People and Economy of South Frith before the Black Death
In early medieval times South Frith was a forested area stretching from the edge of the settlement at Tonbridge southwards to beyond where Tunbridge Wells stands now. (A distance of five miles or more.) South Frith formed part of the Lowy of Tonbridge, created by the Normans, an extensive estate controlled by the holders of Tonbridge Castle which guarded the Medway river crossing. The Lowy was effectively self-regulating and the documentation of the period does not form part of the Crown records; as a result, much of the activity in the area is obscure. This paper discusses the population and land use of the Forest in the 1330s and 1340s, identifying individuals and their holdings in detail.
The ancient forest was populated from the prehistoric period. In Anglo- Saxon/Jutish times there were drovers’ dens, mainly serving the manor at Otford. Clearance of the Forest happened gradually and was thought to be under way by the fourteenth century, probably initially around the dens and tracks. As it straddles a section of the ancient main route to Hastings, Rye/Winchelsea (roughly followed by the present-day A21) such incursions had doubtless first occurred there quite early. Later use of the land, which was agriculturally poor, was as a hunting forest and a source of timber and charcoal. There was also a medieval iron industry. Little is known about the early history of the ‘South Forest’, but the National Archives hold a batch of rental documents for South Frith dating to around 1342 to 1346. These are extraordinary in their state of preservation and detail and are analysed and discussed here.
The land had belonged to Gilbert de Clare who died at Bannockburn in 1314 without issue. His sisters therefore inherited and the South Frith portion passed to one of them, Elizabeth de Clare, who had several marriages and was known as Lady de Burgh in the 1340s; the rentals were apparently drawn up for her.
The thickly forested area known as South Frith is depicted on a number of published maps of various dates, or schematically in secondary sources, notably K.P. Witney’s study of the thirteenth-century Weald. A selection of these is presented in this paper as Maps 1-4: Map 3 shows the extent of the Lowy of Tonbridge.[pg313]
[fg]jpg|Map 1 Approximate extent of the Clare estates surrounding South Frith in the Thirteenth century – as depicted in Witney, K.P., 1976, The Jutish Forest – A Study of the Weald of Kent from AD 450 to 1380, fig. 17.|Image[/fg]
The National Archives contains five indentures, three in Latin and two in Old French, all dated as being around 1342 to 1346.[fn1] Four relate to South Frith and one to Peckham, the latter being indirectly related to this study as it contains references to individuals and places mentioned in the others.[fn2] Two of the four, both in Old French, stand alone, and are concerned with forest holdings. Although the accounting system is unclear, the rental sums are likely to be per annum. The remaining two, which are in Latin, are for more general land use; these two appear to be repeats of each other drawn up at different times, the rental values being the same in both cases and varying only in a few details. One is undated, the other one drawn up at Lammas. The latter has headings for the two rental columns [pg314]of Easter and Michaelmas, so presumably the amounts were for half years. The Peckham documents are in Latin and the accounting periods are given, in some cases being three terms and others annually. The format of the money payable in all the indentures is inconsistent, not following strict £. s. d. (one entry, for example, is 100s., others 20d.); for the purpose of this analysis the values have been converted to the standard.
[fg]jpg|Map 2 Extract from ‘A new Description of Kent’, Phil. Symonson (1596), showing the South Frith area bisected by the road from Tonbridge south-east to Rye.|image[/fg]
Both of the indentures in French have legal preambles which name Sir Andrew de Bures, Walter Colepeper and William Lengleys as having been commissioned to make the indenture, with Thomas Judd being assigned in their place – Judd is named as chamberlain in one of these. The landholder in one case is Lady de Burgh.[fn3] Following the preambles are lists of individual renters, each with detail of their holdings, often with the named location, and the rental amount due. The Peckham one has no such preamble but contains details of three distinct rental types.[pg315]
[fg]jpg|Map 3 Cole, Deborah, 2014, ‘How mapping the Lowy of Tonbridge can further our understanding of its origin, nature and extent , Archaeologia Cantiana, cxxxv, fig. 5.|Image[/fg]
The Lay Subsidy of 1334/5 was a one-off tax, and whereas entries for counties beyond our county do not specify taxpayers by name, that for Kent does, broken down by Hundred.[fn4] The entries mainly relevant to South Frith are the Lowy of Tonbridge and Washlingstone, but Kent landholders not resident in this area can also be found listed under other Hundreds.
Although the two sources are not of identical date, they are close enough to give a reasonably valid picture, excepting the lower echelons of society, which are not represented. There may also have been other indentures which either have not yet been studied, or have not survived, for other properties and renters. However, by sorting the data to show the respective scale of holdings by individual and by [pg316]place and to put value on different land usage, the amount of information given in the five indentures and considered alongside the Lay Subsidy creates a view of a substantial part of South Frith society at the time.
