Document in Detail: Diocese of Canterbury Medieval Fragments

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Issue 10, Summer 2018 Kent Archives is set for a busy summer. In this edition of our newsletter we introduce you to our joint project with Findmypast to digitise our parish register collection. The image in our header is from the first Cranbrook parish composite register [ref. P100/1/A/1], and is just one of the thousands of registers that will be digitised. We are also in the middle of transferring the remaining historic records of the Diocese of Canterbury from Canterbury Cathedral Archives to the Kent History and Library Centre to join its probate records, which have been held by Kent Archives since 1946. At the same time, archive cataloguing of one of Maidstone’s major papermaking collections is nearly complete; further World War I commemorative activities are underway; and work continues on the Catalogue Transfer Project and Manorial Documents Register Project for Kent. Document in Detail: Diocese of Canterbury Medieval Fragments [DCb/PRC/50/5] Mark Ballard, Archive Service Officer Among many other records of great value within the records of Canterbury Diocese are the ‘medieval fragments’ [DCb/PRC/49 and DCb/PRC/50], which in the post-Reformation period came to be used as covers, or ‘end-parchments’, for the probate registers. If we can judge by the dates of the act books and wills and inventories registers they covered, this recycling became a habit during the episcopate of Archbishop Matthew Parker (1559-1575). It is perhaps ironic that at precisely the time that Thomas Tallis and William Byrd, probably both closet Roman Catholics, were still being employed to write motets for the Chapel Royal, such disrespectful treatment was being accorded at Canterbury to their medieval predecessors. But just as whitewashing over medieval church wall-paintings has, in the long run, protected as well as obscured them, this has enabled musical notation to survive which otherwise might have been binned, burnt, stolen or simply lost. Many of the fragments contain musical notation, and one remarkable example is DCb/PRC/50/5. On one side is Detail of the ‘Descendi in ortum meum’, with elaborate initial D two voices from a motet, 'O cipressus', dated c1430-40 by and decorative dragon, contained in DCb/PRC/50/5. Professor Brian Trowell. On the other side is part (not all) of a setting of 'Descendi in ortum meum', the text of an Antiphon for the Procession after Trinity Sunday. This leaf was employed in the re-binding of the very first wills register of Canterbury consistory court, DCb/PRC 32/1 (in use from 1396 to 1455). When in the 1960s another fragment, part of an illuminated psalter found entirely separately, was sold at Sotheby’s to the British Museum, Margaret and Ian Bent identified within it the two missing voices of the same antiphon, and attributed the whole to the great early 15th century composer John Dunstaple, a piece of joinery which must strike a layman as the most astounding musicological feat. Digitisation of Kent’s Parish Registers with Findmypast Jonathan Barker, Archive Collections Officer A joint project between Kent Archives and the popular online genealogy website Findmypast is currently underway to digitise and make available online the parish registers held at the Kent History and Library. The project will cover registers dating from as early as 1538 to 1918, and includes records of baptisms, marriag- es, banns and burials. It is anticipated that the images will be available to be viewed online at Findmypast from January 2019, and will be free to access in the archive searchroom and across all of Kent's ninety-nine libraries. Once complete, the images will complement the 2.5 million digitised Canterbury Archdeaconry parish records held at Canterbury Cathedral Archives that Findmypast have already released.

The Project When we were planning the project, our priority was that we would not compromise on the quality of the images. Other archives have opted to digitally scan their old black and white microfilm to make their collections available online quickly, but this was not something we wanted to do, as microfilm is often old and of variable quality. Kent Archives would create completely new, high quality, full colour digital images from the original records. It was also very important that Kent County Council retained the intellectual property rights over the digital images, so the decision was taken to digitise the registers in house. This was not an easy decision to make, as it would have been far simpler to allow another company to do this for us. However, we felt that it was crucial for Kent Archives, and our depositors, that we retain control of all digital surrogates, both now and in the future. We knew that to enable this project we would need to invest in dedicated staff and ad- vanced digital equipment.

Scope Over 2500 registers have been included for digitisation. This is an enormous project, and a first for the archives service. Digitisation projects have been undertaken before, but nothing on this scale. Before any digitisation could start, the finding numbers for all of the parish registers had to be checked by the archivists for consistency, and where necessary, were re-catalogued. This was very important, as the image file names would need to include the archive catalogue reference, so they had to be correct.

