DENTON NEAR GRAVESEND.
NORTHWARD from Chalk lies Denton, called
in the Textus Roffensis, Denitune, and in Domesday,
Danitone, which name it is supposed to take from its
having been the habitation of the Danes, i.e. Dane
town. It is now usually called Lower Denton, from
its low situation near the marshes, and also Denton near
Gravesend, to distinguish it from Denton near Eleham,
in this county.
THIS PARISH lies on the east side of the road, leading from Chalk-street to Gravesend, from which it
is distant about a mile. It is but small, being in extent, from north to south, less than two miles, and in
breadth only half a mile. It contains about four hundred and thirty acres of land, of which one hundred
are marsh land; its contiguity to the marshes makes
the air very unhealthy. The surface is exceedingly
flat, the soil a good fertile mould towards the north,
and light and chalky towards the south; there are but
two houses in it, one of which is the Court-lodge; the
other the parsonage, lately built by Mr. Nicholas Gilbee (lessee under Mrs. Bevan) is a very handsome house,
in which he resides.
It was given, whilst Ælfftan was bishop of Rochester, (fn. 1) who came to the see in 945, and died in 984, to
the priory of St. Andrew, in Rochester, as two plough
lands, by one Birtrick of Meopham, with the consent
of Elfswithe his wife, by his last testament; and being
wrested from that church in the troublesome times,
which soon afterwards followed, by reason of the Danish wars, was afterwards seized on by king Harold,
and on the accession of William the Conqueror, was
by him given, among other possessions of that church,
to Odo, bishop of Baieux, his half brother; but archbishop I anfranc recovered it again, in the solemn assembly, held on this occasion, at Pinenden-heath, in
1076, and afterwards restored it to bishop Gundulph
and the church of St. Andrew, which gift was afterwards confirmed by archbishop Anselm, and several of
his successors.
In the survey of Domesday, Denton is thus described under the general title of the bishop of Rochester's lands:
The same bishop (of Rochester) holds Danitone. It
was taxed in the time of king Edward the Confessor at
two sulings, and now for half a suling. The arable land
is two carucates. In demesne there is one, and six villeins, having there one carucate. There is a church and
four servants, and four acres of meadow, wood for the
pannage of 15 hogs. In the time of king Edward, and
afterwards, it was worth 100 shillings, and now seven
pounds and fifteen shillings.
Gundulph, bishop of Rochester, who was elected
to that see in the time of the Conqueror, having, after
the example of archbishop Lanfranc, divided the revenues of his church between himself and his convent,
allotted the manor of Denton, with the church of it,
to the share of the monks, to the use of their refectory,
which was confirmed by several of the succeeding kings
and archbishops of Canterbury. (fn. 2)
On bishop Gilbert de Glanvill's coming to the see
of Rochester, in 1185, he claimed this manor with
its appendages, as belonging to the maintenance of his
table, and the monks were forced to submit themselves
entirely to his clemency and award. In consequence
of which, though he wrested the church of Denton
from them, yet they continued in the possession of the
manor, and its other appendages, till the dissolution
of their priory in the reign of king Henry VIII.
In the 7th year of Edward I. the bishop claimed certain liberties by the grant of king Henry I. in all his
lands and fees, and others by antient custom, in the
lands of the priory of Denton, and in all other lands
belonging to his church; and he claimed gallows, assize of bread and ale, tumbrel, pillory, chattels of su
gitives, and condemned persons, with year and waste
of those lands, and all amerciaments of the tenants of
his church of Rochester, all which were allowed him
by the jury, and they were confirmed by letters of inspeximus by king Edward III. in his 30th year.
In the 21st year of the same reign, upon a Quo warranto, the prior of Rochester claimed, that he and his
predecessors had in the parish of Denton, among
others, view of frank pledge, and all matters belonging to it, from the time whereof the memory of man
said not, and that these liberties had been used without interruption, all which were allowed him by the
jury, &c. that as to pleas of the crown, a market, fair,
gallows, amerciaments of his own and his tenants,
wrecks at sea, chattels of condemned and sugitive persons in the above parishes, he had not, nor did he
claim them; but as to free warren, he claimed it by
grant of king Henry I. but the jury found that neither
he nor his predecessors had used the said warren in any
of them, therefore it was adjudged that these parishes
should remain without that liberty. In the 15th year
of king Edward I. the manor of Denton was taxed at
6l. 13s. yearly value. (fn. 3)
On the dissolution of the priory of Rochester, in the
32d year of the reign of king Henry VIII. this manor
was, together with the other possessions of it, surrendered into the king's hands, who presently after, in
his 33d year, settled it, with its appurtenances, on his
new founded dean and chapter of Rochester, part of
whose inheritance it continues at this time, the present
lessee of it being Tho. Barrett, esq. of Lee, in Ickham.
