POLTON
THE parish of Polton lies the next south-eastward
from River, within the bounds of this hundred.
THIS parish is so very obscurely situated among the
hills, as to have escaped the notice of all our historians.
It is very small, consisting of only the manor farms of
Polton and St. Radigund's, of about forty acres of land,
owned by different persons, and one cottage besides.
It is long and irregularly narrow, containing about seven
hundred acres. The country and soil of it is much the
same as that of Hougham, which it adjoins, excepting
that it is still more wild, dreary and romantic, indeed
the most so of any in this county. The manor-house
of Polton stands in a deep and lonely valley, it is a small
modern farm-house, all that remains of the antient
mansion being a part of the walls of it, built of flints.
On the hills adjoining to it, towards Dover, it is uninclosed downs, a chalky barren soil.
AT THE TIME of the time of taking the survey of Domesday,
this parish was part of the possessions of Hugo de
Montfort, under the general title of whose lands it is
entered as follows:
Herfrid held of Hugo, Poltone. Uluuin held it of king
Edward, and it was taxed for one suling. The arable
land is two carucates. There are three villeins, and a
little church. In the time of king Edward the Confessor
it was worth forty shillings, afterwards fifteen shillings,
now thirty shillings.
On the voluntary exile of Robert de Montfort,
grandson of Hugh above-mentioned, in the reign of
king Henry I. his estates in this parish, among the rest
of his possessions, came into the king's hands, whence
the seignory of it was granted to Geoffry, earl of
Perch, of whom THE MANOR OF POLTON was held by
a family who took their surname from it, and bore for
their arms, Argent, on a fess, sable, three bezants, between three mullets, sable. William de Polton and Sir
Stephen de Polton, are mentioned as owners of it in
the register of St. Radigund's abbey, as is their descendant Robert de Polton, who in king Henry III.'s reign
gave it to the abbey of St. Radigund, at Bradsole, in
this parish, to hold in pure and perpetual alms. And
it appears by the book of Dover castle, that the abbot
afterwards held it by knight's service of that castle,
being part of those fees which made up the barony
called the constabularie, by the performance of ward for
the defence of it. In which state it remained till the
dissolution of the abbey in the 27th year of king
Henry VIII. when it came into the king's hands, who
in his 29th year granted the scite of it, with all its lands
and possessions, excepting the advowsons of certain
churches, to archbishop Cranmer, who quickly afterwards exchanged it again with the king, by an act
passed specially for the purpose, and to give it to his
secretary Thomas Cromwell, afterwards earl of Essex,
by whose attaint in the 32d year of that reign, all his
estates were forfeited to the crown, where this manor
lay till the reign of Philip and Mary, when it was
granted to Edward Fynes, lord Clinton and Saye, who
soon afterwards sold it to Mr. Henry Herdson, and it
afterwards continued in like manner as Folkestone, and
his other estates in this neighbourhood, down to Sir
Basill Dixwell, bart. of Brome, who about the end of
king Charles II.'s reign, passed it away to Sir Cloudesley Shovel, admiral of the navy, who was shipwrecked in 1707, after which it descended to his two
daughters and coheirs; (fn. 1) and on the division of their
inheritance, this manor was allotted to the youngest,
Anne, wife of John Blackwood, esq. He died possessed of it in 1777, on which it descended to his son
Shovel Blackwood, esq. whose trustees in 1779, being
enabled so to do by act of parliament, conveyed it by
sale to Mr. John Cunnick, of London, from whom it
has since passed to G.C. Wilson, esq. the present
owner of it. There is not any court held for this
manor.
THE MANOR OF BRADSOLE, which lies in the north-east part of this parish, was given by Walter Hacket
and Emma his wife, with the consent of Richard I.
and of Walter de Polton, then mesne lord of the fee,
and Stephen his son and heir, to the canons of the church
of St. Radigund of Bradsole, who had settled there in
the year 1191, being the 3d of that prince's reign,
which gift was confirmed by king John in his 1st year. (fn. 2)
This abbey was of the Præmonstratensian order of
white canons; and though there was a design, anno 9
king John, of translating it, probably on account of the
inconvenience of its situation, to the church of River,
yet it never took place; and the revenues of it were at
different times increased by succeeding benefactors,
and by the cell of Blakewose, in this neighbourhood,
(which was a cell to the priory of the same order at
Lavendene, in Buckinghamshire) being united to it at
the instance of the barons of Hythe, on account of its
poverty and ruinated state. Being thus enriched, the
abbots became of sufficient consequence to receive summons to parliament, at the latter end of the reign of
king Edward I. and the reputation of its sanctity occasioned many noble and eminent persons to be buried in
the chapel of it. Among many others buried here,
were several of the Criols, lords of Westenhanger; and
of the Malmayns, lords of Waldershare; Thomas, lord
Poynings, anno 49 Edward III. was buried in the midst
of the choir of it (of his own patronage) before the
high altar, appointing a fair tomb to be placed over
him, with the image of a knight on it; Sir Nicholas
Evering, of Evering, and John Kyryel, gent. of
Lympne, in 1504, was buried in this church, next to
the sepulchre of Bartraham Kyriel, and gave money by
his will for eight priests to bring his body from Bellavowe hither. (fn. 3)
In which situation this abbey remained till the 27th
year of king Henry VIII. when by the act then passed,
it was suppressed, as not having the clear yearly income
of two hundred pounds, (thence called the lesser monasteries) the revenues of it amounting to no more than