Staffing For the project Kent Archives has recruited two full time digitisation staff: Soniya Lal and Alison Linklater. Alt- hough the project has been in the planning stage for some time, the digitisation itself began in late January 2018. Soniya and Alison have proved to be exceptionally dedicated and enthusiastic staff, and have far ex- ceeded project expectations. [Below:] Soniya [left] and Alison [right] hard at work digitising the parish registers. Digitisation Project of Kent’s Parish Registers with Findmypast Jonathan Barker, Archive Collections Officer

Equipment Two Bookeye 4 Professional overhead book scanners were purchased to undertake the digitisation: an A1 Bookeye 4 for the larger registers, such as the landscape orientated marriage registers; and an A2 model for the standard size registers. Although the reprographic studio is already equipped with a sophisticated PhaseOne camera and CaptureOne software, the Bookeye 4 scanners were chosen for several reasons. Be- ing foot operated, the scanners allow good handling of the volumes. An auto de-skew and book curve correc- tion setting also allows the volumes to be fully supported in a book cradle, but for the resulting image to ap- pear flat. Furthermore, an autocrop setting allows the post production resizing to be kept to a minimum. De- spite these features, some of the volumes cannot be digitised using the Bookeye 4 scanners, and will be digitised using the PhaseOne camera, particularly those registers that are tightly bound or extremely fragile. All images are being created as a preservation TIFF master, and a production JPEG.

Look out for updates on the project’s progress in our autumn newsletter.

The Archive of the Diocese of Canterbury Mark Bateson, Assistant Service Manager – Archives and Local History In accordance with a decision by the Church of England, a large quantity of archival records of the Diocese of Canter- bury is being transferred from Canterbury Cathedral Archives to the Kent History and Library Centre. The transfer marks the reunification of this important archive to something like its original integrity, after being split in recent years between the re- positories in Canterbury and Maidstone. It is normally better to keep archival collections together because the internal parts correlate with each other, providing con- text and meaning. Two parts of the archive deserve particular mention as outstanding examples of their type. First, ‘the probate records for Canterbury, in part because of its particular relationship with the archbishop, have a wealth, extent and completeness probably unparalleled in any other diocese’ (F. Kent Archives staff in the process of relocating the archive of the Diocese of Canter- Hull, Guide to the Kent County Archives bury from Canterbury Cathedral Archives to the Kent History and Library Centre. Office, p107). Second, speaking of the Canterbury act and deposition books, the core element of the ecclesiastical court material, eminent canon law historian Charles Donahue Jr. says: ‘these books taken as a whole represent the most substantial surviv- als of records from an English diocesan court’ (The Records of the Medieval Ecclesiastical Courts Part II: England, p105). In the case of the court material, the archive dates back to the fourteenth century; in the case of a group of literary fragments, the tenth. The older records, some written in abbreviated Latin, can pre- sent challenges to those without the necessary skills and experience: rest assured the Archives and Local History Team can help with those! The archive is a rich source for historical investigation. Family and local historians, and anyone interested in the history of parish churches, their clergy, or simply that of the established Church, will find a treasure trove of material. Canterbury Diocese covered between half and two thirds of Kent, from Thanet up to the River Medway. Since Kent Archives already holds the archive of the Diocese of Rochester, the acquisition of the Canterbury Diocese archive consolidates our holdings of ecclesiastical records and completes the picture as far as the records of the two Kent dioceses are concerned. Lady Rose Weigall of Ramsgate and Louise, Grand Duchess of Baden: A Friendship that Survived the War

Rob Illingworth, Community History Officer and Julia Booth, Time2Give Volunteer, Kent Archives

During our research for Kent and Medway’s First World War Timeline we have been exploring the letters and papers of the Weigall family [collection ref. U1371]. Lady Rose Weigall, youngest daughter of John Fane, 11th Earl of Westmorland, and her family were particularly involved in supporting the war efforts in Rams- gate. Rose also managed to maintain her strong friendship with Princess Louise of Prussia throughout the War, despite the fact that they lived in different countries and were positioned on opposing sides of the conflict. Childhood in Berlin

Much of Lady Rose’s childlhood was spent in Berlin, where her father was posted as envoy and minister between 1841 and 1851. While living in Berlin, she witnessed the mass upris- ings which led to the revolution of 1848. It was also during this time that she established her friendship with Princess Louise of Prus- sia, later Grand Duchess of Baden. Between 1851 and 1855 her father was Ambassador to the Austrian Empire and the family was living Group photo of the Weigall family, taken 15 Aug 1916, on the occasion of the golden wedding of Henry Weigall and Lady Rose Weigall [U1371/ in Vienna at the time of the Crimean War. F32].