There has not been any court held for this manor for
many years.
Gilbert de Tunbridge, son of Richard, about the
year 1100, restored to the monks of St. Andrew, in
Rochester, their lands, which were within his lowy of
Tunbridge, viz. Unpringeberi near Burne, which belonged to Frendesbury and Dudichinesdene, which lay
at Denton, both manors belonging to them, to hold
the same freely and quietly for ever.
This parish, among others in this neighbourhood,
was antiently contributary to the repair of the ninth
pier of Rochester bridge.
DENTON is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese and deanry of Rochester.
The church, which was dedicated to St. Mary, was
but a small building of one isle, with a chancel and bell
tower. It stood on a bank, close to the road side; the
whole has been some time in ruins, though it was not
so in the Kilburns time, in the middle of the last century; soon after which, service being discontinued in
it, the materials were taken down and sold, or otherwise disposed of. The outside walls, for the most part,
yet remain, having the buildings of the adjoining farm
yard built up against the north side of it. On the south
east human bones have at times been dug up where
the cemitery was, now part of the farm-yard.
Although the church of Denton was given with the
manor, by bishop Gundulph, to the monks of St. Andrew, yet bishop Gilbert de Glanvill resumed the possession of it, and reunited it to the see of Rochester, as
has been already mentioned. It antiently paid ninepence chrism rent to the mother church of the diocese,
as one of the churches within it, though in the time of
king Edward II. it seems to have been esteemed only
as a chapel, for bishop Thomas de Woldham, by his
will, in 1316, being the 10th year of that reign, bequeathed eight marcs to the poor of the chapel of
Denton; and there is no mention of it in the king's
books, perhaps as being at that time only esteemed as
a curacy.
By an antient valuation, among the registers of the
bishop of Rochester, of the churches, &c. belonging
to that see, this of Dentone was valued at six marcs.
On the abolishing of deans and chapters, after the death
of king Charles I. a survey was taken, in 1650, of this
parsonage, by order of the state, when it was returned,
that Denton was a small parish, having but two houses
in it, and but one farm near it; that it was a parsonage
impropriate, belonging to the late bishop of Rochester,
worth twenty-six pounds per annum. (fn. 4) In which state
it remains at this time, the parsonage continuing part
of the possessions of the bishopric of Rochester. Mrs.
Bevan is the present lessee of it. It pays all church
dues and duties to that of Chalk.
Gundulph, bishop of Rochester, in 1091, granted,
with the assent of archbishop Anselm, to the monks of
St. Andrew's, that they should have and retain the tithes
arising, as well from the food of their cattle as from
their agriculture, within their manors situated within
his diocese, viz. in Denton and in others, to the use of
their refrectory, which gift was confirmed by archbishop Theobald, the prior and convent of Canterbury,
and by several succeeding bishops of Rochester; Henry
bishop of Rochester, likewise confirmed the same, and
further granted and confirmed to them the small tithes,
together with the other tithes arising from their manors
and demesnes within his diocese, and in their other
manors, according to former custom, used before his
time. All which was confirmed by Richard, bishop
of Rochester in 1280, who at the same time, at the instance of the prior and convent of Rochester, made a
solemn inquisition, by which it appeared, upon the
oaths of those then sworn, among other matters, that
in the manor of Denton the parish church did take,
and took of antient time, in the name of tithe, the
30th sheaf only of every kind of corn, but of other
small tithes, as well as of the mills and hay in this and
their other manors therein mentioned, the parish church
did not, nor ever used to take any thing; and he de
creed, that this parish church should be content with
the said 30th sheaf of every kind of corn only, and
that the monks should have and retain for ever all
other tithes, both great and small, by whatever names
they were called, in all their manors and places within
his diocese, the tithes of sheaves, &c. in each of them,
as particularly mentioned in his instrument only excepted. All which was confirmed to them (as well as
the former grants of bishops Walter, Gilbert, and
Henry) by John archbishop of Canterbury, by his letters of inspeximus, in 1281.