Page:Notes on the churches in the counties of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey.djvu/157

Rh rectoris de Orpynton interposita in hac parte ad sedem apostolicam, sicut fert."

"In the times of the king of the English, Henry III, son of King John, who reigned in England fifty-six years and twenty days, there was a certain Ralph Scot abiding in the parish of Chelsfield near the royal highway lying between Farnborough and Halsted, where is the cross called Scot's Crouch. Which Ralph indeed removed himself from that place to Ocolte, by buying there lands and sundry possessions, and by constructing there a certain mansion called the Hall. On which account that place is called Scot's Ocolte. And because the aforesaid Ralph and others inhabiting the said place for hearing divine offices wandered to Chevening and elsewhere in all directions from their parish church of Orpington; and because through the distance of the place from the said parish church many perils of souls befell there, they and Ralph Scot, and a certain Her—(?) Goldsmyth, inspired by God, as is believed, in a green space at Ocolte called Hareleap, where on festivals took place a common assemblage of laity by those inhabiting the said place, caused to be erected out of their own goods a certain chapel in honour of St. Katherine, virgin; the first stone being laid by the said Ralph in the foundation of his own chapel. And after the completion of the said chapel this Ralph Scot, out of the lands he had acquired, out of a moderate-sized close near the cemetery for the house of the chaplain there, and also out of a certain croft of his situate opposite the said chapel for the erection of buildings for the collection of tithes to be stored therein, freely endowed the same chapel, and gave to be possessed in perpetual alms. Afterwards the same Ralph Scot (procured) the said chapel, on the ninth day of May, A.D. 1281 (9 of K. Edward I), in the time of brother Robert Kilwardeby, then archbishop of Canterbury, by his licence to be consecrated and dedicated to the honour of St. Katherine the virgin, notwithstanding the appeal of the rector of Orpington interposed in this matter to the apostolic see, as he alleges."

The above circumstantial detail of the transaction bears evidence to its own authenticity, and affords some insight into the customs and proceedings of that early period. Unluckily Stephen Birchington's relation was not known till too late for a visit to