Involvement with the local community in Ramsgate

After the death of her father in 1859, Lady Rose moved to London with her mother, and, in 1866, she met and married the society painter Henry Weigall. In 1879, the Weigall family moved to Southwood, an 18th century mansion on the outskirts of Ramsgate. At their home in Ramsgate, Lady Rose and Henry Weigall established a seasonal holiday home for boys who attended industrial schools. She also became involved in Poor Law work and was one of the founder members of the Thanet Board of Guardians. A frequent visitor to the workhouse, she cared passionately for the welfare of orphaned children.

Lady Rose was also an active member of the Ramsgate Women’s Local Government Association. At the same time she served on the committee of the Ramsgate Branch of the Anti-Suffrage League, believing that the power held by women on government committees would be severely hampered if women acquired the vote and became assigned to a particular political party.

At home in Ramsgate during the war years

Rachel Weigall, Lady Rose and Henry’s daughter, had joined Kent VAD 2 in Ramsgate in 1911. At the out- break of war, Rachel, as the detachment’s secretary, played a key role in setting up Ramsgate’s first VAD hospital at the Royal Sailors’ Rest, on the Harbour Parade. During the summer of 1915, when it became clear that a safer location was needed for the hospital because of frequent air raids, Rachel dealt with arrangements to establish a hospital at Nethercourt, in the St Lawrence district of Ramsgate. In 1917 Rachel became Commandant at Nethercourt, and in 1918, after Nethercourt was forced to close owing to air raids, she transferred to Richborough camp, where, as part of a team of six, she equipped and managed three First Aid huts, until February 1919.

During this time, Lady Rose and her husband paid many visits to Ramsgate’s VAD hospitals to cheer and comfort the wounded. On several occasions they also entertained convalescent servicemen at their home. Like many women, Lady Rose devoted time to making garments for patients. Always ready to devise and im- plement practical solutions to problems, she realised that regular sized clothing sometimes did not fit maimed patients, and she set about the task of knitting and sewing mittens and socks of an unusual shape and size that were more appropriate for their needs.

Lady Rose Weigall of Ramsgate and Louise, Grand Duchess of Baden: A Friendship that Survived the War

Rob Illingworth, Community History Officer and Julia Booth, Time2Give Volunteer, Kent Archives

Prisoners of War – Lady Rose’s correspondence

In the early months of the war, Lady Rose became aware of cases of missing servicemen, whose relatives were anxious for news from Ger- man sources. On hearing of their plight, it was clear to her that she needed to use her influence with the people she knew in Germany and, most especially, to seek help from her lifelong friend, Princess Louise, now Grand Duchess of Baden. At this point in the conflict, correspondence with Germany was not forbidden. Many letters were exchanged with the Grand Duchess (and also with Admiral von Eisendecher, Prussian Minister to the Grand Duchy of Baden-Baden, an influen- The Weigall Collection includes a post card addressed to Lady Rose tial and highly experienced diplomat,) in the quest Weigall, from Lt-Col Lionel H W Troughton, prisoner of war in Karls- to trace individuals and also to improve conditions ruhe [U1371/C67]. for prisoners of war on both sides of the conflict.

Children’s Camp at Richborough

In 1920, still active at the age of 85, Lady Rose Weigall became involved in arrangements to bring groups of children from famine-stricken areas of Central Europe to Britain. A temporary base was made ready at Rich- borough camp, near Sandwich, to accommodate the children, who stayed at the camp for about three weeks. They were then placed as guests with families in other parts of the country.

Lady Rose took a keen interest in the welfare of the children who arrived at Richborough, visiting the camp to identify problems and provide assistance. In Lady Rose Weigall: A Memoir, is a copy of a letter of 20 June 1920 from Lady Rose to Admiral von Eisendecher, where she observes that: ‘I have been over twice this week to the camp and have enlisted every one I can think of who can speak German, for the language difficulty is, of course, consid- erable’.

Lady Rose died at her home, Southwood, in Ramsgate, at the age of 86, on 14 February 1921. Letters sent to the Weigall family after her death, with tributes to her long and active life, can be found in the Weigall collection at Kent Archives. Among these letters is one from Louise, Grand Duchess of Baden, who wrote movingly of the friendship she had shared with Lady Rose for over 76 years: ‘It was a real friendship never disturbed, true felt fidelity in the highest meaning of the word’.

