JANUARY 275 



drinke, and expenses, and did direct the course of your 

 said Orator his life, that albeit he being bred in Litterature 

 and very good fassion by the said Sir Thomas his direc- 

 tion, did not apply himself to any profession, but Sir 

 Thomas Parry said your Orator shold depend upon the 

 honorable care of him the said Sir Thomas, your Orator 

 having taken to wife a gentlewoman of good birth hath 

 by her Tenn children." 



He pleads for a promised provision of 40 per 

 annum out of the estates, but I have not succeeded 

 in finding any record to prove whether he got it 

 or no. 



Sir Thomas Knyvett never came into actual 

 possession of the property, for he, also falling into 

 debt, assigned his reversion for a good round sum 

 to a wealthy citizen and Lord Mayor of London 

 named Sir Francis Jones, of whom the present lord 

 of the manor is the representative. 



There was probably a church here from a very 

 early date. The parish church until fifty years ago 

 had for its north wall a portion of the old Norman 

 masonry, and when this wall was taken down 

 remnants of an older foundation and indications 

 of burials beneath showed that there had been an 

 earlier edifice on or near the spot. The tower of 

 the chapel of ease exhibits to this day the 

 veritable work of Saxon builders, and until com- 

 paratively recently the sole means of entrance to 

 it was by a doorway high up in the wall of the 

 tower. A platform to support a beacon fire 

 formed the topmost storey. The churchyard lies 

 around the parish church, and I have calculated 

 that at least twenty thousand bodies rest in that 

 one small acre of ground. 