[fg]jpg|Map 4 Extract from Andrews, Dury and Herbert map of Kent (1769) showing the densely forested character of South Frith; with scattered clearings depicted.|Image[/fg]
[pg317]
The Locations
There are more than thirty places named, with some variability in spellings, and two with a description but no name. Appendix 1 summarises these places and the type of holdings, according to the information as specified in the originals. Appendix 2 contains the same data but rearranged to quantify each renter’s commitment. Other place names are apparent in some of the renters’ origins, de Tatlyngbury, for example, being of a manor in the Capel area.
Six gates to the forest were identified. Piletgate was on the fringes near Pembury, The others, subject to translation, were Bokelsworthgate, Tendelgate, Huiccerngate, Hunternegate and Ermytegate. The name ‘Robingate’ did not feature although apparently well-known later (see, for example, Map 4.) Other significant place names include the Shirte (Southborough Common) and Somerhill. Traditionally this name was thought to have originated in the Jacobean period, the same date as the current house (although there is some suggestion of Tudor origins in the building) but these documents show it to be much older. There were only two entries for this place name, both in the same French document and both for woods with a total rental of £8 18s. There had been a manor of South Frith, the house said to have been for the use of the forest bailiffs; the location is so far unclear but is often identified with Somerhill. These documents show no dwelling there, only timber holdings, although the existence of one cannot be ruled out. A working hypothesis, though, is that wherever the original South Frith manor house was, it moved, with the construction of a different dwelling, to the present Somerhill site sometime after these documents were produced. The manors around the current Southborough area seem to have had variable names (and probably boundaries also) according to the sources, confusing the picture.[fn5]
Bournemelne was likely to have been the mill on the Bourne Stream by the present Bournemill Farm near Castle Hill and Vauxhall. Records examined by Cleere and Crossley put a bloomery in that area;[fn6] there was iron working around Bourne Mill in the 1550s (and at Brokes Farm/Old Forge Farm further along the stream towards Tunbridge Wells). It may be that the sixteenth century iron working at the mill site was a revival of previous medieval use, but further research would be needed to confirm this. Other bloomeries and fabricae were at Tudeley – the Historic Environment Record (HER) and Straker have more details.[fn7] Clere and Crossley identify the Spryngets, who also feature in the South Frith de Burgh documents, as working in iron. Another of the entries is Hokynbery, and there was a link with Peckham, as South Frith renters Iohannes de Sumynglye, Thomas Coppyn and Walter Parstepe also owed rent in Peckham and were described as tenants of Hokynbery.
A few of the other places could correspond with similarly named ones on those estate maps of Somerhill held in the Kent Archives and there are also some which might appear in a different form in later sources (included in Appendices 1 and 2). It may be that future study of the places could clarify some modern equivalents of the remainder.
Sixteen of the entries do not give a location, two of these are for land and one, rented by Ralph Judd, for a fabrica. This may be a smithy at the Shirth (the Common), which would place it by the main track to the coast – there was one [pg318]there 1621.[fn8] Alternatively, this could be one of the fabricae at Tudeley, although this is less likely as the Spryngets were active there.
Land value and use
After the climate and harvest disasters of the early part of the fourteenth century, general opinion is that some stability had returned to the countryside by the time these documents were drawn up. There are six dwellings, not described by location, as being ‘new from the farm’. This could suggest that there had been sufficient recovery to start building for an increasing population, soon to change with the coming of the Black Death.
General agricultural land rentals were charged by area, mainly at two or three pence per acre per half-year. There must have been variations in the return to be expected from the land as Tendelgate is three pence in some cases and five pence in another. Bokelsworthebrouu is nearer seven pence. The places vary in the density of renting. Piletgate has eleven entries, The Shirte nine and the Bokelsworth- related six. Several have three or four but many of the locations have only one rental and were presumably less productive or desirable.
Rentals for dwellings in the two general Latin documents were the same whether or not the description gives a farm with them, at six pence for the half year. As some are described as dwellings in one of the rentals and dwelling plus farm for the same rent in the Lammas document, one interpretation is that dwellings had an associated plot which is understood rather than specified in all cases, what might be considered a homestead. Timber-producing holdings were not described by land area, but by the number of individual trees or a generic term for ‘woods’. Oak and beech were singled out, small trees with a lesser value, as well as damaged or rotted trees. Oak was more valuable, around five or seven shillings (probably per annum) beeches being about three shillings and being more plentiful. There is also something which might be scrub or brushwood.