Photo depicting Louise, Grand Duchess of Ba- Heading of a letter to ‘Ma bien chère Rose!’ [‘My dearest Rose’] from Louise, den, sent with letter to Lady Rose from Louise, Grand Duchess of Baden, sent 5 Jan 1915 [U1371/C64 (no.73)] [U1371/C64 (no.137)] Newly Catalogued: W. and R. Balston Papermaking Collection James Lloyd, Project Cataloguer - Archives From the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, papermaking was one of Maidstone’s biggest industries. Two of the biggest manu- facturers were Whatman and Balston, and Kent Archives holds several collections relating to them. U289 was acquired between 1951 and 1999 and concerns mainly the Whatman family. They started papermaking in 1733, when James Whatman the Elder acquired a paper mill at Hollingbourne. His son, James the Younger, took over and extended the business, but when his own son showed indifference towards papermaking, the business was sold to the Hollingworth brothers in 1794. The Hollingworths were based at Turkey Mill in Loose, which closed in 1976, when its archive (now catalogued as U1999) was donated to the Coun- ty Council.

Whatman’s apprentice, William Balston, had hoped to become owner of the mills, but Whatman did provide the money for Bal- A specimen of W. & R. Balston’s scientific filter paper ston to go into partnership with the Hollingworths. In 1805, Bal- ston dissolved the partnership, having acquired land at Spring- field to build a mill of his own. On his death in 1849, the business passed to his sons William and Richard, after whom it became known as W. and R. Balston. Springfield Mill specialised in handmade ledger, writing and drawing paper and in 1859 the brothers bought from the Hollingworths the right to use the Whatman trade- marks. The Company was incorporated in 1910 and during the First World War, at the request of the government, moved into making scientific filter paper, which became its dominant product. In 1974 the company merged with its sales agent, H. Reeve Angel and Co., to become Whatman Reeve Angel Ltd., with the papermaking branch being called simply Whatman Ltd. However, a string of overzealous acquisitions and a failed attempt to revive its handmade quality paper line left the company seriously indebted, and it was bought by GE Healthcare in 2005, which moved the work to China. Whatman products continue to be manufactured under that name but Springfield Mill became redun- dant and closed in 2015.

The Kent History and Library Centre already possessed a collection of Balston family records [U2161, acquired in 1978], and some of the Whatman collection documents have a bearing on Balston. Tragically, many Whatman Ltd. records were destroyed in the 1990s, but GE Healthcare offered what remained to the Centre in 2015, and these have now been catalogued. Much of the collection is what one would expect of a company archive, including title deeds, diagrams of ma- chinery, board meeting files, and account books. There are also sam- ples of Balston’s products, including their scientific papers, which have proven particularly interesting. Filmed documentaries and programmes relating to Whatman will be transferred to Screen Archive South East at Brighton for specialist preservation. In cataloguing the collection, I have relied heavily on the efforts of Stephen Hill, a paper historian who was brought in as a consultant by GE Healthcare in 2011. His research on the history of the Company’s properties has helped considerably with the preparation of the catalogue, and he has also devoted much time and energy to sorting the enormous collection of photographs that came with the archive.

Cataloguing of the W. and R. Balston collection [U4062] is ongoing, and it is hoped that the collection will be available to the public by the autumn, when it will complement the Whatman, Balston and Holling- worth collections that the Centre already holds, as well as providing a In 1968, W. and R. Balston was awarded valuable resource for local and family historians. the Queen’s Award to Industry [U4062/ B7/6/1] Catalogue Transfer Project Fourth update on newly transferred catalogues

