NACKINGTON,

CALLED in antient writings Natindon, and Natynton, lies the next parish south westward from Bridge. The greatest part of it is in the upper half hundred of Bridge, and a small district of the northern part of it in the hundered of Whitstaple. It has but one borough, viz. that of Nackington.

NACKINGTON lies about a mile north-east from Canterbury; the high road from which to Hythe and Romney Marsh leads through it; it is a pleasant healthy situation. The east and west sides of the parish are open uninclosed arable and hop-grounds, the eastern part behind Staplegate being mostly planted with them; and the western arable, in which is a large district of land, called from its size the Hundred-acres, formerly Haven field, the property of several different owners. The soil, through much inclined to chalk, is in general very fertile, and worth upon an average twenty shillings an acre, though there is much in it let for more. There is no village, but there are about eighteen houses interspersed throughout it; the church stands on a gentle rise, at a small distance eastward from the road, with the parsonage and the court-lodge of Sextries near it. Beyond Heppington the prospect changes to a barren dreary country, covered with slints, and enveloped among woods. Behind that seat ran the old Stonestreet way of the Romans, from their station Durovernum, or Canterbury, to that of Portus Lemanis, or Limne, only to be traced now over the arable lands, and through the woods, and a little higher up lies Iffins wood, formerly the scite of the manor of Ytching, as it was antiently spelt in king Henry the VIth.'s reign, a small part of which only is within this parish, close to the bounds of which are the vestigia of an antient camp, the outward trenches of which contain about eight acres, of which only two acres are level and connected, the rest being cut and intersected by roads, &c. There are numbers of different intrenchments throughout this large wood, and one vallum especially, which runs on to the Stone-street road. At the north corner of this camp are the remains of an oblong square building of stone, the length of it standing east and west. At the east end is a square rise against the wall, seemingly for an altar, and a hollow in the wall on one side. The foot or pedestal, of a seemingly gothic pillar, such as were made for churches, was some years ago found among the rubbish in it; so that if this ever was a prætorium of a Roman general, a chapel seems to have been erected on the scite of it, as was frequently the case, probably by the owners of the manor, and to have been deserted when this part of the country was depopulated by the contests between the houses of York and Lancaster.

Herba Paris, or One Berry, grows plentifully in Iffen wood, and Lamium Caunabino folio flore amplo luteo, labio purpureo; hemp-leaved dead nettle, with a party coloured flower, grows in this parish.

There are no parochial charities, but there are eight shillings per annum paid towards the repair of the church, out of lands called Willys's lands. The number of poor constantly relieved are about twenty-five, casually as many.

THERE ARE THREE MANORS in this parish, each of which is stiled in antient records, The MANOR OF NACKINGTON. Of these

The MANOR OF SEXTRIES, alias NACKINGTON, was part of the antient possessions of the monastery of St.Augustine, and was allotted to the use of their sacristie, whence it acquired the former of those names. This manor, in the year 1046, was demised to one Turstin, belonging to the abbot's houshold, and was afterwards sold and alienated from the monastery, which accounts for its not being mentioned in the survey of Domesday; but in king Edward I.'s reign, it appears by the roll of knights fees to have been again in the possession of the abbot and convent, for Natyndon is mentioned in it as the abbot's lordship. After which this manor of Natyndon, alias Sextries, continued in the possession of the abbot and convent till the dissolution of the abbey in the 30th year of Henry VIII. when it came into the king's hands, (fn. 1) who in his 32d year granted it in exchange to Thomas Colepeper, esq. senior, whose son Sir Alexander Colepeper, of Bedgbury, alienated it in the 21st year of Elizabeth to Sir James Hales, of the Dungeon, in Canterbury, whose grandson, of the same name, by deed inrolled anno 22 James I.sold it to John Smith, esq. of London, and he devised it by will to John Vaughan, esq. from which name it passed to Stephen Jermyn, esq. who conveyed it to Thomas Page, citizen and stationer of London, and he passed it away by sale to William Fox, of Nackington, whose son, of the same name, reconveyed it to Thomas Page, esq. of London, son of Thomas beforementioned, and he in 1763 sold it to Edward Jacob, esq. of Faversham, who died in 1788, and his widow now possesses it for her life, the inheritance being vested in their two younger sons, the Rev.Stephen Long Jacob, and Mr.John Jacob, who resides at it. There is no court held for it.

