PADLESWORTH NEAR SNODLAND.
PADLESWORTH, commonly called Paulsford,
lies the next parish westward from Snodland. It is
called in Domesday PELLESORDE, and in the Textus
Roffensis PÆDLESWRTHA.
THIS PARISH is very small, it lies between Snodland and the foot of the chalk hills, north-westward,
on a chalky soil, which is but poor, the court-lodge
with the ruins of the church near it, stands near in the
centre of the parish, which is very obscure, and but
little known to any one. This parish ought antiently
to have contributed towards the repair of the ninth
pier of Rochester bridge. (fn. 1)
AT THE TIME of taking the survey of Domesday, about
the year 1080, this place was part of the vast possessions
of Odo, bishop of Baieux, the Conqueror's half-brother, under the general title of whose lands it is thus
entered in that record:
Hugo de Port holds of the bishop (of Baieux) Pellesorde. It was taxed at half a suling. The arable land
is . . . . In demesne there is one carucate, and one villein, with four borderers, having three oxen. There is
a church, and two servants, and five acres of meadow,
and one acre of pasture. In the time of king Edward
the Confessor it was worth twenty shillings, when he
received it thirty shillings, now forty shillings. Godric
held it of king Edward.
The property of this place seems antiently to have
been divided and in the possession of different owners.
The greatest part of this manor in the reign of king
Henry III. seems to have been in the possession of the
family of Chetwode, one of whom, Robert de Chetwode, exchanged it with Hamo de Gatton, of Throw
ley, for other lands in Bedfordshire, (fn. 2) and he passed it
away in the same reign to Sir Walter de Huntingfield,
who was possessed of it in the 7th year of Edward I. (fn. 3)
In the 11th year of king Edward II. he had a demise in ferme from the prior and convent of Bermundesey, of their land of Padlesworth, which Roger
de Leyborne had formerly given them, in consideration of eighty marcs. His son, Sir John de Huntingfield, owned it in the next reign of Edward III.
when it was certified to have been held at the latter end
of the reign of king Henry III. by Ralph de Padlesworth of William de Say, lord of Birling.
There was a remaining part of this manor, being
esteemed as one third part of it, held in the reign of
king Edward III. by the family of Basing, one of whom
held it in the 11th year of that reign, from which name
it went quickly after into that of Charles.
Richard Charles died possessed of this third part in the
first year of king Richard II. leaving Richard and John,
the two sons of his brother Roger Charles his next
heirs. Alice, wife of Richard Charles, the elder firstabove-mentioned, at the time of her death, in the 9th
year of that reign, held of the inheritance of Richard
Charles, his kinsman and heir, this third part of the
manor of Padlesworth in dower, excepting certain
lands which were of the tenure of gavelkind, of which
she was not endowed, of the king in capite by knights
service, and by homage and fealty, and by the annual
castle guard rent of twenty-four shillings to Rochester
castle.
Soon after the above time, the whole of this manor
seems to have been vested in the name of Bele, from
whence it passed to Bullock, and thence again by sale
to Diggs, where after staying a very short time, it was
alienated to Peckham, and he sold it to Vineley, who
passed it away to William Clifford, esq. of Bobbingcourt, and he conveyed it to John Bamberg, (fn. 4) who bore
for his arms, Argent, on a chief, sable, a lion passant of
the first. His daughter and heir Elizabeth, carried it
in marriage to Nicholas Wotton, esq. and his descendant, Sir Edward Wotton, of Boughton Malherb, was,
by king James I. created lord Wotton, of Marley.
His son and heir, Thomas, lord Wotton, died in the
6th year of king Charles I. leaving four daughters his
coheirs, of whom, Catherine, the eldest, entitled her
husband, Henry, lord Stanhope, to the possession of
this manor. He died in his father's life-time, in the
10th year of king Charles I. upon which she became
again possessed of it in her own right, and afterwards
passed it away by sale to John Marsham, esq. of
Whornes-place, in Cookstone, afterwards in 1663
created a baronet, and his descendant, the Right Hon.
Charles, lord Romney, is the present proprietor of this
manor.
It is now held of the manor of Swanscombe, by
castle guard rent to the castle of Rochester.
PADLESWORTH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Rochester and deanry of
Malling
This church was antiently esteemed but as a chapel
to the adjoining church of Birling. It has been long
in ruins; that part of it which is left standing, is built
of flint, with ashler quoins, &c. and has been many
years made use of as a barn. It stands close to the
north side of the farm-yard belonging to the manorhouse. It is valued in the king's books at 3l. 6s. 8d.
This church seems always to have been accounted
an appendage to the manor, as such the sine cure is
now in the patronage of the Right Hon. Charles, lord
Romney.