The Renters
There are sixty-six individuals mentioned by name in the documents. These are listed, with their holdings, in Appendix 2, which also includes people with the same family name who feature in the Lay Subsidy but not in the Rentals. Some of the properties had more than one renter and there was one instance of a sub-tenant, although in the other relevant document he is the renter in his own right. There is a widely spread of rental liabilities. Only four people had a single farmstead, at sixpence per half year, although some others had both a homestead and separately valued land as well. There are also instances of two or more dwellings for one renter, presumably for sub-letting. Dwellings and agricultural land were of lesser value (the entries come to less than £11 per annum in total) relative to the timber- bearing sites; the greatest financial commitment was for the latter (upwards of
£200 per annum). Although some of the renters had both types of holding, many confined themselves to wood. Fifteen of these held values of over £5 per annum, a further fifteen from £1 to £5 and the remaining sixteen were below this threshold. Some of the renters do not feature in the Lay Subsidy – only the richest would [pg319]have been there. However, absence could also be due either to the time difference between the two sources or that the person in question was based outside Kent; some of the biggest investors may fall into this category here and effectively be absentee landlords.
The most committed was Iohann de Ileserche, above £27 per annum; surprisingly he does not figure in the Lay Subsidy despite his implied wealth. Wauter of the same name, presumably a relative, had a small holding of woodland and also does not feature, but a William, without a South Frith rental entry, does. The next biggest, Iohannes Smythe (about £19) is also absent from the Subsidy, although there are name variations which might place him elsewhere in Kent. Wauter Mody (£16 or so) similarly does not feature, although another with the same family name does.
Fourth biggest was Thomas Coppyn, at £15 4s., but adding in Iohannes and Richard of the same name gives a likely family holding upwards of £33, outstripping the rest. All feature in either the Lowy or Washlingstone sections of the Lay Subsidy. One of the prominent families in the area, later producing the founder of Tonbridge School, was Judde. As previously mentioned, Thomas was named in the preamble as Chamberlain and he also rented some dwellings and woodland – he does not feature in the Lay Subsidy, so his formal position may not have been a lucrative one or he may have been taxed outside Kent. Ralph Judd (he appears under the Lowy) is the most heavily taxed of the South Frith names and his assessment is the third highest in the whole of the Lowy, so a wealthy man. A Geoffrey and a Roger also are in the Lay Subsidy but not the Rentals.
Of the other families, the Spryngets are known from other sources. Thomas, who had some assets in the forest, but no Lay Subsidy record, was involved in the iron industry. Iohann was a South Frith joint renter with Ralph Judd and well-off by his Lay Subsidy assessment. One of the Shirthe property renters was Sefowel, who might be the Iohan Sefoughulle in the Lay Subsidy for Beckenham.
Discussion
South Frith was very sparsely populated compared with other parts of the county. Du Boulay’s introduction to the Lay Subsidy suggests that the Western Weald (including the Lowy and Washlingstone) was among the least densely occupied parts of Kent at the time, being less than four and a half taxable individuals per thousand acres;[fn9] whether the less prosperous were in the same proportion is not clear.
From the sources accessed in this study the Forest before the Black Death appears to have been a mixed economy, with iron making, some general agricultural land of varying value and much more prized timber products including charcoal.[fn10] These were predominantly of beech, with some oak, the latter more expensive. There were only eighteen dwellings named, some probably renter-occupied and others sub-let, although the records used here do not show how they were distributed across the forest. Whereas the iron making activity is known from other sources, the location is not identifiable from the documents analysed here. It is probable that the Forest functioned as a working resource with just a small resident population. The renters are of greater diversity than might be expected. Unsurprisingly there were wealthy ones with large commitments and it is possible that some of [pg320]these may have come from outside Kent. At the other end of the scale are the homesteaders, but many of the renters seem to fall into what might be thought of in later times as a middle class, having quite a large investment but not sufficient wealthy to be taxed under the Lay Subsidy. The Church in general and religious houses at Tonbridge and Bayham had significant influence but more research is needed to establish how this operated and related to the activity of the laymen in the area and the origins of their prosperity.
Acknowledgements
Huge thanks to the staff at Kent History Centre for their work on the translation of the documents, researching archives unavailable to the public because of the Covid 19 lockdown, and, as ever, their unswerving helpfulness, tolerance and kindness at all times. Thanks also to those at the National Archives, Kew. Also deserving special mention are the family, friends (and sometimes total strangers) who were forced to deal with someone whose brain was for long periods more comfortably occupied with the fourteenth century than the twenty-first.
Jennifer Burgess
Appendix 1. Locations, listed in alphabetical order
Items from the Rentals in Latin are for land and dwellings and the charges taken as being half-yearly. Items from the Old French documents are for woodland and may be per annum.
Berlested three plots, all with beeches, total rental £5 11s p.a.
Billyngestrech one rental, for ten acres and five rods of land, 1s 8 1/4d per half year.
Blakehae one plot of beeches, rental 15s p.a.
Bokelesworthbrom, Bokelsworthgate and variations one holding of land at 1s. 4d. per half year at Bokelesworthbrom, one holding of eleven acres of land at land Bokelesworthebrouu at 6s. 8d. per half year, Bokels- worthgate with one rental for both oaks and beeches at £1 6s. 8d. p.a. and three for land totalling 2s. 1¾d. per half year.
Bollesteyle One rental for five acres of land at 10d. per half year.