The MANOR OF STAPLEGATE, alias NACKINGTON, is situated in the northern part of this parish, in the hundred of Whitstaple, just without the bounds of the county of the city of Canterbury. It was formerly the seat of an eminent family of the same surname, who were owners not only of this place, but of lands in Bilsington, Romney Marsh, and in Thanet. (fn. 2) Edmund Staplegate died possessed of this manor anno 13 king Edward II. whose descendant Edmund Staplegate had that noted contest, as lord of Bilsington manor, with Richard, earl of Arundel, for the performance of the office of chief butler at king Richard II.'s coronation. (fn. 3) He died s.p. and was succeeded by his brother John Staplegate, in whole descendants this manor did not continue long; for in the reigns of Henry V. and VI. as appears by the antient court-rolls, it was in the name of Litchfield, one of whom, Roger Litchfield, in the 22d year of Edward IV. alienated it to William Haut, whose son Sir William Haut leaving two daughters his coheirs, Elizabeth, the eldest, entitled her husband Thomas Colepeper, esq. of Bedgbury, to it, and he in the Ist year of king Edward VI. alienated it to Philip Chowte, esq. who sold it in the 6th year of queen Elizabeth to Walter Waller, and he immediately afterwards passed it away to Sir Anthony Aucher, of Bishopsborne, who sold it to Sir James Hales, of the Dungeon, and he in the 22d year of king James I. conveyed it, with the manor of Sextries, alias Nackington, to John Smith, esq. of London. After which they both continued in the same line of ownership, down to Thomas Page, esq. who alienated this manor of Staplegate, alias Nackington, to Mr.Hopkins Fox, whose son Mr. William Fox died possessed of it in 1794, and left it to his eldest son William, who now possesses it. There is no court held for it.

HEPPINGTON is a manor and seat, at the south-west boundary of this parish, which in the reign of king Henry II. was possessed by a family of the name of Delce; for in the 29th year of it William de Delce accounted at the exchequer for the tenure of this land of Hevington; but this name was extinct here before the reign of Edward III in which it was come into the possession of William Talbot, whose heirs possessed it in the 20th year of that reign. The next owners of this manor were the Chich's, of the Dungeon, as appeared by a record of that time, at the beginning of king Henry IV.'s reign, it was become the property of Fogge, and Sir John Fogge, of Repton, by will anno 6 Henry VII. devised it to his son by his second wife, Sir Thomas Fogge, sergeant-porter of Calais, whose two daughters and coheirs, married to Oxenbridge and Scott, conveyed their moieties of it in 1558 and 1561, to Thomas Hales, esq. of Thanington, and he settled it on his eldest son William, by his second wife Alice, and their son William Hales, esq. together with his son William Hales, in 1640, conveyed the manor of Heppington, with the mansion and lands belonging to it, to Thomas Godfrey, esq. the younger, of Lid, who was knighted the year afterwards, and resided here, being the eldest son of Peter Godfrey, esq. of Lid. (fn. 4) He died in 1684, without surviving issue, leaving his wife lady Hester Godfrey surviving, who died in 1699, when this manor came by her settlement of it to her great nephew Henry Godfrey, esq. who was of Heppington, who leaving and only daughter and heir Mary, she carried it in marriage to Bryan Faussett, esq. of Rochester, who rebuilt this seat, bearing for his arms,Or, a lion rampant, sable, over all a bend, gobonated, argent and gules. He died in 1750, and was succeeded by his eldest son the Rev. Brian Faussett, rector of Horton Monks, and perpetual curate of Nackington, who died in 1776, having married Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. Mr. Curtois, by whom he had two sons, Henry-Godfrey, of whom below, and Bryan, now of Sittingborne, gent. who married Dorothy, daughter of the Rev.John Smith, vicar of Borden, and a daughter Elizabeth, married to Mr. Wm. Bland, of Sittingborne. Henry Godfrey Faussett, esq. the eldest son, succeeded on his mother's death in 1787, to this manor; he married first Susan, daughter of Ri chard Sandys, esq. of Canterbury, by whom he had three sons and five daughters, she died in 1789; and he married secondly Sarah, daughter and heir of Fettiplace Nott, esq. of Marston-hall, in Warwickshire, late high steward of the city of Litchfield. He is the present possessor of this manor, and resides at Heppington.

