24 



curiously enough in the High Street stands the parish 

 church of tho adjoining parish of Seasalter. 



In 1524, John Roper, of St. Dunstan's, Canterbury, 

 bequeathed the sum of one hundred marcs to be spent in 

 making " a horseway for the fisher wives and others in the 

 highways from Whytestaple to the entry of the street of 

 St. Dunstan, the Westgate of Canterbury." If this horse- 

 way were ever formed there seems to be no trace of it 

 now. 



Both Ireland and Hasted, in their 



Leland, Ireland, histories o f Kent) include references 

 which throw considerable light on the 



connection of Whitstable, not only with the oyster fishery, 

 but also with the outside world. Leland also in the quaint 

 language of his day records that "Whitstable in the time of 

 Henry VII. was a great fisher towne of one paroche, 

 belonging to Playze College, in Essex, and standeth on 

 the se-shore. Ther about they dragg for oysters." Ireland 

 mentions the death of David de Strabolgie, Earl of Athol, 

 who died here in 1327, being then o\vner of the " Manor of 

 Northwood, alias Whitstable." 



On the opposite side of the Thames 



Kent and Essex es 4 uary n cs the coast of Essex. A 

 certain amount of rivalry formerly 



existed between the fishermen of Kent and Essex, of 

 which there is evidence in certain letters addressed, 

 in 1598, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord High 

 Treasurer of England, the Lord Warden of the Cinque 

 Ports, the Lord Privy Seal, and the Lord High Admiral, 

 to Peter Marwood and John Boys, requiring them to 

 investigate a trespass committed by the Essex men upon 

 the Whitstable fisherv. 



