Page:Notes on the churches in the counties of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey.djvu/114

78 only eight years from the commencement of a reign of fifty-six, and thus earlier than he says the order was introduced into this kingdom. In (Val. Eccl.) the house is styled "of the Order of the Trinity, and of the Redemption of Christian people being captives." It is however asserted that Motinden Priory was established by Sir Mich. de Poninges, though Leland writes "Robertus de Rokesley miles, originalis fundator. Modernus, comes de Northumberland," Rob. Rokesley, kn., was the original founder; the modern the Earl of Northumberland. (Monast. VI, 1562.)—Kilburne places this parish "by the river Medway," from which it is distant several miles; perhaps he intended to write the Beult, which does run through the parish, and joins the Medway at Yalding after passing under Stile Bridge.

155. . In (A.D. 1291) "Ecclia Sancti Michaelis" and "Ecclia Beati Nicholai de Herbaldoune" are both mentioned. St. Nicholas was long a parish church, having a font and a churchyard, and the incumbent was styled rector. The endowment was augmented by Archb. Theobald (from 1138 to 1160), and the church was appropriated to Eastbridge Hospital by Archb. John Stratford, A.D. 1342. A chantry was founded in St. Nicholas Church by Archb. Whittlesea in 1371; which arrangement continued till the Reformation, when the chantry was abolished, and St. Nicholas has ever since been merely the chapel to the hospital (Somner), St. Michael alone being deemed the church to the entire parish. Brasses: man and woman, the inscription lost. (Hasted.)

The hospital was founded by Archb. Lanfranc about 1084 for lepers (Lambarde); or A.D. 1089 (Kilburne.) The first mention of the church of St. Nicholas is in a deed supposed to be of the time of K. Henry I, whence it may be concluded, that the church was not erected till about that period. In the account rendered to the commissioners under the statute 37th Henry VIII, cap. 4, (for taking the Valor Ecclesiasticus) it is declared to be a parish church. The name Herbaldowne occurs first in a grant of K. Henry II. Edmer, the singer, monk of Canterbury temp. K. Henry I, in relating the erection of the hospital, gives no proper name. A charter of K. Henry I concerning "assarts" (cleared spots in woods) calls it "Hospitale de bosco de Blen." Another charter, supposed to be not long after in date, speaks of "Hospitale de Sancto Nicolao." (Somner.) It appears therefore that Lambarde's derivation of the title, from a Saxon radix, is fanciful, and it is more probable that it arose from the