Page:Notes on the churches in the counties of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey.djvu/30

2 were wide and overgrown with grass, were provided with a narrow sort of causeway, sometimes perhaps with two paths, one being paved with irregular-sized slabs of stone, the other covered with small stones; the first for foot passengers, the second for horses. Upon such as the latter I myself have ridden formerly, though few, if any, it is probable, now remain. Of the paved causeways numerous examples may still be seen on the borders of the roads in some parts of Kent. And, beside other examples in the same county, one such may yet (1849) be observed under the northern boundary of Kidbrook Park, near East Grinsted, Sussex, for some distance forming the footpath by the side of a public road. Some part of this, as in other instances, is entire throughout, while elsewhere the centre is worn, as it might be by the feet of horses, the edges remaining in good condition.

But, in addition to the difficulty of communication in early days, the relative importance of places in the eleventh century must, as will be acknowledged to be probable, have been different from what it is at present. Thus Newenden, now an insignificant village, is named in Domesday Book as the site of a market, while Tenterden, a town at the distance of only five miles, is altogether omitted. From the large number of desecrated churches appearing in the subjoined List and Notes, it will also be perceived, that the stationary inhabitants of the county must be otherwise located now, from what they were in earlier times. For instance, judging from the ruined churches, Romney Marsh must have been more populous formerly, than it is at this day; which must have been the case likewise at Merston and Rokesley, omitting other examples.

Rich as the county of Kent is in historical works, of greater or less value, I have not derived from them all the assistance I could have desired. I must acknowledge large obligations to Hasted's History, in enabling me to identify several places described in Domesday Book; but in some few of the Kentish manors two, and even more, churches are specified; and in general it has been possible to do no more than to propose a surmise as to the situation, in each case, of only one of those churches.

Another remark may be offered, the result of my own acquaintance with, and my inquiries respecting, the churches, in