Dumb Borsholder (1893)

Post date: Mar 19, 2021 10:19:34 PM

Extract from Maidstone Journal and Kentish Advertiser - Thursday 16 March 1893

THE DUMB BORSHOLDER OF CHART.

In vol I. p.114 of the "K.N.B,” there is a short description of a relic of antiquity which is preserved in the vestry of Wateringbury Church. It is known as the Dumb Borsholder of Chart, and used to be presented by deputy at the Court Leet for the Hundred of Twyford, as representing the manor or tything of Chart, consisting of a few cottages near Pizein Well, in the parish of Wateringbury.

During a visit, last summer, to my old schoolfellow, Mr Wm. Featherstone, at Mereworth, we were speaking of the Dumb Borsholder, and he told me there was tradition in the neighbourhood that, centuries since, there was a town, named Chart, situated in what is now a wood, between Pizein Well and Roydon Hall. This brought to my mind a circumstance which many years ago (about 1849), and which may perhaps serve to throw light upon the subject which readers, residing in the neighbourhood, may able to follow up with additional interest. About the date mentioned, my father sent his foreman and myself (then a boy) to these woods and uplands to obtain specimens the Bee, Fly, Man, and other of British Orchidaceae, which were known to grow there, the soil and locality being suitable for these rare and curious indigenous wild flowers. We spent the whole dav exploring the neighbourhood, and I well remember seeing, in the wood, foundations of buildings and one or two remains of walls, etc., which at that time did not interest much, but which, if still in existence, might, if now explored, lead to much interesting speculation, and perchance reveal many facts tending to throw some light on the importance, centuries since, of that relic of antiquity the Dumb Borsholder of Chart.

LLOEGRYN, Gravesend.

Notes:

For the main article on this item go to The Dumb Borsholder of Chart

LLOEGRYN is probably George Newman.