Romney Marsh: the Debatable Ground (ed. J. Eddison), OUCA Monograph 41, 1995

The Medieval Houses of the Marsh: the Missing Evidence

Sarah Pearson

The image of as a county with a multitude of identified in any of the three rural parishes. However, at medieval houses is a common one, and in many areas it The Woolpack Inn in Brookland, as in several late 16th or has a firm foundation. One may, for example, cite Charing, early 17th-centuryhouses in , smoke-blackened rafters, which runs from the southern edge of the Downs, across which must have come originally from open- houses, the Vale of Holmesdale and into the sand and ragstone of were reused as part of the later structures, indicating the the Chart Hills, where 24 medieval houses have been former presence of sizeable and sturdy medieval buildings identified; or Smarden, lying in the low , where at which were rebuilt in the early modern period. If one looks least 21 medieval dwellings are known. Although these beyond the parishes surveyed by the Commission a similar large parishes have more houses remaining than most, the picture emerges. In two or three early stone density of survivors is not unusually high, and it results buildings, which survive to a greater or lesser extent, have in three, or even four or more, medieval houses occurring been recorded (Parkin 1973, 124-7; Harris 1992), and a per 1000 acres. But densities of this sort are not universal, number of later timber-framed medieval houses have been and among the regions where few early dwellings remain identified (Parkin 1973, 120-4). In the countryside three today is . medieval houses have been reported, one in each of the Work on the buildings of the Marsh formed part of a parishes of , Ivychurch and Old Rornney (DOE project on rural medieval houses in Kent which the Royal List 1985). But that is all. On the fringes of the Marsh the Commission on the Historical Monuments of has Commission found only two medieval dwellings in recently completed, the results of which have been published Appledore, one of which is the splendid and atypical in three volumes (RCHME 1994). In terms of the project Hornes Place, home of the knightly Horne family who 'medieval' houses are those which were centred upon an supplied a number of Justices of the Peace, sheriffs and open hall heated by an open ; and the time span knights of the shire, during the 14th and 15th centuries. On covered begins in the late 13th century, when the first the other hand, in Aldington, seven early buildings survive dwellings start to survive, and continues into the early or in addition to the remains of the archbishop's palace, but all mid 16th century, when open were replaced by fully of them are located at some distance from the Marsh, up on two-storeyed buildings heated by enclosed . the greensand of the Chart Hills. Three-quarters of the open-hall houses recorded were built Since timber-framed remains can lie hidden in later after 1450, and if one excludes large and early stone buildings, and since it was impossible to go into dwellings, then around 80% date from after the mid 15th every later house on the off-chance of discovering an century. Thus the vast majority of what we term medieval earlier core, it is possible that the odd example has been houses were built during a relatively short period at the missed. But such problems of identification are universal very end of the Middle Ages. throughout Kent, and it is inconceivable that the number On Romney Marsh the Commission surveyed four of medieval buildings remaining on the Marsh bears any modern civil parishes: the rural parishes of , correspondence to the number surviving in the parishes of Brookland and Newchurch, and the town and parish of central Kent. Lydd. In addition, work was done in Aldington and Habitation reached its greatest density on the Marsh Appledore, both of which lie off the Marsh, but are earlier in the Middle Ages. Field walking has produced contiguous to it along one boundary. Within the Marsh evidence for far more pottery sherds dating between the itself medieval houses were only found in any number in Conquest and the early 15th century than from the periods Lydd, where eight early buildings remain, or remained either before or after (Reeves this volume, Table 5.l), with until recently, in or on the edge of the town. They are all a greater number dating to the first than to the second half timber-framed and likely to date from the middle of the of that relatively long span of time. In the 14th century both 15th century or later. Not one medieval dwelling was the lay subsidy of 1334 (Hanley and Chalklin 1964,67-70; The Medieval Houses of the Marsh: the Missing Evidence 93

