Page:Notes on the churches in the counties of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey.djvu/184

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144
NOTES TO KENT.

the end of K. Henry II. Hasted.) It was re-established A.D. 1363 by John Frauncys of Romney, and annexed to St. Mary Magdalen College in Oxford A.D. 1481. Hasted says part was still standing at the east end of the town. (Monast. VI, 640.) According to Tanner (Ib. VI, 1047), the priory above noticed was a cell to the foreign abbey of Pountney, which name may, not improbably, be correctly rendered Pontiniac by Hasted.—The pillars of the church are "very large, with circular arches, and Saxon (Norm.) ornaments." The tower, at the west end, has "several ranges of small circular arches on the sides, and at the bottom is a circular arch over a doorway with zigzag ornaments." Brass: Thomas Lambarde, 1514. (Hasted.)—The floor of the church is greatly below the level of the ground on the outside.

277. Rucking.—This church has two Norm. doors. (Hasted.)

278. Saltwood.—With Saltwood the chapel of Hithe is mentioned in (Val. Eccl.)—The font is inclosed in a case of carved oak. Brasses: John Verien, once rector of Sandhurst; Tho. Brokhill Esq. and wife, 1437. (Hasted.)—(Val. Eccl.) names the hospital of St. Bartholomew (see Hithe), and also a park at Saltwood. There are considerable remains of the castle.

279. Sandhurst.—Though this place is not mentioned in (D.B.) (see the Note on Newenden) yet in a list of donations to the cathedral church of Canterbury, printed by Somner, "Sandherst" occurs together with several other places, which were given by K. Offa A.D. 791. For an extract from an early record, whence we learn that this parish may have possessed a church in the eleventh century, see the quotation from (Cod. Dipl.) in the Note on Lewisham. The church consists of square western tower, nave with north and south aisles, chancel, a private chapel at the east end of the north aisle, north and south porches. The body of the building is transition from E.E. to Dec.; the south aisle is perhaps Dec.; the north aisle is Perp., the chapel containing windows in different styles. The north porch, which is of brick, is late Perp. There is an unusual arrangement in this building, in the tower having a small aisle on both the north and the south sides, though the latter is no longer visible in consequence of a modern addition there. The church of Seaford in Sussex is another instance of such an arrangement. Sandhurst church was an excellent specimen of the style, in which it was constructed, but has been grievously mutilated. The stone mullions were removed from all the