We are now over halfway through our project to add all of our paper catalogues to our online catalogue. The following catalogues have recently been added and will be available on our website soon: RD/DA: Dartford Rural District Council, 1836-1974 U317: Deeds of Appledore and Egerton, 1396-1822 U678: Warde Manuscripts, 1428-1941 U713: Deeds of Gravesend and District, 1292-1892 U908: Streatfeild Manuscripts, 13th century-19th century U969: Records of Halstead Place Estate, 1585-1925 U1087: Deeds of Boxley Parsonage and other Estate of the Fowle Family, 1587-c1930 U1185: Documents relating to Kent Coal Concessions, 1911-1939 U1194: Volume of Prints and Drawings of Kent Buildings from the J. Fremlyn Streatfeild Collection, 1858-1882 U1195: Title Deeds and Estate Papers, Angley Estate, Cranbrook, 1660-1913 U1220: Manorial Document of Aldington, 1555-1952 U1225: Manorial and Tithe Records of St Margaret at Cliffe, 1671-1951 U1229: Acts of Parliament and Related Documents, 1843-c1930 U1236: Deeds, principally of Marden and Minster in Thanet, 1555-1808 U1383: Chambers’ Family Farm and Fruit Accounts, 1879-1965 U1396: Boys Family Documents, 1778-1936 U1415: Leases and Estate Papers of Perry Court Farm, Preston next Faversham, 1665-1890 U1471: Deeds, principally of the Scott Family of Sundridge Park, Bromley, 1643-1919 U1545: Title Deeds of Norton Family Estate, centred on Shadoxhurst, 1683-1923 U1547: Pearse Family and Business Papers, 1758-1916 U1548: Title Deeds for Kent and other areas, 1597-1902 U1553: Deeds mainly of Cranbrook and Ramsgate, 1716-1825 U1567: Deeds from various sources, 1673-1923 U1569: Title Deeds, principally of Hollingbourne, 1663-1893 U1612: Talbot of Falconhurst MSS U1772: Maps and cognate records for east Kent, 1810-1952 U1783: Miscellaneous documents, including several of the Lane, Muggeridge and Hassell families of Horton Kirby and Eynsford, 1605-1934 U1795: Gravesend Division Conservative Association records, 1923-1971 U1812: Deeds of Sittingbourne and nearby parishes, 1653-1964 U1842: Title Deeds of Faversham, 1629-1696 U1843: Deeds of Matfield and Brenchley, 1598-1881 U1859: Various Title Deeds, 1811-1957 U1866: Children Family Manuscripts, 1554-1946 U1867: Documents relating to the Bradbourne Estate, Sevenoaks (c1817-1921) U2539: Radio Scripts, c1979-1981 Manorial Documents Register Project Update Liz Finn, Manorial Documents Register Project Officer for Kent Since last August I’ve been working on the manorial court rolls at Canterbury Cathedral Archives. The Manorial Documents Register (MDR) for Kent contains 956 entries for records at the Cathedral, rep- resenting almost 17% of the total. So far I’ve made 501 entries for Canterbury on the MDR database from 469 documents. Canterbury Cathedral Priory was one of Kent’s largest landowners. The Cathedral acquired most of its manors before the Norman Con- quest and in 1086 it held one-eighth of all land in the county. The Ca- thedral’s manors were concentrated in East Kent, but they extended as far as Orpington in the west, Cliffe on the Hoo peninsula and Ag- ney on Romney Marsh. When the Cathedral was re-founded in 1540 most of these manors were re-granted to the Dean and Chapter. In 1862 they passed to the Ecclesiastical Commission for England as part of a major re-organisation of the Church of England’s assets. The majority of court rolls were moved to the Commission’s Westmin- ster offices and by 1906 the earliest had been deposited in the Public Record Office (PRO). The Church Commissioners, the Ecclesiastical Commission’s successors, withdrew them from the PRO in the late 1950s and in 1959 returned them to the Cathedral Archives where they became the U15 collection. They date from the 1260s to the 1750s and include the earliest court roll I’ve seen during the whole of Court roll for Ickham, 1273 [U15/18/26] my MDR work so far—one for Ickham beginning in 1269. The courts recorded transfers of land, making sure that all the relevant reliefs, entry fines and heriots were paid, and enforced the payment of rents, in money and kind, and the performance of labour services. The Cathedral also held courts leet for most of its manors. These dealt with minor breaches of the peace, cases of theft and debt, trading standards legislation (particularly the as- sizes of bread and ale), and ‘nuisances’ mainly relating to the ob- struction of, or failure to repair, roads and watercourses. During my work on this collection I’ve made some discoveries that I couldn’t have anticipated. For example, many Kent manors had dens, or woodland pastures for pigs, in the Weald, but it soon became apparent that several of the Cathedral’s manors, such as Chartham and Ickham, also had dens on Romney Marsh which must have been sheep pastures, suggesting that ‘den’ could be used to mean pasture in a more general sense. I have also managed to identify two court rolls for Brooksend in Birchington which had been wrongly attributed to Brook near Ash- ford. The scribe had abbreviated Brooksend as ‘Brok’ and when Alderman Bunce catalogued the rolls c.1800 he understandably identified this as Brook. However, one of the rolls was endorsed ‘Monek’ in a later medieval hand, which is short for Monkton. Other clues, such as a reference to the lord’s right of shipwreck (something not very likely in an inland manor), pointed to Brooksend rather than Brook! I’ve enjoyed working on the court rolls and look forward to exploring other manorial records at the Cathedral Archives. Court roll for Chartham, 1672 [U15/13/19]

Kent History and Library Centre, James Whatman Way, Maidstone, ME14 1LQ Telephone: 03000 413131 If you have any comments regarding this newsletter please contact: [email protected]