Glasscock 1965, 64) and the 1377 poll tax' (Smith 1988, in many parts of Kent large numbers of sturdy and sizeable 199) show the region as still being reasonably wealthy and late 15th and early 16th-century houses still remain. well-populated; and in Ivychurch at least work continued This lacuna raises the question of what the medieval throughout the century on the parish church (Tatton-Brown houses of the Marsh were like, and whether they resembled 1989, 259-61). But by the 16th century the number of the buildings which survive in Charing, Smarden and inhabitants had declined (Harpsfield 1557) and the wealth elsewhere. The houses which remain in Lydd fall into two of the area was considerably less pronounced (Sheail 1972, categories. In the first place there are half a dozen high- Figs. 14;Smith 1988,200-01). In addition the amount of walled buildings of 'wealden' or 'end-jetty' type. Two pottery dating between 140011450 and 1500/1550 found wealdens, at 16 and 18 High Street, and at 4 and 5 Park from field walking was less than half that found from the Street, were found. Considerable alterations, including period between 1250 and the early 15th century (Reeves later brick and tile cladding, have disguised the this volume, Table 5.1). characteristic wealden form, with its appearance of a That no medieval houses, except for one or two stone recessed open hall and storeyed end bays overhanging to buildings in New Romney, date from before the late 14th the front; but large parts of both houses survive, including century, is hardly surprising. Early timber-framed their crown-post roofs (Fig. 6.1). It is likely that several buildings are rare anywhere, and in Kent they are largely of the New Romney houses are also of this form (Parkin confined to the region north of the Downs, where they 1973, 123). Other buildings had flush-walled fronts, seem to represent the homes of men of knightly rank. In possibly with overhanging jetties at the ends, although general, the houses of men below this social level are not examples such as 5 New Street and Poplar House, Poplar found before the late 14th century at the earliest. Whatever Lane are too altered for certainty on this point. The four the reasons for this may be - whether the structures were houses mentioned so far were probably normal dwellings, too early to survive in any circumstances, whether they with central open halls separating units of storeyed were insubstantial, or whether they were simply accommodation which contained the private rooms and demolished because attitudes as to what formed an service areas. But the building which now forms 13, 15 acceptable dwelling changed - a lack of early houses on and 17 New Street is highly unusual, for it appears to the Marsh, at a time when inhabitants were numerous and have had two, two-, open halls lying end-to-end in the some of them were wealthy, is not remarkable, since the centre of a long range, with single units of two-storeyed same situation prevails in most parts of the county. The accommodation at either extremity (Figs. 6.2,6.3). It lies oddity concerns what happened later, for even though the along one side of the churchyard. It might have formed population declined, it did not disappear altogether, and two semi-detached dwellings, as has been found elsewhere

Fig. 6.1. Crown-po -0of at 4, 5 Park Street, dd. A Lopen hallABLopen hallL A1

OF--'- 5 30 Ft scale for sections B r

B1

0 2 10 M

Fig. 6.2. 13-1 7 New Strtzrr, Lydd. Two open halls, each with a two-storeyed bay at the end.

Fig. 6.3. 13-17 New Street, Iqdd. Viewfrom the south. The Medieval Houses of the Marsh: the Missing Evidence 95

