his father at Preston Hall, and died in 1602, had a right to quarter the arms of Hardreshull with his paternal coat. Viewing the inscription on the oasthouse in this light, T. C. with the Colepeper arms single might have reference to the father, and the other T. C. with the shield quartered, to the son. The style of structure of the oasthouse is conformable to the buildings of that age, and the same observation will apply to the barn.
Under a notion that the figures on the window-case were competent evidence of an earlier introduction of Arabic numerals into this country than had been hitherto supposed, a far greater antiquity has been imputed to the barn than an examination of it will warrant. Dr. Harris, indeed, only terms it an antient barn[1]; but as he at the same time averred that the date ascertains the then use of the common figures in Kent, such a positive assertion implied a belief of his having thought that some part of the barn at least might be of that age. And though Mr. Hasted observes that the quartered shield of arms proves this date to have been put up subsequent to the year 1300, yet by styling it a stone building he wished to have it understood that it was older than it really is; and the draughtsman he employed has countenanced the deception, by exhibiting the frame as set in a stone-wall.
In the bird's eye view given of this seat and its environs by Harris, there is such a representation of the barn as must have convinced the doctor, had he attended to it, that his notion of its very high antiquity was erroneous; and I suspect, that the barn itself was not closely inspected by either historian, as will appear from the following description of it.
The side walls of the northern bay are constructed with stone to the height of about six feet and nine inches, but along the other
- ↑ Harris's History of Kent, p. 32.
