Faversham Life
Faversham Life
Words Mr E H Wix Photographs Various
Faversham Life came across a copy of Mr Wix’s work and has reproduced it below. He wrote in careful detail, to the extent that it is sometimes repetitious, but many of the names are familiar and interesting to Faversham, and there is an enthralling paragraph about Nicholas Turner, ‘Sergeant at Mace in 1573 Captain of the Hasarde, a Faversham Ship requisitioned to serve in the “narrow Seas against the Dunkirkers and others of “His Majesty’s Enemies” in 1588’. We have reproduced Mr Wix’s writing as exactly as possible, and marked where the text was indecipherable.
A 19th century plan of Mall House showing croquet and tennis lawns. It is interesting to see the name of Richard Jones Hilton, whose family lived at Preston House (demolished in 1930) and bought Mall House in 1891. In Wreights House next door, Mr F F Giraud is living – either the father who died in 1866 or his son, who had the same initials, who stayed on with his sisters. The railway was opened in 1858
October 1939
Notes on Mall House, Faversham
by E. H. Wix
Title Deeds
When I purchased the property in 1920, the earliest title deed handed over to me was a Conveyance by Miss Clarissa Mary Josephine Toker to The Misses Elizabeth Smith-Murton and Mary Ann Murton dated the 27th January 1857. A few years later, amongst a number of old Deeds taken over by Messrs. Tassell & Son about 1880 from Mr. Bathurst, a former solicitor in the town, I discovered some Deeds relating to Mall House and other property at Ospringe dated between 1721 and 1739 and the Title Deeds subsequent to that which related to the Estates of the Toker Family were in the year 1868 in the possession of Mr. Murton-Neale, a solicitor who had retired from practice in 1896 and who subsequently lived at Tunbridge Wells. I ascertained from his Son, a solicitor at Cranbrook, that all these old Deeds were probably destroyed by his Father shortly after he retired.
The House was originally called “The Cross House”. Its name was probably changed to “Mall House” some time after The Mall was made in 1773. It is referred to as “Mall House” in the {indecipherable} in 1866 of Elizabeth Smith-Murton, a former owner.
Mall House today
Manorial and Other Records
This property however, was subject to the Manor of Faversham, and as Steward of that Manor I have had access to the Manor Rolls and Rentals and have been able to trace the ownership of the property from the latter part of the 16th Century up to the present time.
The house is noted in surveys of the Town made in the years 1622, 1743 and 1770, the reason being that at the foot of the wall fronting The Mall at the southern end, there is one of the old boundary stones of the Parish of Faversham, the top of which can be clearly seen today. The arrowhead on this stone points almost due west to “a great stone in Kingsfield” removed many years ago when the Town boundaries were extended.
The property is also mentioned in Crow’s History of Faversham where reference is made to what he described as one of the “Chalk Wells” in the District as being in the yard of these premises.
The original house was probably built in the latter part of the 16th Century and its general outline is shown in the Old Map of Faversham, which I believe was made about the year 1752 but which shows the original house before the addition of the Georgian front in 1743. Parts of the Kitchen and the rooms above and the garden walls appear to belong to the original structure. In 1931 when the plaster on the West side of the house was removed, an old window was disclosed which has since been filled up where, on the inside, the Kitchen Dresser now stands.
The first record of the house appears in the Faversham Manor Rental of the year 1604 and is as follows:-
Preston Strete West
“Of Turner widoe for a tent. and
garden late Nicholas Turner and before
Nicholas Bull 11d and 1 coke.”
According to later records, the Bull here referred to should be Anthony Bull who probably built the original house having purchased the site which was part of the ancient “Kingsfield” from members of the Finch Family who lived here in Old Preston House in Queen Elizabeth’s reign.
The Nicholas Turner referred to in this entry was, according to the Faversham Archives, Sergeant at Mace in 1573 Captain of the Hasarde, a Faversham Ship requisitioned to serve in the “narrow Seas against the Dunkirkers and others of “His Majesty’s Enemies” in 1588 and Sergiante in the General Bande and Companye (i.e. trained Militia) in 1595.
With these notes will be found copies made of all the entries from the Faversham Manor Rolls and Rentals from the year 1604 to 1803 together with photostats of some of the early entries into the Manor Rentals.
