of Ruckinge parish. It is natural enough to suppose that the Mihtary Canal must foUow the line of the old river Limen. But there is no warrant for this in known record. AU the maps made prior to the time of Napoleon (whose activities occasioned the making of the canal) agree in representing the Sedbrook channel and in failing to represent any other waterway crossing the southern part of Ruckinge. The bends in its course show clearly that it is no product of modern engineer- ing and the fact that it has given its name to one of the waterings of the marsh shows that it must be of great antiquity. Kettebregge, one of the two bridges crossing it in this area, is so named before 1250 (Brit. Acad., VII, 126) but Bunting Bridge is not at present to be traced further back than 1617 (Poker's map). It is perhaps asking too much to suppose that the river Limen did not alter its course in any way between 805 and 1932. But judging from the general habits of marsh rivers, we may be very sure that it never foUowed the straight course of the canal, and judging by what records are avaUable we may very properly suggest that part of it at least remains to-day as that branch of the Sedbrook sewer which flows through the southern part of Ruckinge. That the West Hythe or WiUop section of the river Limen of 732 was continuous with the Ruckinge or Sedbrook section of 724 can hardly be doubted. It follows that any theory of the formation of the marsh which can merit acceptance must aUow for the fact that between 724 and 732 the river Limen ran along the north-western side of Romney Marsh to an exit somewhere to the south of West Hythe. ( 133 )

THE S A X O N C H A R T E R S OF B U R M A R S H .

BY GORDON WARD, M.D., F.S.A.

THESE charters, of which there are several, contain much that is of great importance to students of the origin of Romney Marsh. The viUage and church of Burmarsh he at the eastern end of the marsh in the Hundred of Worth. The parish is bounded on the north by the ancient course of the river Limen and on the south by the parish of Dymchurch. It is wholly within the marsh and its eastern extremity adjoins the shingle banks towards Hythe.

THE GAMELANWYBTHE CHABTEB. The original of this charter is in the British Museum (Cotton Augustus, II. 73) and is reproduced in Part III, Plate 11, of the FacsimUes. It is dated in the year 946 and records a grant by King Eadmund, King of the Enghsh, to two brothers named Ordhelm and Alfwold of land which is described as foUows : " Aliquam portionem hereditatis meae in aeternam posses- sionem concedo. quod Cantigene secundum suam propriam linguam dicunt. an Ivclaete et insuper. x. segetes. ubi ruricoli appellativo usu ludibundisque vocabulis nomen indiderunt. aet Gamelan w y r t h e . " This may be translated: "I grant in eternal possession a portion of my inheritance which the men of Kent in their own tongue caU a yokelet and also ten corn fields where the countrymen have humorously given it the name of the Old Man's farm." The construction is not entirely free from difficulty and it may be read that only the ten corn fields were caUed Gamelanwyrthe. But the charter is endorsed " This is thaes landes boc aet Gamelan wyrthe " and it is hkely that the name was extended then or later to cover the whole area. It is certain that at a later date both words " Gamelan " 134 THE SAXON CHARTERS OF BURMARSH. and " Wyrthe " are found over a much larger area than that to which the boundaries given in this charter can weU apply. These boundaries are described as foUows : " This synt tha land gemaero to gamelan wyrthe. suth fealcing rip oth sae. widan fleot meare on west hand aet thara hina lande to folces stane & thonne thaes biscopes meare on north healfe & on east healfe ut to sae." This may be translated : These be the land marks of Gamelan Wyrthe. South Fealcing Rip as far as the sea. The Widan Fleot mark on the west hand at the land of Folkestone brotherhood. And the Bishop's mark on the north side. And on the east side out to sea. It wiU be noted that nothing has been recorded so far which indicates that this charter has anything to do with Burmarsh. Birch (Cart. Sax. 813) suggests that the land was " near FoUcestone " ; no doubt because it was near land of the Monastery of that place. But we know from other sources, to be mentioned presently, that the brotherhood had land in Romney Marsh and that this land was the southern boundary of Burmarsh. To this fact we may add that this land was certainly in Worth Hundred, that there was also a Widan Fleot in Worth Hundred (WaUenberg, Kentish Place Names, 267, where this charter is fuUy discussed but without definite conclusions), that Gamelan reappears in Gammon's Farm and Gammon's field, also in the neighbourhood of Burmarsh and that it is in Romney Marsh that we expect to find a shingle beach described by the distinctive term of Rip or Rype. We are therefore justified in looking for Gamelan Wyrthe in Romney Marsh and in the locahty which these names suggest, that is, near Burmarsh in the Hundred of Worth. Passing now to the boundaries given we find that there was sea on the east and sea also on the south but here with the " Fealcing Rip " interposed. There is no doubt that the present boundary of Romney Marsh in this area is further inland than once it was. Dymchurch WaU was moved back 150 yards somewhere STUTFALL CANAL I i WEST HYTHE i