NACKINGTON-HOUSE is a seat in this parish, which in the reign of king Charles I. was the residence of Capt. John Nutt, whose descendant Edward Nutt, esq. died possessed of it in 1708, without issue male, upon which it came by entail to his brother William Nutt, who sold it to Thomas Willys, esq. who in 1726 succeeded to the title of baronet on the death of Sir Thomas Willys, bart. of Fen-Ditton, in Cambridgeshire, s. p. their arms being, Parted per fess, gules and argent, three lions rampant, counterchanged, a bordure, ermine. He died next year, s. p. likewise, having devised this estate to trustees, who soon afterwards sold it to Christopher Milles, esq. of Canterbury, descended from ancestors who had resided at the parsonage at Herne, from the reign of James I. and bore for their arms, Ermine, a millrind, sable, on a chief, two marlions wings, or; one of whom was clerk of the robes to queen Anne, and king James and of king Charles's privy chamber. (fn. 5) Christopher Milles, esq. after his purchase of Nackington house, resided at it, and died in 1742, having married Mary, eldest daughter of Rich. Warner, esq. of Norfolk, by whom he had three sons and two daughters, Richard, of whom hereafter; Christopher, chief justice of Senegambia; John, late captain of an East-Indiaman; Mary, now unmarried; and Anne, married to Sir Edward Aftley, bart. of Norfolk. Richard Milles, esq. the eldest son, is of North Elmham, in Norfolk, he served as member for Canterbury in three successive parliaments, having married Mary, daughter of T. Tanner, D. D. prebendary of Canterbury, by whom he has an only daughter and heir Mary, married to the right hon. Lewis-Thomas, lord Sondes. He is the present owner of this seat, and at times resides at it.

THIS PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of the same.

The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is but small, and consists of one isle and two chancels, having at the north-west corner a low wooden pointed turret, in which hangs one bell. This church is very small. It is kept very neat and in good repair. By the several narrow small circular windows it seems antient, built perhaps not long after the time of Lansranc. In the high chancel are several memorials for the Godfreys; a memorial for Bryan Faussett, esq. obt. 1750, and for his son the Rev. Bryan Faussett, obt. 1776; arms, Faussett, quartering Toke, Godfrey, and Brian, impaling azure, three pales, ermine, over all, a fess, chequy. In the south chancel, which belongs to the Milles family, are several memorials for the Wyllis's and the Nutt's; and memorials for the Pudners, who lie buried in a vault underneath; arms, Bendy, or, and gules, over all, a cross, argent, a label of three points for difference. Against the west wall are three elegant small monuments, of different coloured marbles; one for the RevBernard Astley, A. B. second son of Sir Edward Astley, bart. of Melton, in Norfolk, by Anne, daughter of Christopher Milles, esq. another for Christopher Milles, esq. of Nackington, obt. 1742, who married Mary, eldest daughter and coheir of Richard Warner, esq. of North Elmham, in Norfolk; and another for Mary, relict of Christopher Milles, esq. obt. 1781. In the two east windows of this chancel, are good remains of painted glass.

The CHURCH of Nackington belonged to the priory of St. Gregory, perhaps part of its original endowment by archbishop Lanfranc. It was very early appropriated to it, and was confirmed to it by archbishop Hubert about king Richard I.'s reign. After which this appropriation appears by the register of the priory, to have been esteemed as a manor, stiled

The MANOR OF NACKINGTON, alias The PARSONAGE, which continued part of the possessions of it till its suppression by king Henry VIII. when it came, with the advowson of the vicarage, into the king's hands, where they did not stay long, before they were granted, with the scite and other possessions of the priory, in exchange, to the archbishop, part of the revenues of whose see they continue at this time, George Gipps, esq. of Harbledown, being the present lessee of this parsonage. But the advowson of the vicarage, now esteemed as a perpetual curacy, his grace the archbishop reserves in his own hands.

The vicarage, or perpetual curacy, is not valued in the king's books. (fn. 6) Archbishop Juxon, in 1661, augmented the stipend of this curacy to twenty pounds per annum; and archbishop Sheldon, anno 28 Charles II. angmented it further to forty pounds per annum, which sum is paid yearly to the curate by the lessee of the parsonage. It is now of the yearly certified value of 62l. 18s. 10d. (fn. 7)

THERE IS A PORTION OF TITHES arising from a district of land in this parish, which was part of the antient possessions of the hospital of Eastbridge, and at the endowment of the vicarage of Cosmus Blean, was given to it, being then of the value of five marcs. This portion now belongs to that vicarage, and consists of the tithes of about one hundred and sixteen acres of land, let at the yearly rent of forty-two pounds. (fn. 8)

There were several contests between the priory of St. Gregory and St. Laurence hospital, concerning the tithes of Moland beside Heppington, viz. of eighty acres of land; besides which, the hospital possessed the tithes of fifty acres of land in Havefield. (fn. 9)

Church of Nackington.

Footnotes