Page:Notes on the churches in the counties of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey.djvu/163

Rh built out of the ruins of it. Several skeletons were dug up, &c." The chapel of the mansion is asserted to have been then standing and converted into a stable. (Hasted.) Hence we collect, that beside the two churches of Stanford and Ostenhanger, there was a domestic chapel at the latter place. Dr. Harris says that in the nineteenth year of K. Edward III, AD. 1346, John, son of Nicholas de Criol, obtained a licence to found a chantry, which he endowed, at Ostenhanger. (Hist. of Kent.) This must have been within either the parish church, or the private chapel belonging to the castle, because (A.D. 1291) is sufficient evidence of the existence of the former edifice above fifty years previous to the establishment of the chantry.

The mansion or castle of Ostenhanger is affirmed to have comprised 126 rooms and (by common fame) 365 windows. A.D. 1701 three fourths of the house were pulled down for the value of the materials, which sold for a thousand pounds. (Hasted.) Some portion of the ancient building still remains. This estate is not mentioned in (D.B.), at least not by any name resembling that borne at present, though the neighbouring property of Otterpool does appear in that document.

248. .—A church of chancel, nave, south aisle, and heavy square tower with a short shingled spire. Close to the church are the ruins of the archiepiscopal palace, constructed of brick with stone dressings.—Otford is annexed to Shoreham in (Val. Eccl.), and called "capella curata;" though the "rectoria de Otforde capella" is also named. In the (Clergy List) it appears to be a distinct benefice.—A hospital for lepers in Otford is mentioned 13 K. Henry III, m. 11, or A.D. 1228. (Monast. VI, 764.)

249. .— In the north wall of this church, which is Norm. work, a door with panels above, and a hood moulding down the sides to the ground, has been inserted altogether a curious feature.—Either in this parish, or at a farm of the same name in the parish of Hailsham, Sussex, is supposed to have been a monastery, afterwards removed to Bayham.

250. . Beside Boresfield or Boardfield (see the Note on Boresfield), the chapel of Monketon stood at the north-western extremity of this parish. "The church of Monketon has been long dilapidated, though the exact ground-plot of it is still visible, having two very large yew trees near it. It is situated in a wood of about half an acre.—The dilapidated churches of Boardfield and Monketon are now annexed as