KENARDI K. ENARDINGTON, sometimes written Kenarton, lies' five miles south-westward from Tenterden, and on the eastern sants and other game, lay dead in the fields; and a large hog was killed by the hail upon Barming heath. The larger quadrupeds endowed with superior instinct, saw their danger; horses, bullocks and sheep, ran, and sheltered themselves from the coming storm. In Maidstone on one side of the high street, not only the glass, but the lead and frames of the windows, were forced in and destroyed, particularly by the hail. It was like fragments of ice, and of very irregular shapes; at Barming one piece was taken up formed like an oyster; Sir Philip Boteler, measured and found it nine inches round at the extremity: and even ten days after, some hailstones were taken up four inches and a half in circumference. One of the largest, struck the stile of an horizontal post-dial of brass, and bent it nearly thirty degrees towards the east. Posts, bars and gates, had deep impressions from them. They were of different shapes; some flat, irregular and very much jagged; others an assemblage of pieces of ice, whilst a few were globular, with a small cavity in the centre; and if they were held together, they immediately froze, and were not easily separated. 'The storm commenced in this county at Tunbridge Wells, whilst the people were at prayers in the chapel, and passed quite across to Sheerness, a distance of forty miles, its breadth not exceeding four miles: the direction of it was from south-west by west, to north-east by east: and it was severely felt in the parishes of Tunbridge, Speldhurst, Penshurst, Tudely, Capel, Pembury, part of Hadlow, Yalding, Hunton, Brenchley, Mereworth, East and West Peckham, Wateringbury, Nettlestead, East Malling, Teston, East and West Farleigh, Barming, Loose, Maidstone, Boxley and Debtling; after which its violence was spent, and only little injury was occasioned. Numbers came from all parts to witness the melancholy scene. The inhabitants of the vicinity humanely raised 30001. in a few months, which in some measure relieved the unhappy sufferers: but the cruel effects long remained: most of the hop hills died; the filbert and apple trees swelled in knots where they had been bruised: and some were so injured, that the branches and shoots long after continued to die; the cherry trees bore it the best, owing, perhaps, to the strength of their outward bark.' History of London and its environs, Kent p. 314. confines of the WEALD; the church of Kenardington marking the boundary in this quarter; that part of the parish westward of the church, being considered within this district, and that to the eastward, within the boundary of Romney marsh. The village and church are rather pleasantly situated on the upland, and indeed the whole of that part within the Weald is preferable in point of appearance to several other places before mentioned, but on account of its proximity to the Marsh it must be objectionable on the score of health. In the western and northern parts of the parish, are considerable tracts of woodland, but it does not abound with timber. Below the hill on which the church stands and on the south east, are the remains of some ancient fortifications of earth, with a breastwork thrown up, and a small circular mount; and in an adjoining marsh below it, is another of a larger size. These are supposed (by Hasted) to have been thrown up during the wars between King Alfred and the Danes, perhaps about the year 893, when a division of them sailed up the ri ver Limene, or Rother, and entrenched themselves in the adjoining parish of Appledore.* The manor of Horne, alias Kenardington, was part of those lands assigned for the defence of Dover Castle, to John de S 2 This supposition appears to have originated with the celebrated Dr. Plott, author of the histories of Oxfordshire and Staffordshire, and who it seems had it in contemplation to write a history of this county; indeed this is the only plausible conclusion that can be made with respect to these entrenchments. "In the year above mentioned, (893) Hastings the famous Danish chief, having ravaged all the provinces of France, both along the sea coast and the Loire and Seine, and being obliged to quit that country, more by the desolation which he himself had occasioned, than by the resistance of the inhahitants, appeared off the coast of Kent, with a fleet of three hundred sail, The greater part of the enemy disembarked in the Rother, and seized the fort of Appledore." Hume's England. Fienes, who was constable of that important fortress, and together made up his barony, called the constabularie, and held by him in capite by barony, by the service of maintaining a certain number of soldiers for the defence of that castle, and of him and his heirs this manor was held in capite by castleguard service from time to time. In the reign of King John it was so held by William de Normania; and his grandson Thomas de Normania, or Normanville, died possessed of it in the 11th year of King Edward I. and afterwards in the 21st year of that prince, the jury presented before the Justices itinerant, that the late Thomas de Normanville held this manor of the King in capite, by the service of 10s. per annum, towards the guard of Dover Castle; that the manor was worth forty marcs per annum, and was then held by John de Lovetot, to whom the King had granted the wardship of Norman、 + The wardship of heirs, during the feudal times, was