FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   365   366   367   368   369   370   371   372   373   374   375   376   377   378   379   380   381   382   383   384   385   386   387   388   389  
390   391   392   393   394   395   396   397   398   399   400   401   402   403   404   405   406   407   408   409   410   411   412   413   414   >>   >|  
t induced the Flemings to settle in Kent and some other parts of England, and from his reign until the last century the broadcloth manufacture concentrated at Cranbrook. When Queen Elizabeth once visited the town she was entertained at a manor about a mile from Cranbrook, and walked thence into the town upon a carpet, laid down the whole way, made of the same cloth that her loyal men of Kent wore on their backs. In Cranbrook Church were held the fierce theological disputes of Queen Mary's reign which resulted in the imprisonment of the Anabaptists and other dissenters by Chancellor Baker. Over the south porch is the chamber with grated windows known as "Bloody Baker's Prison." Among the old customs surviving at Cranbrook is that which strews the path of the newly-wedded couple as they leave the church with emblems of the bridegroom's trade. The blacksmith walks upon scraps of iron, the shoemaker on leather parings, the carpenter on shavings, and the butcher on sheepskins. In an adjacent glen almost surrounded by woods are the ruins of Sissinghurst, where Chancellor Baker lived and built the stately mansion of Saxenhurst, from which the present name of its ruins is derived. The artists Horsley and Webster lived at Sissinghurst and Cranbrook for many years, and found there frequent subjects of rustic study. The Sissinghurst ruins are fragmentary, excepting the grand entrance, which is well preserved. Baker's Cross survives to mark the spot where the Anabaptists had a skirmish with their great enemy; and the legend is that he was killed there, though history asserts that this theological warrior died in his bed peaceably some time afterwards in London. [Illustration: RUINS OF SISSINGHURST.] Near Lamberhurst, on the Surrey border and on the margin of the Teise, is the Marquis of Camden's seat at Bayham Abbey. Its ruins include a church, a gateway, and some of the smaller buildings. It was once highly attractive, though small, and its ruined beauty is now enhanced by the care with which the ivy is trained over the walls and the greensward floor is smoothed. Ralph de Dene founded this abbey about the year 1200, and after the dissolution Queen Elizabeth granted it to Viscount Montague. It was bought in the last century by Chief-Justice Pratt, whose son, the chancellor, became Marquis of Camden. The modern mansion is a fine one, and from it a five-mile walk through the woods leads to Tunbridge on the Medway. Chief among the
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   365   366   367   368   369   370   371   372   373   374   375   376   377   378   379   380   381   382   383   384   385   386   387   388   389  
390   391   392   393   394   395   396   397   398   399   400   401   402   403   404   405   406   407   408   409   410   411   412   413   414   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Cranbrook
 

Sissinghurst

 
Chancellor
 

theological

 
church
 

mansion

 

Camden

 
Marquis
 

Anabaptists

 

century


Elizabeth
 

peaceably

 

excepting

 

warrior

 

asserts

 
London
 

Lamberhurst

 
Surrey
 
fragmentary
 

SISSINGHURST


Illustration

 

history

 

Tunbridge

 

skirmish

 

survives

 

Medway

 

legend

 

killed

 

entrance

 

preserved


border
 

greensward

 

smoothed

 
trained
 

Justice

 

dissolution

 

granted

 

Viscount

 
founded
 
bought

include

 

gateway

 
smaller
 

Bayham

 

Montague

 

buildings

 

modern

 

chancellor

 

enhanced

 

beauty