(Moran 1992, 12), but, given the large size of the 'halls' hearth between C and D, the use of a single aisle only, and and the small amount of subsidiary accommodation, it the style of details and joints, suggest a date late in the was possibly not a house, serving instead some special 15th or early in the 16th century. As well as the open hall and as yet undetermined function connected with the the house had subsidiary bays at each end. That to the church or the town. Its nearest parallel occupies a similar north, between A and B, has evidence for a very low situation near the church at Chiddingstone in west Kent ceiling dividing the ground-floor room from a loft above. (Gray 1988). It may be significant that the Old Court That to the south, between D and E, has been largely Hall, another building with an apparently non-domestic rebuilt and may at first have been open to the roof. origin, lies not far to the south west on New Street The kind of accommodation provided by Rype Cottage (Parkin 1962). However, the important point about all was very different to that found in the other Lydd buildings. these houses, whatever their precise form and function, is Comparison of the wall heights in the cross sections of that they were tall and well-built, with plenty of room in Rype Cottage and 13-17 New Street shows how very their storeyed bays for sizeable first-floor chambers. This much lower the former was, particularly in view of the is the type of building which is familiar throughout Kent. aisle on the east side. Most medieval houses in Kent had The second type of medieval house is altogether hipped roofs at the ends, as indicated on the long section different and is represented today by only one house in of the New Street building. At Rype Cottage the hip over Lydd. This is Rype Cottage, which lies on the edge of the two-storeyed north bay has been rebuilt as a half hip common land, known as the Rype, to the south-east of the (Fig. 6.5) which gives far greater head room in the loft town (Hasted 1799, 423). Initially the house was much space, particularly as the ground-floor ceiling has been smaller than at present (the outline of the original is raised. At a later date a gabied window was pushed out to marked in black on the plan, Fig. 6.4), and it had an aisle the west in order to allow a chamber, lit by a window of on its west side. Aisled building, in which the width is reasonable size, to be created above the former open hall. divided like a church into nave and aisles separated by When a second 'aisle' had been added to the front, the open arcades, was a form of construction used in the south end rebuilt, and a further bay added to the end, the earliest surviving houses, and in many which are known house had assumed a form which made it acceptable to only from excavation. Most of the earliest examples are later generations. This amount of adaptation is in marked fine buildings erected for men of wealth and position; but contrast to that required to modernise 13-17 New Street by the early 14th century ways had been found of spanning and other high-walled, unaisled open-hall houses. All wide spaces without having to insert obtrusive intermediate they needed was to have the hall ceiled over to create an arcade posts; so at the highest social levels aisled halls upper floor, and a inserted to heat the house. In were soon obsolete. Nonetheless, there is increasing the New Street building all other work was secondary, evidence that less wealthy men continued to erect such and concerned with dividing the building into cottages. structures right through the 15th and even into the 16th Houses as small and low as Rype Cottage seldom century. Rype Cottage falls into this category. Although survive. Another, in Skinner Road, Lydd, was recorded there is nothing about it which allows it to be dated before demolition in the 1960s, and a few post-medieval precisely, the small size of its open hall, which ran between examples of the same low form have been found, as at B and C on plan, possibly with a separate bay for the Grisbrook Farm, also on the Rype, a house of 17th-