Bournemelne probably Bourne Mill, on the Bourne Stream in the Vauxhall/Castle Hill area. One rental for a stretch of woods at £24 p.a.
Bromleregg (and variations) two entries for land at 1s. 6d. and another for thirty- five acres of land at a place called Newerd at Bromleregg at 4s. 4½d., each per half year.
Cheleherst two entries for both oak and beech at £1 11s. 6d. p.a.
Curtesdonne possibly related to Curdes shown in the 1621 rentals under South- borough cottages and farms and held by William Beecher. One entry for land with joint renters at 5s. per half year.
Dersole three entries, one for beeches at £1 p.a. and two, each for a stretch of woods, at a total of £21 p.a.[pg321]
Durgeston one entry for twenty oaks at £8 p.a.
Eltonebregge one small stretch of woods with joint renters at £5 p.a.
Ermytegate and Ermytewell one entry for fifteen oaks at Ermytewell, £5 p.a., one
(with three joint renters) for a stretch of woods at Ermytegate for £17
p.a. and two for land at Ermytegate for a total of 2s. 2¼d. per half year.
Frakyngherst three for beeches, one with two joint renters, total £2 14s. 6d., one for a decayed beech at 1s. 8d., all p.a.
Hawisesden possibly related to Hasden Meade shown in the 1621 rentals under Southborough cottages and farms and held by William Eldridge. Three entries, one for a stretch of woods at £11, one for forty-nine oaks at £10 and one for one oak and one beech at 11s., all p.a.
Hokyngbery administrative link to Peckham, as renters feature there as well as South Frith. One entry for nineteen and a half acres and a half rod of land, two joint renters at 6s. 8d. per half year.
Huiccernegate one entry for five acres of land at Huiccernegate at 15d. per half year.
Hunternegate one entry for twenty acres and one rod of land at 6s. 5d. per half year. Knolleshale possibly related to Great Knowles and Little Knowles and/or Knowles Bank and Knowles Bank Wood. Single entry for twenty-seven acres and one rod of land at 4s. 6½d. per half year.
Mabbeheggh possibly related to Mabbcroft, shown in the 1621 rentals as in Ton- bridge and held by William Piper. Single entry for one piece of land rented by Iohanes Fromond between his own holding and that of Richard Sampson at 1s. per half year.
Misingleyebrom and Mesynleygate one rental for forty-four acres and three rods of land at Mesynleygate at 7s. 5½d. per half year. Two rentals for beeches at total £1 11s and one for beeches and a small oak at 4s., all three at Misingleyebrom.
Multiple single rental for forty-eight acres of land at Dodekynes Herne and Mab- behegges, 12s. per half year. Possibly the Dirkynders shown in the 1621 rentals as in Tonbridge and held by William Bartlett. The holding was near Lockeoake. The name ‘Dodds’ also occurs in later documents. Possibly Mabbcroft, shown in the 1621 rentals as in Tonbridge and held by William Piper. No reference so far found for ‘Herne’.
Piletgate Piletgate was on the fringes near Pembury and was shown on the Mudge map of 1801 as ‘Palletgate’. Two entries for land at 2d. per acre at total of 4s. per half year. Three entries for beeches at total of £1 13s., one for oak alone at 16s., two for oak and beeches at £1 1s., one for a stretch of woods at £14, one for woods and beech at £7, one for woods, oak and beech at £10.
Popelotehale three entries for beeches at total £10 6s.
Pottokeshale one rental for twelve acres of land at 2s. 1d. per half year.
Rigge one rental for thirteen beeches at £2.
Roured (or Ronred) two entries for beeches at total £1 14s.
Sandhilde Possibly ‘Sandhill’ Single rental for thirteen beeches at £2.
Shirte (Common) the Common would have been larger than currently, later building having encroached on the area. The 1621 Rentals contain details of [pg322]the holdings at that time. Two rentals for beeches only at total 13s., two entries for oaks only at £5 2s., four for oak and beech at £2 7s. 4d., one beech and brushwood at 3s. Overall total £8 5s. 4d. p.a.
Somerhill presumably the area of the current Jacobean mansion, well document- ed. One entry for four small beeches at 8s. and one for a stretch of woods at £8 10s. p.a.
Stolcrouch five rentals for beeches at total of £3 19s. 4d. p.a. Usual rental 3s. per beech.
Tendelgate three entries for land at 5s. 9d. in total, two at 3d. and one at 5d., per acre per half year.
Verdrowe single entry for two oaks at £1 1s. p.a.
Other described places
One rental for eleven acres of land at the leye, 6s. 8d. per half year, one for stretch of woods at the coombs for £7 12s. p.a.
No place name given
Three rentals for land at total of 10s. 2¼d., four entries for six dwellings taken new from the farm at 6d. each, six entries for seven dwellings/ homesteads at 6d. each, one fabrica at 6d., one entry for two messuages with land and three crofts martalis at 4s., all per half year, one entry for decayed brushwood at 6d. p.a.
