Page:Notes on the churches in the counties of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey.djvu/17

Rh introduced into England from Rome in Saxon times, but is seldom, in old records, applied to divisions so small as modern parishes, more commonly signifying an entire diocese (in which sense the word is used by Bede). Certainly from my acquaintance with Domesday Book it might be supposed, that the term "parish," as the boundary of a district, was utterly unknown at the period of the Survey; the "manor" being that, which is constantly referred to. Manors in different parishes are perpetually to be recognised as mentioned in Domesday Book, though the names of the parishes themselves may not occur. states (Survey of Kent, 7), that Honorius, Archbp. of Canterbury (from about A.D. 630 to 653), divided the kingdom of Kent into parishes; of which, in 45 of K. Edward III, the number was found to be 393. And though it is said of Archbp. Theodore, who died A.D. 690, that he urged the people to set out parishes, "ut parochias distinguerent," the institution might have been established previously, though not generally perfected up to his time. We are told, that this latter prelate encouraged the erection of churches, by the provision, with the king's consent, that the founders, if on their own property, should enjoy the perpetual patronage ; if on another's estate, the owner thereof should become the patron. "Hie excitavit fidelium voluntatem ut in civitatibus et villis ecclesias fabricarentur, parochias distinguerent, et assensus regios his procuravit: ut siqui sufficientes essent super proprium fundum construere ecclesias, earundem perpetuo patronatu gauderent; si inter limites alterius alicujus domini ecclesias facerent, ejusdem fundi domini notarentur pro patronis." (Elmham, quoted in Smith's note, Bed. Hist. Eccl. 1. 5, c. 8.) Neither is it a necessary, or a probable, inference, that no churches existed save in those places, where they are noted in Domesday Book: on the contrary it is sufficiently evident, that they have been omitted in several cases. For example; in Kent St. Margaret's (at Cliffe) near Dover is repeatedly spoken of; which kind of designation, not meaning monasteries, must, usually if not always, indicate the existence there of a church so dedicated ; whereas none is actually stated. Another St. Margaret's is alluded to, and a St. Martin's, both