later addition

B 6M RCH M

Fig. 6.4.Rype Cottage, Lydd. A single-aisled open-hall house. 96 Sarah Pearson

F:+, !- gw , . '----- " 7-- y- - . -~ - . .-:- ,.' - --- . -=+G&%- .- . - >- - /':: ...- -.: - - - . - - --_ ------, - - - - -.- . - -- ~ -- - -- ~~ .r -. ;r : ~ -- , ?h~'* -) ., . ~ . . - . -.- .- - . ,.-. <, - ,,- . -. ....- - . . . ~ . ~-- . - - ,,. -:,, .. d. :v.-. , ,j ;!.?C :l - - -.- -~ ,-+;, '..l.v-.-, .?<2?"*' .. - ~.------,--.c. -,G:". ' L*:*.#1.- .,., - :,: . I. I- ,% ?' . ; ,,; .. . . , , ;-,,,,.-':, !', f" 4, , 8 . - .-.J ,.,,.,'r > 1 . , "h:' i, R,$?!!L _-~%,. .! '&',W .- .:l ' ,;., 1;; ~=/]l;,,~]l,.., , . ' , ,- l ~l'll! 1, ,: ,,-y-$* U*--+ I 1, ,m .,..I, ;i: :..':Jlt, ~~;~II,II-- L l l!, ' .l ! 2k:;l,!ib 'l &,,.&& Fig. 6.5. Rype Cottage, *, i@ Lydd. Viewfrom the north west showing the secondary aisle, half-hip, and gabled window lighting the upper chamber inserted in the former open hall. century date (Mercer 1975, 176). More often than not it is rather earlier than that assumed here). Although such must have been considered easier to rebuild a house of buildings may be found in many parts of Kent they are this sort than to adapt it to later living standards. This particularly noticeable in the north east and east of the decision might not be taken until the 20th century, as in county. the house in Skinner Road, but it was frequently taken The total absence of medieval houses in the rural much earlier. It is likely that those late 16th or early 17th- parishes of the Marsh which were surveyed by the century houses in Lydd which re-use earlier smoke- Commission has only been matched in a few other places, blackened rafters were replacing buildings of this form, such as the north coast and the Isle of Sheppey. However, and that the 16th-century Woolpack Inn in Brookland, the plenitude of surviving medieval dwellings in the centre which also re-uses sooted rafters, was another case in of the county, in parishes such as Charing and Smarden, point. Thus the chances are that the missing buildings is by no means the rule elsewhere. A number of surveyed throughout the rural parts of the Marsh should be envisaged parishes, particularly in north-east and east Kent, produced as low, small and possibly aisled, like Rype Cottage only one or two early houses, repeating the pattern found before it was altered. As Hasted noted in the late 18th in Appledore, and reported in Rurmarsh, Ivychurch and century of the Marsh generally, and of Appledore in . So the situation on the Marsh is probably particular, "the houses are but meanly built" (Hasted not quite as singular as it looks at first sight. Where only 1798, 253; 1799, 469). one or two houses occur they might be large and It is not easy to demonstrate that what is now rare was impressive, and sometimes of early date: the equivalents once as, if not more, numerous than the more sophisticated of Hornes Place, Appledore. Or they might be poor and medieval houses which are commonly found today. But small and probably late in date, like Rype Cottage, Lydd. there is evidence for a number of such buildings elsewhere The reasons for this disparity seems to lie in the historical in the county, often surviving in fragmentary condition, circumstances which prevailed over much of northern swallowed up by later and larger structures. Those few and eastern Kent. that are still complete can be shown to be smaller and A number of studies have been undertaken on lower than the average medieval house, often with at least ecclesiastical manors in north-east Kent (Chartham: one inner bay which was not lofted over but left open to Langridge 1984; Eastry: Mate 1991, 688; Gillingham: the roof. Some were aisled, but this was not always the Baker 1964; Ickham: Baker 1973,4 1O), and they have all case, and a typical unaisled example remains in the village painted a picture of continuing depopulation during the of , in Newington parish near Hythe (Mercer 15th century, accompanied by a reduction in tenant 1975,177; Parkin 1986, 182-5, where the suggested date numbers and a redistribution of land which resulted in a The Medieval Houses of the Marsh: the Missing Evidence 97

great disparity in the size of holdings. At the top there 450). In the circumstances it is hardly surprising that, were a few men with exceptionally large holdings, and at despite the evidence of continuing late-medieval the bottom a large number of people with very small occupation, the quality of the houses was not high. When tenancies. In Chartham, for example, by the early 16th this is set alongside the fact that the region suffered century the tenants with the largest holdings lived out of further depopulation after the Middle Ages, the absence the parish, in Canterbury and elsewhere, leaving of survivors is not difficult to understand. It is not necessary husbandmen with only medium-sized holdings as the to postulate that the houses were meant to be impermanent, wealthiest residents. Below that level there were many nor too flimsy to have survived if looked after adequately. men with little land or none at all (Langridge 1984, 238, Rather, it is likely that small but sturdy dwellings, 242). When one combines that evidence with the physical dissimilar to those in central Kent, but not unlike the rare evidence of the surviving buildings, the two seem to survivors in the east, may once have been common, but complement each other. It is not difficult to see why there have been swept away leaving virtually no trace. are only a few large houses in north-east Kent, and equally to appreciate why, despite the originally large number of smaller ones, only a few have made it into the 20th Acknowledgements century. The views discussed in this paper arise from the survey of The situation on Romney Marsh seems to have been medieval houses in Kent recently conducted by the Royal somewhat similar. Andrew Butcher's work on the freemen Commission on the Historical Monuments of England; of Romney (Butcher 1974) and more recently on the and I am grateful to the Secretary for permission to Marsh as a whole (Butcher 1992) indicates that by the publish it independently of the Commission's own middle of the 15th century the same kind of social and publications. I owe a great deal to my colleagues, Allan economic polarisation had taken place. He conjures up a T. Adams, who helped record the houses illustrated here, picture of wealthy men residing away from the Marsh, but and prepared the line drawings; Dr P. S. Barnwell, who holding large estates there which were primarily used for surveyed the parishes of Appledore, Brenzett, Brookland grazing. In addition there were townsmen investing in the and Newchurch; Jan Cornell, who typed the text, and countryside, the better-off among them also living off Peter Williams, who took the photographs. Outside the rents and using their land for pasture. Finally, there were Commission, Dorothy and Robert Beck and Beryl Coatts numerous people farming small holdings of ten acres or provided invaluable and much appreciated help in the less. In 1525 Sir Edward Guldeforde commented that the survey of Lydd. Finally, I would like to thank the owners Marsh was in decay, with many great holdings "held by of the properties recorded, for without their generosity in persons who neither reside on them, nor till nor breed allowing access to their homes this study could not have cattle, but use them for grazing" (quoted in Furley 1874, been undertaken.