Appendix 2. The renters
These are listed in alphabetical order. Items from the Rentals in Latin are for land and dwellings and the charges are taken as being half-yearly. Items from the Old French documents are for woodland and may be per annum. Where there were joint renters, they are deemed to have held equal shares.
Adam, Jn: not in the Rentals, but in the Lay Subsidy for Washlingstone, 5s. 4d.
Adam, Richard: no Lay Subsidy entry. Stretch of woods at Eltonbrigge and another at Somerhill, both jointly with Iohan Crowele, pro rata respectively £2 10s. and £4 5s., total £6 15s. p.a.
Assh’bernere, Willelmus: no Lay Subsidy entry. Five acres and three rods of land at Ermytegate at 1s. 5¼d. per half year.
Ate Berne, Galfridus: no Lay Subsidy entry. Two acres of land at Bromburegge at 6d. per half year.
Ate Berne, Wm: not in the Rentals, but in the Lay Subsidy for the Lowy, 2s. 2½d.
Atte Birche: no Lay Subsidy entry. Stretch of woods at the combes jointly with Robert Kipping, pro rata £3 16s. p.a.
Ate Sandhill, Jn: possibly of ‘Sandhill’: not in the Rentals, but in the Lay Subsidy for Washlingstone, 1s. 3¼d.
Ate Sandhill, Willelmus: possibly of ‘Sandhill’: no Lay Subsidy entry. Six acres of land at Tendelgate at 1s. 6d. per half year.[pg323]
Ate Ware, Ricardus: no Lay Subsidy entry. A land holding at Bokelesworthbrom at 1s. 4d. and eight acres and three and a half rods of land in two parcels at Bokelesworthgate at 1s. 5½d., total 2s. 9½d. per half year.
Benge (Bonge or Bouge), Pieres: no Lay Subsidy entry. One oak and one beech a Pilettegate at 12s. and four beeches at Roured/Ronred at 12s., total £1 4s. p.a.
Brekeston, Iohannes: no Lay Subsidy entry. Three acres of land at Ermytegate at 9d. per half year and a stretch of woods at Ermytegate jointly with Richard Sampson and Iohan Parys, pro rata £5 13s. 4d. p.a.
Champion, Hugo: Lay Subsidy entry for Washlingstone, 1s. 10½d. Eleven acres of land at the leye at 6s. 8d. per half year.
Choppecock, Thomas: no Lay Subsidy entry. Six small beeches at Piletgate at 8s. p.a.
Cok, Iohan: no Lay Subsidy entry. Stretch of woods at Piletgate and one beech outside the boundaries jointly with Iurdan Odam and Roger de Borigge, pro rata £2 6s. 8d. p.a.
Coppyng, Iohan: Lay Subsidy entry for Lowy, 7s. 8¾d. Eleven acres of land at Bokelesworthebrouu at 6s. 8d., farm and dwelling at 6d., total 7s. 2d. per half year. Fifteen oaks at Ermytewell for £5, one oak and one beech at the Shirte at 13s. 4d., six small oaks and twenty small beeches in one place at Bokelesworth’gate at £1 6s. 8d., total £7 p.a.
Coppyng, Richard: Lay Subsidy entry for Washlingstone, for 6s. 1½d. One oak and one beech at Hawisesden at 11s., thirteen beeches at Sandhilde at £2, stretch of woods at Bournemelne jointly with Iohan de Ilesersh and Iohan Smyth pro rata at £8, total £10 11s. p.a.
Coppyng, Thomas: also renting at Peckham and said to be a tenant of Hokynbery. Lay Subsidy entry for Washlingstone, for 5s. Forty-nine oaks at Hawisesden at £10, twenty-six beeches at Popelotehal at £4, one beech at Stolcrouch at 3s., two oaks at Verdrowe for £1 1s., total £15 4s. p.a.
Daile, William: no Lay Subsidy entry. One oak and one beech at the Shirte at 10s. p.a.
De Bentham, Isabella: Bentham lay near Speldhurst. No Lay Subsidy entry. Three acres of land at Tendelgate at 1s. 3d. per half year.
De Bourregges, Roger: no Lay Subsidy entry. Four beeches at Stolcrouch at 12s. and stretch of woods at Piletgate and one beech ‘outside the boundaries’ jointly with Iurdan Odam and Iohan Cok at £2 6s. 8d., total £2 18s. 8d. p.a.
De Crokherst, Gilbertus: possibly of Crockhurst: no Lay Subsidy entry. Twenty-seven acres and one rod of land at Knolleshale at 4s. 6½d. per half year.
De Crowele (also Crowele), Iohann: no Lay Subsidy entry. Stretch of woods at Eltonebregge jointly with Richard Adam, pro rata at £2 10s. and a small stretch of woods at Somerhill jointly with the same person, pro rata at £4 5s., total £6 15s. p.a.
