Parishes: Hatcham (Parish of Deptford St Paul)

THE HAMLET OF HATCHAM (in Deptford St. Paul).

Hacchesham, xiii and xiv cent.; Heccesham, Hacham.

The whole of Deptford St. Nicholas and a part of Deptford St. Paul, which are now in the county of London, were formerly in the county of Kent, and the description of Deptford will be found in a volume relating to that county. The right location of that part of Deptford St. Paul over which the manor of Hatcham Barnes extended was doubtful until 1636, when by a legal decision it was determined to lie in Surrey. (fn. 1) By the Local Government Act of 1888 (fn. 2) it was included with the rest of Deptford in the newlyformed county of London, and is now a part of the metropolitan borough of Deptford, constituted under the London Government Act of 1899. (fn. 3)

The district of New Cross, named originally from the cross roads where the road from west to east through Camberwell cut the roads from Kent and from the south, is a network of small houses, and the two railway stations of New Cross, on the Brighton and South-Eastern and Chatham lines, are the centre of a large town reaching into both Kent and Surrey.

Next to the church of St. Katherine on Telegraph Hill is the Haberdashers' Boys' School, founded by Robert Aske in 1692. The two present school buildings are of brick and stone, of Gothic design, and dating from 1875. A new middle block has recently been built.

MANOR

In 1086 the manor of HATCHAM, later HATCHAM BARNES, was held of Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, by Gilbert Maminot, Bishop of Lisieux. Brixi had held it of King Edward, and then and in 1086 it was assessed for 3 hides. There was a wood worth three hogs. Its value, unaltered since the time of King Edward, was 40s. (fn. 4) Later it appears that the Maminot barony included three fees at Hatcham, which owed castle-ward service to Dover. (fn. 5) These during the second half of the 12th century were held by Gilbert de Hatcham, (fn. 6) and later by Richard de Vabadun, (fn. 7) who was dead before 1261–2, when his heirs were assessed for his fees. (fn. 8) His daughter Sarah married Roger de Bavent, to whom John de Say, who had married Avelina sister of Sarah, quitclaimed all right in Hatcham in 1240. (fn. 9) In 1285 Adam de Bavent received a grant of free warren in his demesne lands of Hatcham. (fn. 10)

The same family continued to hold the manor until the middle of the next century. In 1343 (fn. 11) Roger de Bavent leased it to Sir Robert de Burton, canon of Chichester, for seven years. He also gave one Robert de Derby a £20 pension out of the manor. (fn. 12) Shortly after he assigned the manor to the king, but in 1346 (fn. 13) received back a life interest in it. Edward III granted the manor in 1355 to the Prioress of Dartford, a grant confirmed in 1372 (fn. 14) after a surrender in 1371. (fn. 15) In 1369 John the son of John Adam, who died in 1369, (fn. 16) held various lands of the Prioress of Dartford, including Absolute Croft, Brugelescroft (of the Burnell manor), land in Wridescroft, and in a meadow called Fylysmede. Other names given are Senerismerch, Glotesmerchfeld.

At the Dissolution Hatcham Barnes was valued at £25, and was still charged with a payment to Dover Castle. (fn. 17) The manor was granted in 1556 by Philip and Mary to Ann Duchess of Somerset for her life, (fn. 18) and in 1570 Elizabeth granted the reversion to Walter Haddon for thirty years at an annual rent of £25 (fn. 19) He died seised of this lease in 1572, (fn. 20) and Francis Saunders of Welford, co. Northants, had a term in the manor at his death in 1583. (fn. 21) In 1609 the manor was granted to George Salter and John Williams, (fn. 22) who are said to have conveyed it to Peter Vanlore, and he to Sir John Brooke. Four years later Sir John Brooke and others sold Hatcham Barnes to Sir John Garrard, Sir Thomas Lowe, Robert Offley and Martin Bond, trustees for the Haberdashers' Company. (fn. 23) These three trustees conveyed the estate to the Governors of the Free School of William Jones in Monmouth. (fn. 24) It still forms part of Jones's Monmouth Charity, out of the income of which Jones's Grammar School, the Monmouth High School for Girls and the West Monmouthshire School at Pontypool receive endowments.

The manor of HATCHAM or LITTLE HATCHAM was probably formed from Hatcham Barnes and West Greenwich by subinfeudation. In 1288 John de Horneputte of Hatcham assigned 8 marks rent in Hatcham and West Greenwich to Gregory de Rokesle, (fn. 25) who in 1286 had obtained a faculty from the Abbot and convent of Bayham (holding the manor of Brockley in West Greenwich) for the oratory he had built for the use of himself and his family at Hatcham. (fn. 26) At his death in 1291 Rokesle held of Adam Bavent, lord of Hatcham Barnes, a messuage, 8 acres of plough-land, and 5 acres of meadow, by suit at the hundred court of Brixton and by payment of 7s. 6d. to the ward of Dover Castle every three weeks. (fn. 27) Gregory left as heir his nephew Roger de Rislepe or Rokesle, who sold the manor to Robert Burnell, Bishop of Bath and Wells, from whom it descended at his death in 1292 to his nephew Philip Burnell, son of his brother Edward. (fn. 28) Philip's son Edward succeeded him and left no issue, his sister Maud, the wife of John de Handlo, being his heir. In 1331 Eustace de Etton and Geoffrey de Scardeburgh, chaplains, were the trustees of a settlement (fn. 29) on John and Maud for life, and on their heirs male; in default to the daughters of Maud, and in contingent remainder to John the son of Sir John Lovel, her first husband; and, lastly, to the right heirs of Maud Burnell.

