the history of the manor of Hatcham Barnes; it became vested in its present owners, the Haberdashers' Company, as trustees of the charitable bequests under the will of Mr. Jones, and there are no new features of interest that I can lay before my readers: I will therefore proceed with the manor of Little Hatcham, which, it will be recollected, was divided from Hatcham Barnes.
In 13 Edw. I. Adam de Bavent alienated a part of his estate to Gregory de Rokesley, who in the same year obtained a faculty from the abbot and convent of Begham for his oratory, which he had built for the use of himself and family at Hechesham, in their parish of West Greenwich.[1]
We have thus the origin of the manor of Little Hatcham.
From an intimate acquaintance with this neighbourhood, and the extent and boundaries of the various manors, I am enabled, even at this distant period, to point out with tolerable precision the spot where Gregory de Rokesley's residence must have stood; and as he was a notable individual of his time, having been several times Lord Mayor of London, it may not be uninteresting to pause here awhile, while I offer a remark on this point. The manor of Little Hatcham abuts, as it always has done, on the high road (i.e. the Old Kent Road), and Rokesley's residence would naturally be placed on this part of the estate; the simple point is therefore to show the extent of this abuttal, and we shall then have a fair idea of the position of his house. The traveller
- ↑ The church of Saint Nicholas, Westgreenwich (i.e. Deptford), at that time the parish church of Hatcham, then belonged to the prior and monks of Begham, having been given to them by Geoffrey de Saye and Alice his wife, and confirmed by a grant of their son Geoffrey.—Dugdale, Mon. Angl., vol. vi. p. 913.