De Crowele (also Crowele) William: no Lay Subsidy entry. One oak at the Shirte for 7s. and a stretch of woods at Dersole at £4 10s., total £4 17s. p.a.
De Hagham, Thomas Foster probably also called Thomas Forester: no Lay Subsidy entry.
Twelve acres of land at Tendelegate for 3s. per half year.
De Ileserche, Iohan: no Lay Subsidy entry. Four beeches at Blakehae at 15s., one oak and six beeches at Cheleherst for £1, twenty oaks at Durgeston for £8, two oaks at Piletgate [pg324]for 16s., thirteen beeches at Popelotehale at £2, twenty-six beeches at Popelotehale for £4 6s., thirteen beeches at Rigge for £2, two oaks and one beech at the Shirte for 12s., stretch of woods at Bournemelne jointly with Richard Coppyng and Iohan Smyth, pro rata at £8, total £27 9s. p.a.
De Ileserche, Wauter: no Lay Subsidy entry. Two beeches at the Shirte for 5s. per half year. De Ileserche, William: not in the Rentals, but in the Lay Subsidy for Washlingstone, 6s. 0d.
De Mesyngleye, Johannes: Lay Subsidy entry for Lowy, 3s. 4d. Forty-four acres and three rods of land at Mesynleygate for 7s. 5½d. per half year.
De Sumyngleye, Iohannes: also renting at Peckham and said to be a tenant of Hokynbery. Lay Subsidy entry for Washlingstone, 2s. 0¾d. Nineteen and a half acres and a half rod of land at Hokyngbery, jointly with Iohannes Sprynget, pro rata 3s. 4d. per half year.
De Sumyngleye, Walter and William: not in the South Frith Rentals, but William, Walter and John all mentioned in the Peckham rentals. Lay Subsidy entry for Walter in Washlingstone 6s. 1½d.
De Tatlyngbury, Iohan: Tatlingbury was near Capel and is on the 1801 Mudge map. A minor manor featuring in the 1621 rentals. Lay Subsidy entry for Lowy, 10s. 2¾d. Eight beeches at Piletgate at £1 2s. p.a.
De Tatlyngbury, Juliana: not in the Rentals, but in the Lay Subsidy for the Lowy, 10s. 0d.
Ferrour, Iohannes: no Lay Subsidy entry. One dwelling at 6d. per half year and one ‘decayed brushwood’ at 6d. p.a. no place names given.
Ferrour, Rd: not in the Rentals, but in the Lay Subsidy for the Lowy, 1s. 8d.
Fromond, Iohannes: Lay Subsidy entry for Lowy, 5s. 0d. Forty-eight acres of land at Dodekynes Herne and Mabbehegges at 12s. and one piece of land between his own and that of Richard Sampson at Mabbehegghes at 1s., total 13s. per half year.
Fromond, Various: not in the Rentals, but in the Lay Subsidy for the Lowy: John son of John, 3s. 4d., Nich son of Nich, 1s. 0d., Richard, 2s. 0d., Thomas, 5s. 10½d., William, 5s. 4d.
Gambon, Ricardus: no Lay Subsidy entry. One farm and dwelling at 6d. per half year, no place name given.
Gilbe (or Gibbe): no Lay Subsidy entry. Thirteen acres of land held by Ioh’ Warinot, jointly with Ricardus Sowale, pro rata at 1s. 1d. per half year. In one document this land has Iohannes Warnot renting for himself with the full sum of 2s. 2d. due.
Goman, William: no Lay Subsidy entry. Eight beeches at Frakyngherst, jointly with Iohan Hilden, pro rata 10s. 9d. p.a.
Herry/Henry/Harry, Hamo: no Lay Subsidy entry. One dwelling taken new from the farm at 6d., no location given and land at Bromlaregg at 1s., total 1s. 6d. per half year.
Herry/Henry/Harry, Thomas: no Lay Subsidy entry. Two dwellings taken new from the farm at 1s., no place name given and three rods of land at Bokelesworthgate at 2¼d. per half year.
Herry/Henry/Harry, Various: not in the Rentals, but in the Lay Subsidy for the Lowy, Rd.
Henry, 4s. 4d.
Herst, Simon: no Lay Subsidy entry. Fifteen oaks at the Shirte for £4 15s. p.a.[pg325]
Hilden, Iohan: no Lay Subsidy entry. Eight beeches at Frakyngherst jointly with William Goman, pro rata 10s. 9d. p.a.
Hore, Robertus (also Le Hore): no Lay Subsidy entry. One dwelling, no location specified, at 6d. per half year.
Ioket, Thomas: no Lay Subsidy entry. Four beeches at Stolcrouch at 12s. p.a.
