274 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ October 9, 1873. 



•where I was met by Mr. McCrow, the intelligent gardener, ani 

 through the liberality of his employer I was conveyed to my 

 destination in one of his carriages, passing on the way through 

 part of the ancient town of Fafersham, and along the old 

 Dover highway. If this has lost some of its importance as a 

 thoroughfare for both passengers and goods to the Continent, 

 it has not been impaired in quality as a good road ; now 

 the telegraphic wires to the continent of Europe traverse this 

 road, and their number equals those we are accustomed to see 

 at the London termini of long lines of railway. But our 

 carriage rattles along, and ascending a slight eminence above 

 the place where we have been travelling, we arrive at the 

 entrance gates to the grounds of Nash Court, and a short 

 drive through an avenue of remarkably fine Sweet Chestnut 

 trees brings us to the mansion, of which the accompanying 

 i-P'-ir^-i-itation is engraved from a photograph by Mr. Ashby, 

 photographer, Faversham. 



Nash Court in our earliest records is stated to have be- 

 longed to the Priory of Christchurch, Canterbury. Of that 

 Priory it was held by the family of Garwinton, from whom it 

 passed by marriage to the Hants and Isaacs, the last-named 

 family being the tenants at the time of the Priory's dissolution 



by Henry VIII., who granted it in fee to the head of the 

 Lincoln family, from whom it passed to the Norwood, Cley- 

 brooke, and Turner famOies, from the last of which it came to 

 Thomas Hawkins, Esq., by whom the present mansion was 

 rebuilt, about a century ago. Since the death of the last 

 Thomas Hawkins, who died in the year 1800, the possessors 

 were his four daughters, whose representatives sold it to the 

 present owner, John Pryce Lade, Esq., who restored it a few 

 years since. 



The mansion is one of those commodious brick structures of 

 which so many were erected in the latter part of the seven- 

 teenth century, but unlike some that were built at that time, 

 this appears to have been constructed in the most substantial 

 manner ; the walls, the timber, and even the roof, alike seem 

 to almost bid defiance to time. The style is more Grecian 

 than Tudor, and either owing to the good quality of the bricks, 

 or the fact of their being recently cleaned, or it may be the 

 clear dry atmosphere, or the whole combined, certainly the 

 building has a remarkably fresh appearance, more so than 

 many that have not been buUt half a dozen years. The 

 situation is slightly elevated, but the house is sheltered with 

 some fine old trees on one side, in addition to the interesting 



avenue already alluded to. The carriage front is to the east, 

 while the most spacious one is to the south, and the north has 

 also a good front looking out on a nice piece of lav;n and 

 shrubbery. On the west side are the offices, which are well 

 shut-off from the carriage drive by a thriving belt of choice 

 shrubs and Pinuses that have been planted by the present 

 proprietor, who, I may remark, has not had possession of the 

 place for many years, his ancestral home for some generations 

 being a mansion equally important, and not a great way off. 

 Mr. Lade has done much to improve it in many ways, additions 

 having been made to the residence and stables, and the gardens 

 entu-ely new made or remodelled, the whole showing good taste 

 ia design and good workmanship. 



The park, to which great additions have been made, descends 

 gently from the east side of the mansion for some distance, 

 where there are pouds of w.ater, the ground also descending 

 beyond the park into one of those easy and agreeable-looking 

 valleys which, without impeding the action of the husbandman, 

 are eminently useful in every other sense ; it rises again on 



the opposite side to a much greater elevation than that on 

 which Nash Court stands. The crown of the ridge and part of 

 its sides are clothed with timber, forming, in fact, the " Blean 

 Woods," which in times past have been notable for things 

 done in them, not the least memorable being the fatal affray 

 between a fanatical being styling himself Sir William Courtenay 

 and a host of additional titles, who with a multitude of deluded 

 followers assembled here some forty years ago, and refusing to 

 disperse at the request of some military sent against them, 

 the officer in command, anxious to avoid bloodshed, advanced 

 in front of his men, and, expostulating with the crowd, was 

 shot dead by their ringleader ; the issue being a volley from 

 the soldiers lulling the self-styled invincible leader and a 

 number of others. Such an event is not likely to be soon for- 

 gotten by a population not much given to emigration, and is 

 fortunately not likely to find a parallel in England at the pre- 

 sent day. Certainly the advance of education wUl prevent the 

 superstitious part of it being repeated. The Blean Woods had 

 also a bad name before that time. Smuggling, and perhaps 