John Handlo died in August 1346, (fn. 30) leaving Nicholas his son and heir. His Hatcham manor was said to be held of Geoffrey de Say (lord of West Greenwich) by a quarter of a knight's fee and a rent of 5s. every thirty-two weeks to Dover Castle. There were a capital messuage and 20 acres of plough-land worth 33s. 4d., and 7 acres of meadow at 7s. a year, which lay in a marsh, and therefore were not worth more. Nicholas reassumed the name of Burnell, and at his death in January 1382–3 (fn. 31) died seised of 36s. 4d. rent of assize, held of the manor of Hatcham (Barnes) and of Geoffrey de Say by a tenth of a knight's fee. His son and heir was Hugh Lord Burnell. Hugh Burnell died on 27 November 1420. (fn. 32) He held the manor for life of the gift of Robert Pikedon of Witham, Robert Darcy of Maldon, William Boerley, David Holbeche and others, with remainder to Sir Walter Hungerford, Edmund, son of Sir Walter, and Margery his wife, one of the heirs and daughters of Sir Edward Burnell, deceased, the son of Sir Hugh. Sir Walter and his son and Margery were then living. The manor was said to be held of the Prior of Wormsley at a service not known (but this is apparently incorrect), value 10 marks a year. Edward the son of Hugh Burnell left three daughters: Joyce the wife of Thomas Erdyngton, Katherine Burnell, and Margery the wife of Edmund the son of Sir Walter Hungerford, aged twenty-four, fourteen and eleven years old respectively.

After this little is known of this manor. About 1563 (fn. 33) one Nicholas Broket appears owning the manor of Little Hatcham and conveyed it to William Edwards. Nicholas had probably bought it in 1557–8 (fn. 34) by a fine levied between Thomas Hoo and John Heyworth and Joan his wife, Hoo acting as his trustee. Edwards sold to one Nicholas Toke, who appears in possession in 1575, (fn. 35) and in that year joined with William Edwards in a sale to Walter Mayne. In 1602 William Westwray was holding it, from whom it was acquired by John Edwards. (fn. 36)

It apparently came a little later to Randulph Crew, east country merchant and citizen of London, who in 1635 was holding a manor of Hatcham and was assessed for ship money on it in both Kent and Surrey. He objected to paying double on the same land, and on 31 December 1635 his petition to the Council was referred to the Judges of Assize in the two counties, who reported that he was rightly assessed in Surrey, where he had paid. (fn. 37)

By 1677 (fn. 38) one Thomas Thebald and his wife owned the manor, and in 1752 (fn. 39) Christopher Cooper and his wife conveyed a third of the manor to Christopher Nicholson and John Gordon.

In 1757 (fn. 40) Thomas Newton and Henry Gawler sold to John Coppinger this third, which in 1761 (fn. 41) was further transferred to Samuel Dodington and John Gawler. After this nothing is known of the manor.

In the 18th century a large house surrounded by a moat, with extensive gardens, called Hatcham House, stood on the north side of the hamlet. (fn. 42) This was probably the house for which Randulph Crew had been assessed in £4 for ship money in 1636, and the 'one house' to which the manor of Hatcham is said by Lysons to have been reduced about 1790.

CHURCHES

The parish of ST. JAMES, Hatcham, was formed in 1845, and enlarged by additional parts of St. Paul's in 1851. (fn. 43) The church is a large, well-built stone structure, built in 1854, in the style of the 14th century. It has a chancel, vestries, &c., south transept with an aisle on either side, of two bays, north transept of one bay with an organ chamber aisle to the east, and baptistery with an apsidal north end to the west (provision being made to build a tower over the other bay of the transept), nave with a tall clearstory, north and south aisles, porches, &c. The chancel has a stone reredos and sedilia, is lighted by a seven-light traceried east window and has a vaulted ceiling. The nave is divided from the transept by a wide arched bay, and four bays divide it from the aisles, the columns being clustered and of good detail. Arcades of two bays divide the south transept from its aisles, and a small screen of two arched bays the baptistery from the north aisle. The roof of the nave is gabled and covered with slates. The pulpit is of oak, the font of stone with marble shafts.

The church of ST. MICHAEL is a small building of brick in Knoyle Street, serving as a chapel of ease to St. James's, and consisting of a small chancel and wide, short nave. The roof is slated.

The parish of ALL SAINTS, Hatcham Park, was formed from St. James in 1872. (fn. 44) The church stands in New Cross Road at the corner of Monson Road. It was built in 1869 of stone in the style of the end of the 13th century, and consists of an apsidal chancel, nave, north and south transepts and aisles, and the foundations of a proposed north-west tower; the nave has a clearstory of traceried windows. The roofs are covered with slates.

The parish of ST. KATHERINE, Hatcham Park, was formed in 1892. The church, which stands on Telegraph Hill, is a large building of rag and Bath stone, erected about 1890 in the style of the 13th century; it consists of a chancel, nave with a tall clearstory, north and south transepts and aisles, and the stump of a future north-east tower finished at present with an embattled parapet.

ADVOWSONS

The advowson of St. James belongs to the Church Patronage Society, of All Saints to trustees for two turns and to the Haberdashers' Company for one turn, of St. Katherine's to the Haberdashers' Company.