Judde, Ralph: Lay Subsidy entry for Lowy, £1 6s. 5½d. Thirty-five acres of land at Bromleregg called Newerd at 4s. 4½d., a fabrica (smith’s shop), no specified location, at 6d., two messuages containing one acre and for three crofts martalis with four and a half acres of land, no specified location, at 4s., land at Curtesdonne, jointly with Iohannes Sprynget, pro rata 2s. 6d., total 11s. 4½d. per half year. Twenty-six beeches at Berles- ted for £4 10s. and one hundred small beeches at Berlested for £10, total £14 10s. p.a.
Judd, Thomas: no Lay Subsidy entry. Two dwellings, no specified location, at 1s. per half year. Six beeches at Berlested for £1 1s., two beeches and one small oak at Misingleyebrom for 4s. and one beech at Piletgate for 3s., total £1 8s. p.a.
Judde, Various: not in the Rentals, but in the Lay Subsidy for Washlingstone: Geoffrey 1s. 3¾d., Roger 3s. 6½d.
Kipping, Robert: no Lay Subsidy entry. A stretch of woods at the combes jointly with Hamo atte Birche, pro rata £3 16s. p.a.
Kyn, Pet: not in the Rentals, but in the Lay Subsidy for the Lowy, 8¾d.
Kyn, Rogerus: no Lay Subsidy entry. Ten acres and eleven rods of land at Billyngestrech for 1s. 8¼d. per half year.
Lacchere, Iohan: no Lay Subsidy entry. Four beeches at Frakyngherst for £1 1s. 6d. p.a. Mody, Thomas: not in the Rentals, but in the Lay Subsidy for the Lowy, 8s. 4¾d.
Mody, Wauter: no Lay Subsidy entry. A stretch of woods at Dersole for £16 10s. and one ‘decayed’ beech at Frakyngherst for 1s. 8d., total £16 11s. 8d. p.a.
Moxle/ Muxle, Jn: not in the Rentals, but in the Lay Subsidy for Washlingstone, 3s. 3¼d.
Moxle/ Muxle, Walterus: Lay Subsidy entry for Washlingstone, 11½d. Five acres of land at Bollesteyle for 10d. per half year.
Odam, Iurdan: Lay Subsidy entry for Washlingstone, 1s. 11¼d. A stretch of woods at Piletgate and one beech outside the boundaries, jointly with Iohan Cok and Roger de Borigge, pro rata £2 6s. 8d., a stretch of woods jointly with Robert Smale at Pilettgate and one oak and one beech, pro rata £5, six middle-sized beeches in the Shirthe jointly with Robert Smale, pro rata 4s., total £7 10s. 8d. p.a.
Parys, Iohan: Lay Subsidy entry for Lowy, 9s. 7d. A stretch of woods at Ermytegate jointly with Richard Sampson and Iohan Brekeston, pro rata at £5 13s. 4d. p.a.
Perstepe, Wauter: also renting at Peckham and said to be a tenant of Hokynbery. Lay Subsidy entry for Washlingstone, 1s. 2½d. Twelve acres of land at Pottokeshale for 2s. 1d. per half year. Two small beeches and one ‘brushwood’ at the Shirte for 3s. p.a.
Rede, Iohan: no Lay Subsidy entry. Six beeches at Misingleyebrom for £1 1s. p.a.
Richard, Laurence: no Lay Subsidy entry. Twenty acres and eleven rods of land plus eight acres of meadow at 7s. 3¼d. per half year.
Robertus the Clerk (no family name): Lay Subsidy entry for Sutton, 1s. 6d. Five acres of land at Huiccernegate for 1s. 3d. per half year. Four beeches at Frakyngherst for 11s. 6d. p.a. [pg326]
Sampson, Ricardus: no Lay Subsidy entry. Twenty acres and one rod of land at Huntenegate for 6s. 5d. and three acres of land at unspecified location for 9d., total 7s. 2d. per half year. A stretch of woods at Ermytegate jointly with Iohan Brekeston and Iohan Parys, pro rata £5 13s. 4d. p.a.
Sefowel, Iohan: no Lay Subsidy entry for this spelling, but a Iohan Sefoughulle in Beckenham, 1s. 4¾d. Seven beeches at Roured/Ronred for £1 2s. and one oak and one beech at the Shirte for 12s., total £1 14s. p.a.
Simond, Iohann: Lay Subsidy entry for Codesheath, 1s. 4d. One oak and one beech at Cheleherst at 11s. 6d. and four small beeches at Somerhill at 8s., total 19s. 6d. p.a.
Simond, Ricardus: no Lay Subsidy entry. Fourteen acres of land at Pilettegate for 2s. 4d. per half year.
Smale, Rogerus (or Robertus) (forename not clear): no Lay Subsidy entry. Rogerus for ten acres of land at Pilettegate at 1s. 8d. per half year. Robertus for a stretch of woods at Piletgate , jointly with Ioan Watte, pro rata £7, for a stretch of woods at Piletgate and one oak and one beech jointly with Jordan Odam, pro rata £5, six ‘middle-sized’ beeches in the Shirthe jointly with Jordan Odam, pro rata 4s., total £12 4s. p.a.