98l. 9s. 2½d. clear, and 142l 8s. 9d. total value, and
was surrendered by Thomas Dale, then prior of it, into
the king's hands; for although this monastery is in
most records stiled an abbey, and the superiors of it
abbots, yet I find by several gifts to it at different periods, that it was stiled a priory, and the superiors of it
priors. Henry, prior of St. Radigund, is said to have
been baron of the exchequer, anno 49 Henry III. (fn. 4) and so
late as the reign of king Henry VIII. it is frequently
mentioned as a priory; and so cautious were they at
that time of misnaming it, that it was usually afterwards, in the records relating to it, described only by
the name of the monastery or house of St. Radigund,
lately dissolved. The scite of this dissolved monastery
and its possessions did not remain long in the crown, for
the king, in his 29th year, granted them with certain
exceptions, to archbishop Cranmer, who quickly afterwards exchanged it again with the king, an act of parliament having passed specially for the purpose, and to
give it, with other premises therein-mentioned, to his
secretary Thomas Cromwell, afterwards earl of Essex,
who being attainted in the 32d year of that reign, all
his estates became forfeited to the crown; whence this
manor of St. Radigund's, alias Bradsole, together with
the scite of the dissolved monastery, was granted, in
the reign of Philip and Mary, to Edward, lord Clinton
and Saye, and he, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, sold
it to Simon Edolph, esq. who having repaired the mansion of it, afterwards resided in it. He died in 1597,
and was succeeded in it by his eldest son Sir Thomas
Edolph, of St. Radigund's, who died in 1645. After
which it passed into the name of Chandler, of the kingdom of Ireland, the last of whom devised it to Richard
Chandler, esq. son and heir of Edward, bishop of Durham, in tail, with remainder to the heirs male of Mary,
wife of George Sayer, esq. of Charing, whose mother's
maiden name was Chandler. Richard Chandler, esq.
married Elizabeth, daughter and surviving heir of lord
James Cavendish, third son of William, duke of Devonshire, and took the name of Cavendish. He died
in 1769, s.p. on which this manor, with the scite of
the abbey, came, by the entail above-mentioned, to
George and John Sayer, the two sons of Mary, wife of
George Sayer, esq. of Charing, and on a partition of
their estates in 1786, this manor, with the scite of the
abbey, was allotted to the youngest, John Sayer, esq.
who is now possessed of the whole of it.
The scite of the abbey is on an hill, about two miles
and an half south-west from Dover; a most retired
and unfrequented situation. The ruins, which are venerably overgrown with ivy, cover a large space of
ground, and shew it to have been not only of great
extent, but handsomely built; the walls of the front
gateway, which are of great thickness and strength, yet
remain entire. The opposite or east side of the quadrangle next to the farm-yard was kept, after the dissolution, as a dwelling-house, and was inhabited by the
Edolphs, owners of it, by whom it was much altered,
the door and windows being of the time of queen Elizabeth. On the door of the porch, at the entrance into
it, in the inner side of the quadrangle, is a shield, being
Five lozenges, three, two, and one, on a chief, a rose;
and over the inner door, another, being seemingly, a
scroll of three wreaths, lessening downwards, and twisted
round an upright staff. Leland, in his Itinerary, vol. vii.
p. 127, gives a very good description of it as in his
time, "S. Radegundis, he says, standeth on the toppe of a
hille iii litle myles by west and sumwhat by sowth from
Dovar. There be white chanons and the quier of the
chyrche is large and fayr. The monaster ys at this
time netely mayntayned, but yt appereth that yn tymes
past the buildinges have bene ther more ample then
they be now. There ys on the hille fayre wood, but
fresch water laketh sumtyme." Since the time of the
Edolphs, the small part remaining as a dwelling, has
been made use of as a farm house. The barn and offices of the farm-yard are well built of stone, with
arched door-ways, as in their original state. In the
farm-yard is a large broad pond, of distinguished use in
this dry barren spot, whence probably this manor took
its name of Bradsole.
There are no parochial charities.
THIS PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of
Dover.
The church, which was dedicated to St. Mary, was
standing in 1523. There are now no remains of it;
but on the scite of it, in the bottom, about half a mile
south from the abbey, there is a stone set up with an
inscription, to perpetuate the memory of it, and the
place where it once stood.
The church was so very small as to be named in
Domesday, Æcclesiola. It continued appendant to
the manor of Polton, till Stephen de Polton, with the
consent of Matthew de Polton, clerk, gave it to the
prior and convent of St. Radigund. (fn. 5) There is no
mention of it in any valuation of the churches and ecclesiastical benefices; and the abbot and convent of
St. Radigund, who were of the Præmonstratensian order, one of the four privileged orders, who were exempted from tithes, possessing the whole parish, there
could be hardly any profits belonging to it, there being
only two houses in the parish besides; so that the patronage of it being theirs, one of the canons most probably administered the sacraments, the only duty performed in it, to the few inhabitants of this parish; for
the burials, most likely, were within the precinct of
their own monastery; which occasioned this little
church or chapel to be from time to time so entirely
unnoticed. However, the exemption of their lands
from the payment of tithes in this parish does not depend at all on the above privilege of their order, but
from the dilapidated church of it, and there not having
been any parson presented, or incumbent of it, since the
dissolution of the abbey, who could of right demand
any tithes within it.