a considerable branch of the royal power and revenue, and from the enormous exactions of the crown on such occasions it is evident, the primary idea, that feudal property was but a kind of fee or benefice was not lost. In the reign of Henry III. Simeon de Mountfort paid 10,000 marcs for the wardship of Gilbert de Umfreville, and Geoffrey de Mandeville paid to the same prince the sum of 20,000 marcs, that he might marry Isabel, Countess of Gloucester; which says Hume would be equivolent to 300,000, perhaps 400,0001. in our time. When a baron died, the King immediately took possession of the estates, and the heir before he recovered his right, was obliged to make application to the crown, and desire he might be admitted to do homage for his land, and pay a composition to the King. This composition was not at first fixed by law, at least by practice; the King was often exorbitant in his demands, and kept possession of the land till they were complied with. If the heir were a minor, the King retained the whole profit of the estate. during his minority; and might grant what sum he thought proper for the education and maintenance of the young baron. If the heir were a female, the King was entitled to offer her any husband of her rank he thought proper; and if she refused him, she forfeited her land. Even a male heir could not marry without the royal consent; and it was usual for men to pay large sums for the liberty of making their own choice in marriage. * ville's daughter, and the rents of his estate till she came of age or married. By the marriage of this daughter (Margaret) of Thomas de Normanville with Sir William de Basing, this manor together with the advowson of the church passed to the latter, and in this name and family it continued to Sir John Basing, who died in the 24th year of Henry VI. when it passed to Thomas Mackworth, Esq. of Derbyshire jure uxoris. To this family succeeded those of WISE and HORN, and by an heiress of the latter name, it was carried in marriage to Richard Guldeford, Gent. son of Sir John Guldeford, of Hemsted, by his second wife, who in her right became possessed of them, but being indicted for not taking the oath of supremacy to the Queen, (Elizabeth) they fled the realm and were attainted of treason, and their lands became forfeited to the crown, their attainder among others, being confirmed by act of parliament. The Queen about the year 1597, granted the fee of this manor and advowson to Walter Moyle, Gent、 from whom the present owners are descended. There is a fee farm of forty pounds per annum, payable out of this manor. It is one of the lordships of Romney marsh, which entitles the owner to sit as one of the lords there, for the management of the walls and the sewers within it. The church (dedicated to ST. MARY) consisted originally of a nave and side aisles, but only the south aisle, chancel, and tower are now remaining. KINGSNORTH, sometimes called Kingsnode, and by Leland, written Kingesnode, lies south-westward of SEVINGTON, and is a parish so obscurely situated, and so little known, as to be wholly omitted in some of the county maps. The * The place called Basinghall, in London, owes its name to the Basinge above mentioned. Some of which families have been Sheriffs and Lord Mayors of London before they came to settle at this place. (Harris). + It is not to be found in the map to the first edition of Boys's agricultural survey of the county, northern boundary of the Weald, passes the church on the hill, in a direction east and west, dividing the parish into nearly two equal parts, that to the southward, consequently lying within this district. The general face of the country is unpleasing, the roads bad, and the objects of art, so few and uninteresting, that it is by no means surprising, this place should be so little known or frequented. HASTED describes the roads as execrably bad; "insomuch (says he) that they are dangerous to pass, except in the driest time of the summer," and it must be confessed, that even at this time, the picture he has drawn does not appear much overcharged. The soil principally is a deep tenacious clay, and of course for the greater part of the year wet and miry, it is interspersed with coppice woods, more especially towards the south east, and contains a considerable quantity of oak timber. There is no village, the houses standing singly, consisting mostly of those attached to the differ ent farms, and here and there an occasional dwelling for the laborers in husbandry. Eastward of the church, is the Park House, or manor house of Kingsnorth, but the ancient mansion, the scite of which is moated round, stood at some distance from the present building, and appears to have been of considerable extent, large quantities of stone having at different times been dug up here, and according to HASTED, the remains of a mosaic pavement have been discovered.* Close to the western boundary of the parish, is the manor house of WEST HALKS, probably of some consequence in former times, as a causeway wide enough for a carriage, led from hence through the court lodge farm towards Shadoxhurst, Woodchurch, and so on to Halden, remains of which are often turned up in ploughing the grounds. In the low lands near the meadows, is the scite of the manor buildings of Moorhouse, moated round. + * On what authority this is asserted by Hasted does not appear. Its truth is very questionable. + The above mansions seem to have been moated round, not only for |