Smyth, Iohannes: no apparent Lay Subsidy entry, but several variations on the name. A stretch of woods at Hawisesden for £11, one oak and six beeches at Piletgate at 11s., a stretch of woods at Bournemelne, jointly with Iohan de Ilesersh and Richard Coppyng, pro rata £8, total £19 11s. p.a.
Smyth, Walterus: no Lay Subsidy entry. One farm and dwelling, no place name given, at 6d. per half year.
Sowale, Ricardus: no Lay Subsidy entry. Thirteen acres of land held by Iohannes Warinot, jointly with Iohan Gilbe/Gibbe, pro rata 1s. 11d. per half year. In one document this land has Iohannes Warnot renting for himself with the full sum of 2s. 2d. due.
Sprynget, Iohannes: Lay Subsidy entry for Lowy, 10s. 7½d. Land at Curtesdonne, jointly with Radulfus Iudde pro rata 2s. 6d., and nineteen and a half acres and half a rod of land at Hokyngbery jointly with Iohannes de Sumyngleye), pro rata 3s. 4d., total 5s. 10d. per half year.
Sprynget, Thomas: no Lay Subsidy entry. Two dwellings taken new from the farm at 1s., for one dwelling taken new from the farm at 6d. (no locations given), two acres and a quarter of a rod of land next to the road at Bokeleworthgate at 6d., total 2s. per half year.
Trome, Robert: no Lay Subsidy entry. Thirteen beeches at Stolcrouch at £1 19s. p.a. Waggehorn, William: no Lay Subsidy entry. Four beeches at Stolcrouch at 13s. 4d. p.a.
Warnot, Iohannes: no Lay Subsidy entry. Thirteen acres of land, no given location, rented by himself at 2s. 2d. per half year, and in one document occupied by himself but rented jointly by Iohan Gilbe/Gibbe,and Ricardus Sowale.
Watt, Ioan: Lay Subsidy entry for Washlingstone. A stretch of woods at Piletgate, jointly with Rob Smale, pro rata £7 p.a.
Wayte, Iohan: no Lay Subsidy entry. Seven beeches at Dersole at £1 p.a.
William, Iohan: no Lay Subsidy entry. Three beeches at Misingleyebrom at 10s. p.a.[pg327]
[fn]1|The Rentals of South Frith in the period 1342 to 1346 (held together at the National Archive, Kew, under the reference SC/12/9/54).[/fn]
[fn]2|East Peckham is the more likely, being more southerly and thus closer to South Frith than West Peckham.[/fn]
[fn]3|Lady de Burgh (‘Lady of Clare’) had considerable connections to Kent although her main residence was in Suffolk. These Kentish links are examined in Ward, J., ‘Elizabeth de Burgh, Lady of Clare (1295-1360); the logistics of her pilgrimages to Canterbury’, Archaeologia Cantiana, cxxxvi, pp. 193-202.[/fn]
[fn]4|Kent Records vol. xviii, Documents Illustrative of Medieval Kent Society ed. F.R.H. Du Boulay (1964) includes the Lay Subsidy of 1334/5 for the Lowy of Tonbridge as a whole (pp.116-7) and the Hundred of Washlingstone (pp. 125-6). The introduction, p. 65, has an analysis of population densities.[/fn]
[fn]5|The 1586 will for Sir Henry Sidney of Penshurst includes lands in South Frith and the Manor of the South separately and Kippinghalle in addition. The indenture of sale dated 1637 in the Weller papers give the property name as Somerhill but also refers to the Manor of Southborough. Papers of the Streatfeild and Woodgate families relating to Somerhill in the 1740s name the lands being the Manor of South Frith and also as the Manor of the South, otherwise South Frith. The Knocker papers, held at the Kent History Centre, include those relating to the Smythe estate; the local centre for the family was at Bounds (in Bidborough), but reference is made both to the Manor of Southborough (usually thought to be Bounds) and the Manor of South Frith. Holdings might also have been consolidated and split over time, the extent of the individual manors changing likewise.[/fn]
[fn]6|H. Cleere, and D. Crossley, The Iron Industry of the Weald, ed. J. Hodkinson (Cardiff 1995), pp 92-3.[/fn]
[fn]7|E. Straker, Wealden Iron a monogram on the Former Ironworks in the Counties of Sussex, Surrey and Kent (Reprint: David and Charles, 1969; London, 1931), p. 220.[/fn]
[fn]8|Rentals of the Manors of Southborough, Bidborough and Nealhampton, together with the minor Manor of Totlingbury 1621, Kent History centre, U442/ M67.[/fn]
[fn]9|See note 4 above.[/fn]
[fn]10|Evidence for extensive charcoal production is evident from archaeological findings – see, Allen T.G., 2021, ‘Prehistoric to Medieval Discoveries along the A21 Tonbridge-Pembury duelling scheme’, Archaeologia Cantiana, cxlii, pp. 188-234.[/fn]