References (The superscript number in the text refers to the unpublished Hanley, H.A. and Chalklin, C.W. 1964: 'The Kent lay subsidy roll source, given below.) of 133415. In Kent Records, Documents Illustrative qf Medieval Kentish Society (Kent Arch. Soc. Records) 18, 58-172. Harpsfield, 1557: Archdeacon Harpsfield's visitation returns. Published Sources Catholic Record Society 45, 46 (1950,1951). Baker, A.R.H. 1964: Open fields and partible inheritance on a Harris, R. 1992: Medieval Buildings of New Romney. Lecture to Kent manor. Econ. Hist. Rev. 2nd Ser. 17, 3-23. the Second Romney Marsh Conference, September 1992. Baker, A.R.H. 1973: Field systems of . In Hasted, E. 1798, 1799: The History and Topographical Survey of Baker, A.R.H. and Butlin, R.A. (editors), Studies of Field the County of Kent, 2nd edn, reprinted 1972, vols. 7 & 8. Systems in the British Isles, 377-411. Langridge, A.M. 1984: The population of Chartham from 1086 to Butcher, A.F. 1974: The origins of Romney freemen, 1433-1523. 1600. Arch. Cant. 101,217-44. Econ. Hist. Rev. 2nd Ser. 27, 16-27. Mate, M. 1991: Kent and Sussex. In Miller, E. (editor), The Agrarian Butcher, A.F. 1992: Citizens and Farmers in the Romney Marshes, History of England and , 111, 1348-1500, 680-703. 1350 - 1540. Lecture to the Second Romney Marsh Conference, Mercer, E. 1975: English VernacularHouses: a Study of Traditional September 1992. Farmhouses and Cottages. Department of the Environment, 1985: List of Buildings of Moran, M. 1992: A terrace of at Much Wenlock, Shropshire. Architectural and Historic Interest, Shepway District. 23, 10-14. Furley, R. 1874: A History of the Weald with an Outline History Parkin, E.W. 1962: The Old Court Hall, Lydd. Arch. Cant. 98, of the County, pt 2. 107-20. Glasscock, R.E. 1965: The distribution of lay wealth in Kent, Surrey Parkin, E.W. 1973: The ancient buildings of New Romney. Arch. and Sussex, in the early fourteenth century. Arch. Cant. 80,61-8. Cant. 88, 117-28. Gray, P.J. 1988: The Castle Inn, Chiddingstone, Kent. Vernacular Parkin, E.W. 1986: Newington, near Hythe: the threatened village. Architecture 19, 42. Arch. Cant. 103, 167-89. 98 Sarah Pearson

RCHME 1994: Kentish Houses in the later Middle Ages: an in England during the early sixteenth century. Trans. Inst. Brit. historical analysis. Geogr. N. Ser. 55, 111-26. RCHME 1994: The House Within: interpreting medieval houses Smith, R.M. 1988: Human Resources. In Astill, G. and Grant, A. in Kent. (editors) The Countryside in Medieval England, 188-212. RCHME 1994: A Gazetteer of Medieval Houses in Kent. Tatton-Brown, T. 1989: Church building on Rornney Marsh in the Reeves, A. 1995: Romney Marsh: the fieldwalking evidence. In later Middle Ages. Arch. Cant. 107, 253-66. Eddison, J. (editor), Romney Marsh: the Debatable Ground. Unpublished source OUCA Monograph 41,78-9 1. Sheail, J. 1972: The distribution of taxable population and wealth 1. PRO E 179/123/44.