The next record is from the Survey made in the year 1611, a copy of which appears in Thomas Buck’s M. S. Book of Faversham (written in 1740-1743 and in the possession of the Town Clerk). The following is an extract relating to this house:-
“And so from there up the middle of the Highway to Canterburyward unto a great flat stone lying under the hedge on the North side of the Highway about five rodds beyond the stile over against Perry Gate and so from that stone directly North unto a great stone at Kingsfield for that purpose heretofore sett up and from thence directly Eastwardes to a house on the Upper End of Preston Street next above the Cross House belonging to the heirs of Nicholas Turner and through the middle of that house to the middle of the Highway and so along the Highway leading down into the Town” etc.
According to the Manor records, the property passed through the following ownerships:
1621 Thomas Turner
1631 Richard Harvey
1653 William Morgan Senior
1660 William Morgan Senior and John Sole, who was the owner of the house above Mall House which was pulled down in the year 1743 as will be mentioned later.
1665 William Morgan Junior, Ralph Morgan Senior, Edward Shotwater and John Sole. The original house was then apparently occupied in three separate tenancies.
1671 William Morgan Junior, Ralph Morgan Junior and Thomas Morgan
1680 Thomas Pepper Senior, Ralph Morgan Junior and Thomas Morgan
From about 1680 to 1739 the property belonged to the Pepper Family. Thomas Pepper Senior was a bricklayer. He must have purchased or otherwise acquired the house above Mall House from Ralph and Thomas Morgan between 1689 and 1703 because in the latter year, his Widow Mary Pepper, was admitted Tenant of that property at the Faversham Manor Court and in 1707 there is a presentment that the latter Thomas Pepper died seised {sic} of “severall tenements held by the yearly rents in the “whole amounting to 1/3 and 1 cock” which comprised the Quit Rents payable on Mall House and the house above it. This is the earliest evidence that the property now known as Mall House with the garden came under one ownership.
By Deed dated the 24th June 1721, William Pepper senior, one of the four Sons and heirs in Gavelkind* of Thomas Pepper Senior, purchased the one-fourth share of Thomas Pepper Junior in all the premises which were therein described as follows:-
“All those two other messuages or tenements stable oasthouse yard Backside gardens orchard lands and hereditaments to the said last mentioned messuages or tenements and premises belonging containing in the whole by estimation one acre and a half (more or less) with the appurtenances situate lying and being in the Town and Liberty of Faversham aforesaid in a certain street there called Preston Street on the West side of the same street and now or late in the severall tenures and occupations of the said William Pepper and Sarah Martin Widow or their assigns.”
William Pepper was admitted tenant of the whole property in 1722.
A stable is mentioned for the first time but this is probably the building on the South side of the house and shewn in the Old Map of Faversham of 1752. The present stables, etc. were not built until 1841.
According to the Manor Rolls for the year 1735, the property came to William Pepper Junior, Son of William Pepper, under a settlement by his late Father, By a Deed dated the 11th November 1735 William Pepper Junior mortgaged the property to John Tassell and in July 1739 John Tassell became the owner by purchasing William Pepper’s interest.
In 1743 the property was occupied by Charles Tassell, the Son of John Tassell and in an entry in the Court Rolls of the following year it is stated that the house above Mall House formerly occupied by Widow Martin had some time since been pulled down and made part of Charles Tassell’s garden or orchard and at the same time the house was probably enlarged by the addition of the present Georgian Front. Martin’s house according to the Survey in 1611, could not have been the building (probably the old stables) on the South side shewn in the Old Map of Faversham (1752) because the survey refers to the boundary line Eastwards from the old stone as running through the “middle of that house”, which must have been near the South East corner of the property and well to the South of the old Stables.
This is also confirmed by a copy survey of Faversham made in the year 1743 which appears in Mr. Thomas Buck’s Book of Faversham. The following is an extract:-
“And from thence up the middle of the Highway leading from thence to the City of Canterbury unto another boundary stone set up near unto or under the hedge on the North side of the said Highway near unto a swing gate there-about ten rodds beyond the stile of Kingsfield over against Perry Gate and so from that stone directly Eastward to another boundary stone set up near unto the stables belonging to the uppermost house on the West side of Preston Street formerly called the Cross House and belonging to the heirs of Nicholas Turner but since rebuilt and now belonging to and in the possession of Charles Tassell Gentleman and from the last mentioned boundary stone to the middle of the Highway” etc.