HYTHE BURMARSH MANOR

EASTBRIDGE BURMARSH r'aWS WALL

OUTLANDJ WIDAN WALL F£ALCl«£ GAMMONS FARM

CHAPEL A MAP OF A PART OF THE HUNDRED OF (GAMELANJWYRTHE 136 THE SAXON CHARTERS OE BURMARSH. about 1844 and the old waU thus replaced was itself well within the boundaries of an earher period. AU geologists seem to agree that the sea line was once a mUe or more south of the present waU but they are not decided on the detaUs of the changes which have brought it into its present position. In these circumstances we cannot go any further than to suggest that much of the land which was at Gamelanwyrthe in 946 is now under the sea. And with it wiU have disappeared aU traces of Fealcing Rype except perhaps some " fuU " recurving inwards beneath Dymchurch WaU. Now it is weU to take a map and note where the present parish of Burmarsh touches Dymchurch WaU and the sea. At the most eastern end of this line we write " The Sea " and at the most southern " Fealcing Rip," thus fixing two of our Gamelanwyrthe bounds. Next we must find on the west the " Widan Fleot " which adjoined the Folkestone lands. This is not very difficult. Sketching in the Abbot's Court Farm from Sale Particulars of 1858 (in which it is caUed " The Manor of Abbotts ahas Burmarsh ") we have pretty accurately the grant of Burmarsh made to the Abbot of Saint Augustine's which had for its southern boundary the land belonging to Folkestone. This can be entered on the map accordingly. Between this and Gamelanwyrthe there should be a " widan fleot," that is a broad expanse of water, a lake. There is not much left now but an idea of its position which is probably correct is given by putting on the map (1) the East Flete given on Poker's map of 1617, (2) the East Flete as it is to-day, and (3) a very large field called Fleets in 1840, that is, on the Tithe Map. If we write Widan Fleot somewhere between East Flete and Fleetes we cannot be very far wrong. There remains one boundary to discover. On the north was the Bishop's mark. The Bishop in Kentish charters, if he is not further described, is the Archbishop of Canterbury and he owned amongst other lands those of Aldington manor. Just where we should expect our northern boundary is a detached portion of Aldington parish and this must have been an outlying portion of Aldington manor. THE SAXON CHARTERS OE BURMARSH. 137

Its boundary or " mark " would be the Bishop's mark. Thus everything seems to fit in very weU, particularly when it is remembered that we have been identifying the land marks of a thousand years ago.

THE BOBEWABMEBS CHABTEBS The Gamelanwyrthe charter has been dealt with first because the Burmarsh charters themselves are no longer in existence and the thirteenth century copies or extracts on which we have to rely are such as makes it desirable to have some firm ground to start from. Birch (Cart. Sax. 837) gives a charter which he dates " about 616-618 " but he notes that Thomas of Elmham, in a catalogue of charters which remained at the Abbey of St. Augustine's, when he was a monk there, records the date 848. This latter date is almost corroborated by Thorn's Chronicle where the transactions which we are to discuss are stated to have taken place in the time of Abbot Diernod. Thomas of Elmham gives Diernod's abbacy as extending from 844/5 to 863. On the same authority the King involved in the matter—Aedbald or Edbald—reigned from 857 to 860. There is no exact agreement, but the date A.D. 850 is probably near enough for such practical purposes as it may be put to by geologists and other students of marsh history. About this year King Aedbald gave to " Winemund my friend " (in exchange, however, for adequate payment) : " aliquam partem terre agelluli mei ... in loco qui dicitur Burwaramers Halfsaeta, necnon et illud agellum his terminibus circumcincta est. in oriente Suthsaxa lond. in meridie Terra Folcanstaninga in occidentale regis terra in aquilone hmenaea."

