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1615. The vicarage-house is come to great ruin, but all other things are in good order.-(Fol. 188.)

We have had no Register of Christenings and Burials since the 17 April, 1613 set down in the Book, and now our late minister is dead, yet have we sent in our bills to the Court for the same, and do therefore refer ourselves to the same presentations formerly made. -(Fol. 219.)

1616. Mr. Milles, curate under Mr. Clutting, for that he did not go the bounds of the parish, and he did not say service upon one Sunday, nor upon Ascension day, nor upon St. John the Baptist, nor upon St. Peter.-(Fol. 240.)

1617. Common Prayer is not said at convenient hours, for one Sunday and divers holy days we had none at all, and sometimes he beginneth at ten of the clock in the forenoon, and sometimes after

ten.

We have a sermon once in every month, but whether the curate that preacheth be lawfully licensed or no, we know not, but on every Sunday he preacheth not, he doth not read one of the Homilies prescribed.

We know not whether the curate of our parish be licensed from the Ordinary or not, but we are sure he serveth more than one church in one day.

He doth not usually wear a gown with a standing collar.(Fol. 261.)

Robert Tilden, churchwarden, presented for want of things necessary to the chest belonging to the church appointed for the keeping of the Register Book, as namely:-for the want of two keys, a Canon Book, an Article Book, and a cloth for the pulpit.— (Vol. 1610-17.)

1664. On the 4 November, Edward Gurney and Robert Peckenham the churchwardens appeared in the Court and stated:―That it is true that their steeple of Doddington is ruined by tempest of lightning,' and thereupon their bells are fallen down, but the parishioners are not of ability to repair the same, it being almost twenty-two years since it happened, wherby the work will be very chargeable, insomuch that half the rent of the land in the parish will not be sufficient to do it.

Whereupon the judge did advise them for a Brief for a collection

1 About 1650 the steeple of this church was set on fire by lightning and much damaged." Hasted's "History of Kent," vol. ii, p. 696.

for the repair of the steeple and bells, and for a flagon for the communion which they say is yet wanting, and provide the same against Christmas next, and send a certificate thereof the next court day following. (Vol. 1639-81, fol. 112.)

1678. That the steeple being burnt down and the bells all broken and cracked, the parish is not able to repair the steeple and mend the bells and hang them as is required.—(Vol. 1670-93, fol. 69.)

1695. A Petition of the minister and parishioners of Doddington, made unto his Grace for the selling and alienating of the bells belonging to the church, being cracked and useless.

On the 24 May, 1695, the Vicar appeared in the Court and presented a petition to his Grace to the effect abovesaid, and his Grace was thereupon pleased to order that the Bells therein mentioned being four in number and the weight of them said to be about forty hundred (sic)—be forthwith sold for the best price that can be got after an estimate of the weight, and that the weight of them with the price they are sold at, be forthwith intimated to the Vicar-General and to Mr. Archdeacon of Canterbury, and the money deposited in the Archdeacon's hands immediately after the sale, who is to appoint in what manner the money is to be laid out.

On the 17 October when at Sittingbourne, Archdeacon John Battely enquired what had been done. The churchwardens answered that they were ignorant of the Order, and so knew not the weight of the Bells, nor were the Bells yet disposed of. Whereupon they were ordered and monished that they do forthwith cause an estimate to be taken of the weight of the Bells and the value of the metal of them, and certify that they have so done by the first Court-day after Michaelmas next.

After several appearances in the Archdeacon's Court; on the 9 May, 1698, William Skeene churchwarden of Doddington came, when the Judge asked him whether he had sold the Bells belonging to the church, according to a former order made in the case. He answered that he had sold the bells for £77 17s. 6d., and that he had received so much money for them, and that upwards of £60 of the money was yet remaining in his hands, some of it being necessarily expended in charges; and that he is willing to pay interest for £60 of the money from last Michaelmas to Michaelmas next, if it shall continue in his hands so long.

Whereupon the Judge did order that the said money continue in the hands of William Skeene till Michaelmas next, and that he pay interest thereof as he offers until that time; and that he then pay in the money or give security for the same; and desired Mr. Somer

scales, vicar of the parish to use his endeavours to find out a mortgage or other good security for the placing of the £60.

The 12 October 1690 when William Skeene again came to the Court he said:-That by reason of the harvest being late, he could not make up his accounts touching the £77 17s. 6d., above-mentioned, but that he will make up the same very speedily.

Whereupon the Judge monished him that he do make up his accounts how the money is disposed of, by the next Court day, and then appear and bring the same into Court, to receive further order touching the same; and that he do pay in Court such sums as he shall have remaining in the book of the account, until such time as he shall pay in the money to be placed out at interest elsewhere.— (Vol. 1675-98.)

On the 2 May 1701, before Doctor George Oxenden when at Sittingbourne, appeared Thomas Bateman one of the churchwardens for the parish, who being sworn, was asked by the Judge, who had the bond for the £60 of the parish, late in the hands of William Skeene, and who was bound for the same. Then Bateman answered that he had the bond, and that the sum was made up £70, and now in the hands of Henry Hawker, and that John Giles and John Hawker were bound with him for the same.