In Mr. Minter’s (?) M.S. (written about 1813 and in the possession of the Town Clerk) appears a copy of a Survey of Faversham made in 1770 from which the following is an extract:-
“And from thence up the middle of the Highway to Canterburyward unto a stone marked as before erected at the 47 milestone under the hedge on the North side of the Highway and from that one directly North unto a great stone in Kingsfield heretofore set up for that purpose (that stone being long removed it was thought necessary to place another marked TLF {a written note here I can’t decipher} and thence directly Eastward to a stone at the Upper End of Preston Street to the middle of the Highway” etc.
Charles Tassell died about 1762 and the property passed to his widow, Jane Tassell. After her death it was occupied up to 1771 by Charles Stanley and was then purchased by Richard Toker who lived there.
Under the will of Richard Toker who died in 1785 the property passed to his Nephew John Toker of The Oaks Ospringe for life and then to Edward Toker (John Toker’s eldest Son) for life. John Toker died in 1817 and the property was disentailed in 1830. About that time it was occupied successively by Mr. Ambrose Simpson, Rear-Admiral Robert Keeler and Mr. William Smith Murton. Edward Toker died in 1849 and under his will the property passed to his daughter, Clarissa Mary Josephine Toker who in 1857 sold it to the Misses Murton who had occupied it under a Lease since 1841.
The Misses Murton sold Mall House to Richard Jones Hilton in 1891
In 1891, the Executor of the surviving Miss Murton sold it to Richard Jones Hilton, from whose Trustees I purchased the property in 1920.
Mr Edward Crow in his M.S. “Historical Gleanings relative to the Town of Faversham and Parishes adjoining” (written in 1855 and in the possession of Mr. Arthur Smith) makes the following reference to this house in Volume 1.:-
“On the side of the last house in this street (Preston Street) on the western side stood a dwelling called the ‘Cross House’ which probably took its name from a cross which might have stood near, it being one of the upper entrances to the Town. Charles Tassell Gent, Rear-Admiral Keller and branches of the Toker Family have been residents here. It is now in the occupation of The Misses Murton.”
In connection with the “Chalk Wells” referred to by Mr. Crow the surface of the South Lawn gave way at a spot by the large Sycamore Tree and disclosed a pit about 12 ft. deep with two passages cut in the Chalk, one leading towards the house and the other in a westerly direction. The passages were for the most part filled up with earth that had apparently silted down and although this was partially cleared away for some 15 yards towards the house nothing of interest was found and the attempt of further excavation was abandoned and the hole filled up. There is also evidence of another pit opposite this hole on the other side of this lawn but no attempt has been made to open up this. In 1939, a Dug-out was made at this spot and it became evident during excavation that an old pit here had been filled in.
The lavatory on the Ground Floor was added in the year 1931 and the Oak bookcases and panelling in the Study were put in by H. M. Wix in 1939.
In 1937, a considerable portion of the West Wall, just South of the Stables fell down and was rebuilt.
The South Wall on the East side of No. 2, The Mall and the West wall at its junction with the North all was also rebuilt at the same time.
Historical List of Occupants of “Mall House”, Faversham
1621 Thomas Turner
1631 Richard Harvey
1653 William Morgan Senior
1660 William Morgan Senior and John Sole
1665 William Morgan Junior, Ralph Morgan Senior, Edward Shotwater and John Sole
1671 William Morgan Junior, Ralph Morgan Junior and Thomas Morgan
1680 Thomas Pepper Senior, Ralph Morgan Junior and Thomas Morgan
1722 William Pepper
1735 William Pepper Junior
1739 John Tassell
1743 Charles Tassell
1762 Jane Tassell
1769 Charles Stanley
1771 Richard Toker
1785 John Toker
1817 Edward Toker, Mr. Ambrose Simpson, Rear-Admiral Robert Keeler, Mr. William Smith Murton
1841 Misses Murton
1891 Richard Jones Hilton
1920 Mr. E. Wix
1951 Dr. R. J. Edney
* Definition of Gavelkind: ‘A tenure by which land descended from the father to all his sons in equal portions, and the land of a brother, dying without issue, descended equally to his brothers. It still prevails in the County of Kent.’
The Dunkirkers may also be read about in Faversham Life’s article about The Battle of Bossenden Wood. This history of Wreights House, next door to Mall House may be read here.
Text: Mr E H Wix and Posy Gentles. Photography: various