In modern language this might read : " some part of land of my very small field . . . in a place which is called Burmarsh Halfsaeta, and moreover that httle field by these boundaries is surrounded. On the east Suthsaxa land, on the south land belonging to Folkestone, on the west land of the King, on the north the Limen water." 138 THE SAXON CHARTERS OE BURMARSH.

It should be noted that the Saxon charters show a most curious fondness for diminutives, such as AgeUuh, which seem to have no particular relation to the size of the grant and of which the true meaning and intention remains in doubt. This grant of King Aedbald is repeated in various Registers of the Abbey but without any significant variation. At some later period Winemund (who may weU have pur- chased it with this intent) gave the land in question to the Abbey. We have no charter for this gift but only chronicle records, namely : Thorne : who describes the land as " terram de Borewarmers cum terra de Wyk." Thos. of Elmham : who only says " Winemundus dedit Bur w a r m e r c k . " The " terra de Wyk " was the manor of Snave ahas Snave- wick and this was managed with, and taxed with, Burmarsh. How Winemund got hold of it does not matter. We are concerned only with the Burmarsh part. It is described as an " Halfsaeta " but this term does not affect either its size or position and need not now be discussed. The southern boundary is Folkestone land. Had we only the Burmarsh charter to go upon this boundary might cause difficulty (in fact, it has caused much difficulty to various writers) but taking the two together we find that the same land fits as southern boundary of Burmarsh and western boundary of Gamelanwyrthe, two places of which the position is reason- ably well estabhshed. We can therefore assert with some certainty that the southern part of Burmarsh parish did at some time belong to the Monastery of S. Eanswith at Folkestone. The northern boundary is " Limenaea." This word occurs with many variants but there seems no reason why we should not here accept it as meaning just what it says—Limen-aea, the Limen water. The boundary to-day stops at what is caUed The Lower Wall, which is a boundary in whole or part of most of the manors and parishes in its neighbourhood. Although one cannot here discuss the matter in detaU, there can be very httle doubt that this is a mediaeval wall designed to enclose the marshes about the THE SAXON CHARTERS OE BURMARSH. 139 Limen, which is now represented by the WiUop sewer. In 850 the Limen may have been wide enough and sufficiently estuarine to cover aU the land between the hiUs and the site of the waU, and thus have come to be cited as a boundary of Burmarsh. In the case of the remaining boundaries great difficulty arises. On the west is " regis terra." It has been suggested elsewhere that this term is very likely to be taken as having a particular technical meaning (Arch. Cant., XLIII, 43) and as applying to land such as shingle and sand newly thrown up by the sea. The term is used in a charter of 732 and in this case there may weU have been, and is now, sand and shingle land in the position indicated (see map). But there is no such land to the west of Burmarsh. To the east, on the other hand, such land is far easier to find. It is very easy for errors to occur in the copying of charters and the error of writing east for west (by misreading much contracted words) is well laiown. It is just possible that it happened in this case and that the " regis terra " really lay to the east of Burmarsh and nearly adjoining to the " terra regis " of 732. But this is not the sort of argument on which one would wish to rely and the question cannot be considered as in any way decided. The land caUed Suthsaxa lond is given as the eastern boundary of Burmarsh. This statement has been a stumbling block to many. But we need not read it as meaning that what we now caU Sussex was to the east of Burmarsh, which it quite evidently is not. There was land in the middle of Sussex and yet forming part of Kentish manors, for example, the dens of Leeds, and Bishop Odo joined to the manor of Bilsington certain Kentish lands belonging to the Sussex Rape of the Earl of Eu—possibly portions of Burmarsh in Romney Marsh. We do not know that that was so but it is obvious that there was nothing considered anomalous in early days in having what could properly be caUed " Suthsaxa lond " even in Kent. It is not possible to take the matter further but since an eminent writer has said of this charter " the document as a whole needs the attention of a local antiquary " one felt bound to take it thus far. 140 THE SAXON CHARTERS OF BURMARSH.