Whereupon the Judge ordered Thomas Bateman that he produce and exhibit in Court the next Michaelmas Visitation the same bond, and as there was now £6 and more interest for the same money, the Judge further ordered him, that he do make up the interest £10, by adding thereto £3 of the previous money according to former orders, and place the same out at interest as soon as he can, and then also bring the bond taken for the same if placed out.

On the 15 October 1701, when Bateman was again in the Court, the Judge asked him in whose hands the money raised by the sale of the Bells was, and who had the bond. He stated the bond was in his custody, and produced it in Court, and the bond bore date 10 October, 1699, and is taken in the names of William Skeene, and Henry Gibbon then churchwardens, for the payment of £70 with interest, and bound in the same Henry Hawker of Milton, mariner, John Hawker of Doddington, and John Giles of Newnham; and the churchwardens declared the parishioners had agreed that £3 be yearly made up and placed out for the increase of a sum to buy new Bells.

The Judge ordered Bateman, that such an agreement be entered in their church-book, and that he certify it is so done the next Easter Visitation.-(Vol. 1678-1735, Fol. 46.)

RANELAGH GARDENS, CHELSEA.

BY J. JEFFERY.

U

PON the eastern side of the Royal Hospital at Chelsea stood the mansion and grounds of Richard Earl of Ranelagh. This nobleman, in the year 1690, was PaymasterGeneral of the Forces, and also one of the Commissioners of Chelsea Hospital. He obtained from the Crown a lease of seven acres and a half of land, adjoining and belonging to the Hospital, for sixty-one years, at an annual rent of £15 7s. 6d. He built a house after a design of his own, and made it his principal residence. Soon after he obtained another lease of fifteen acres more, for fifty-eight years, at an annual rent of £30 45., and another parcel of land, for ninetynine years at a rent of £5 per annum, for the purpose of laying out and extending his gardens. In the year 1698 he procured a grant of all these lands in fee, subject to an annual rent to the Hospital of £5. The Earl died in 1712, when his house was, for some years after his death, in the possession of his daughter, the Lady Catherine Jones. The estate was bounded on the south by the Thames, on the west by the Royal Hospital, on the north by a portion of what has since been known as Jews' Row, and on the east by a creek which ran from Knightsbridge, taking the southerly direction to the Thames. Subsequently this creek was requisitioned to receive the overflow from the Serpentine, and most probably the sewage from Cadogan Place; it then ran under the main road leading into Eaton Square, down the back of George Street, and into Wilderness Row, under a bridge in Jews' Row, passing under two of the houses. The houses in question each had a trap door in the floor in the front, under which the evil-smelling creek ran in its passage to the Thames. During the fifties, the writer of this article, who was acquainted with the inhabitant of one of the houses in question, has repeatedly lifted the trap-door and listened to the rushing of the mixture below during the ebb tide in the Thames. Lord Ranelagh spared no trouble or expense in laying out his grounds, the very greenhouses and stables being adorned with festoons and urns, which gave them an air of grandeur not to be seen elsewhere. The plots and borders were elegantly designed, and had the advantage of opening into Chelsea College Walks. The house was beautifully built, and very fine within, being wainscoted with Norway oak, while the chimneys were adorned with carving similar to that in the Council Chamber of Chelsea College.

In the year 1730, an Act of Parliament was passed by which the estates of the late Earl were vested in trustees, and, three years afterwards, the whole property was cut up and sold in lots, the greater part of which were bought by two men named Swift and Timbrell. About this period Mr. Lacey, the patentee of Drury Lane Theatre, conceived the idea of converting the property into a place of entertainment on a large scale for the inhabitants of south-west London, and in pursuance of this scheme he, with the help of a partner named Solomon Rietti, took a lease of the premises from Messrs. Swift and Timbrell, but as the project did not answer, the idea was given up in 1741, when the Rotunda in the centre was built. Messrs. Crispe and Myonet were then the lessees. The grounds then passed into the hands of the former of these twain, who, in the year 1744, became bankrupt. The estate was then divided into thirty-six shares, and continued so until it was finally closed.

The Rotunda was opened with a public breakfast on 5th April, 1742, and for a short time morning concerts were given, the selections being made from oratorios. A Mr. Festing was the manager, who led the band. The gardens continued open for public breakfasts until 1752, when an alteration was made in the programme. In 1754 evening entertainments were given, under the title of "Comus' Court," when an exhibition of fireworks took place, which concluded the performances. Money for admission was taken at the gates, when the spectator quickly found himself near the Rotunda, upon which the musicians were placed. It was a beautiful structure, formed by four triumphal arches of the Tuscan order, separated from each other by intervals, which with the arches formed an octagon. The pillars were divided into storeys, painted in "marble and white," and surmounted by termini of plaster of Paris. The insides of the arches were decorated with masks, musical instruments, etc., painted in panels on a sky-blue ground, after a style which "could not be equalled at that period." Grouped round the Rotunda were forty-seven boxes for the accommodation of the assembled spectators, each box having a table, seats, etc. In each box the table was spread, ready for the guests. A large painting of some droll figure, or circumstance, decorated the interior of each box, while between each two a large bell-lamp was fixed, to give the amount of light required after dusk. Over the boxes was a long gallery, fronted with a balustrade, the pillars of which were in imitation marble, festooned with flowers and topped with termini of plaster of Paris. The gallery contained a number of boxes, similar to those upon the ground floor.

At a distance of twelve boxes from the orchestra stood the Prince's

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