EABL GODWIN'S MABBIAGE GIFT. There remains one further Burmarsh charter. In the year 1016/20, as near as can be stated, Earl Godwin was married for the second time to a maiden who hved at Bright- ling in Sussex and whose father was named Byrhtric (vide Thorpe, 312). The latter made agreement with Earl Godwin about a marriage gift (Kemble, 732 ; Thorpe, 312). This consisted of " the land at Straete, with aU which thereto belongs, and at Burwara Mersce a hundred and fifty acres, and thereto thirty oxen and twenty cows and ten horses and ten serfs." This is Thorpe's translation except that he translates Burwara Mersce as Burwash (in Sussex) of which the early forms are quite unhke those of Burmarsh. It may also be noted that the words translated as " 150 acres " are in the original " other healf hund aecera "—which doesn't look quite right. There is nothing to indicate where in Burmarsh this land may have been. Hasted gives only one manor in Burmarsh other than that of the Abbot. This is Trianstone. The name has become corrupted and now appears only in Great, Long and Inner Trimpson Fields which centre about the Forty Acre Farm, which probably represents the manor house. It was Trineston in 1252 (Arch. Cant., II, 306) but any connecting hnk with Byrhtric and the maiden of Brightling is stiU to be found. The post- conquest history of Trianstone is that of land forfeited in 1066 and given to a man named Tryan. AU land that had once been Earl Godwin's was thus forfeited—but so was the land of most other people (see Elton's Tenures, etc.).

COMMENTABY. From the point of view of the historian of the marsh one of the chief interests of these charters is the hght which they may throw on the much debated question of how the marsh was formed. From this point of view the Fealcing Rip of 946 assumes some importance. The word Rype occurs in the marsh inter alia in the foUowing places : 774 and later. The Rhip Wood in Lydd at one end of what are now called the East and West Ripes. THE SAXON CHARTERS OE BURMARSH. 141 946. The Fealcing Rip, the sea boundary of Burmarsh. 1446/7. Rypeland, in Court Rolls of Eastbridge Manor. 1840. Fields and banks called Ripe and Great Ripes on the north- east of the Dowels in Warehorne, Woodchurch and Kenardington. 1840. The Midripps in Lydd near Proom hill. This hst is scarcely likely to be exhaustive but for those who know the district it wiU be sufficient evidence that the word Ripe is apphed to a bank near water and usuaUy to a shingle bank near the sea (even if the sea has long ago left it). Turning back to Burmarsh we note that the boundary on the sea side is a Ripe beyond which hes the sea. This teUs us at once that there was at least a bank of some size there. The fact that the sea itself was the eastern boundary rather suggests that the bank didn't go any further eastward in 946, in other words that there was a considerable estuary of the Limen in this position. We ought further to assume that the absence of any reference to a waU or artificial work is presumptive evidence that Dymchurch waU was not in existence in 946. The mention of the Limen in the 850 (about) charter faUs into hne with that in the charter of 732 which places it to the south of Sandtun and with those in the various Ruckinge charters of 724, 786, 805, etc., which show it passing through the south of that parish. It has often been denied that the Limen ever ran this way, and it is commonly doubted whether it did so so late as even the eighth century. These charters seem conclusive. However smaU it may have been or however estuarine and un-riverly, there was certainly a watercourse caUed the Limen as late as 946 and there can be httle doubt that the lower edge of its pere- grinations is marked by the Lower WaU shown on the accompanying map and, so my friend Mr. Edwin Hart, F.S.A., informs me, plainly perceptible on the ground.