In a small village based on agriculture and with the population mainly housed around the church, Upchurch consisted of 40 dwellings and a population of about 200 inhabitants for much of the 18th century.
In the village centre a forge and Elizabethan barn existed at the top
end of Forge Lane, a butcher’s and food store were located close to the Crown
pub and the Black Horse operated as an unlicensed drinking house at Black Horse
Cottage in Oak Lane. According to the petty sessions list four licensed
pubs existed in 1750. These were The Crown, The George, The Brickmakers Arms
and the Blue Anchor. The exact location of these pubs apart from The Crown is
not recorded but one was thought to be at the end of Shoregate Lane and another
in the building opposite the church known today as Wayside.
A contemporary map of 1758 shows that just beyond the village centre
woods covered the top left of Horsham Hill and extended up to and across
Wallbridge Lane. Chaffes Lane remained uninhabited apart from dwellings at
Chaffes Place and existed as a horse and cart track to Gore Farm. Much of the
architecture from the period has disappeared although the village road outline
remains very much the same. Upchurch contained 1,760 acres of land, 100 acres
of woods and 1,200 acres of marsh during the 18th century.
Throughout most of the 18th century a poor house existed
against the churchyard wall on the south side of the church and was maintained
by the parish. According to the vestry expense records William Lockyer was paid
three shillings by the parish for periodically repairing the thatch on the roof
until the building was destroyed by fire in 1791. Another poor house existed in
Susan’s Lane, Twinney with a poor field that stretched from the back of the
house to Wetham Green. According to a contemporary expense sheet dated 1789
people housed there were allowed to grow crops on the land and sell the produce
within the parish.
Twelve ships and boats
were based at Otterham Quay, a small port from where farm produce such as grain
was shipped to other locations while two hulks were moored in Stangate Creek
and operated as a quarantine base for disease infected ships arriving from
overseas. Sheep grazed on the marshes and Burntwick Island was joined to the
mainland until the river cut a channel through and separated it during the
middle part of the century. The smuggling of spirits, tea and owls was rife in
this area during the late 18th century.
 |
David wood. |
Holywell, in the southern part of the parish, consisted mainly of
woodland and belonged to the Earl of Thanet. On the east side of the valley
stood the Manor of Gore known today as Gore Farm where the ground was very wet.
An area of land still known as Slayhills comprised of 500 acres and was given
to the Manor of Gore during the 18th century.
Horsham Farm took its name from the first owner Stephen de Horsham who
obtained it during the reign of Edward III. During the 18th century
it had several owners. John Harding of London owned it in 1715. It then passed
to Joseph Hasted of Chatham then to his grandson Edward Hasted. Thomas Williams
owned it during the last part of the 18th century. Cattle and sheep
were mainly produced on the farm.
Parsonage Farm occupied the site of the vicarage and paddock with a
farmhouse consisting of two cottages leased out to farmer Mr. Packman by the
owners All Souls College Oxford during the later part of the century. Parsonage
Farm consisted of 81 acres of arable land plus marshland and saltings. It also
had tithes of about 500 acres of arable land worth an annual rent of £16/13/8d plus 16 quarters of wheat and 16 of
malt. The money was used to maintain the church. The vicar of Upchurch also
held one acre of land at Culvers Valley on the site of the present Gore Farm.
Because local employment was based on agriculture and the work
seasonal, people spent periods of time unemployed so poverty remained an
ongoing problem in Upchurch. Charities designed to help the village poor
included 6 shillings and 8 pence paid annually on Michaelmas Day from the
parsonage and 10 shillings from Munn Farm paid by John Sharpe. Benjamin Trowtes
will of 1623 gave an annual bread handout to the poor of Upchurch valued at 10
shillings to be distributed on Maunday Thursday and on the Saturday before
Michaelmas each year. To further alleviate the problem two acres of Hurst Wood
at Gore Farm were given to the poor for their own use with an annual produce
worth 40 shillings.
According to Hasted in his 1789 study of Kent twelve poor people in
Upchurch had to be continually helped with relief while fifteen were given
short term assistance. Local charity also allowed the village children to be
given a basic Christian education in the church although many children of
school age were committed to work by their parents for economic reasons and
received little or no education.
Disease cut short peoples lives and infant mortality was high by modern
standards with periodic outbreaks of plague. In 1701 there were 43 burials in
the churchyard and 14 of these were in November alone due to an outbreak of
disease. Ague, a form of malaria from mosquitoes, common in many Kent marshland
areas remained an annual problem with many villagers regularly falling ill.
Such was the problem that consecutive Upchurch vicars chose to live outside the
village for fear of contracting the disease.
Although deceased villagers were interned in the churchyard outsiders
were buried on the marshes. According to a surviving notebook in 1709 two
shillings was paid to bury a drowned man and boy on the marshes. During the
second part of the 18th century an argument developed over the
burial of a sailor whose body had been washed ashore at Bayford. The overseers
of Upchurch refused to have the body buried in the churchyard but Lower Halstow
accepted which resulted in 150 acres of land in the Bayford and Ham Green area
being presented to the parish of Lower Halstow by the owner. It was returned to
the parish of Upchurch in 1882 but people living in the Poot Lane to Ham Green
area did not theoretically have ecclesiastical rights in the village church
until the early 1960s. The concrete boundary posts with the letter H on one
side and U on the other can still be seen at Bayford Farm.
Upchurch remained a small and quiet village but incidents still
occurred like in 1728 when John Pell, the village butcher, was charged with
cohabiting with a local maid servant causing a scandal in the village.
Appearing before a committee consisting of the vicar Reverend Parsons and the
church wardens, he was accused of ‘highly offending God.’ He repented and told
his accusers that he would promise to be ‘a good and pious Christian.’ Being of
previous good reputation and manner he was eventually excused and a document
was signed by the village vicar and churchwardens witnessing the meeting.
The legal settlement of children born out of wedlock became the
responsibility of the parish in which they were born. Overseers tried to remove
pregnant, single women to their place of legal settlement before the child was
born to force the burden of cost on another parish. Overseers and Churchwardens
were elected each year by householders in the parish to deal with this. John
Chambers served as a well known Upchurch overseer during the early years of the
18th century and The Crown publican Jeremiah Chapman played a big
part in village affairs during the later years.
Orders were sometimes taken out against individuals like Thomas
Philpott from Sheppey who was ordered to pay 80 shillings to Hannah Bennett of
Upchurch for the maintenance of the child they had out of wedlock. On February
3rd, 1706 Richard John Banner of Upchurch was granted three
shillings to maintain himself and his family after he complained that he wasn’t
getting help from the parish. The order was addressed to the churchwardens and
overseers of the poor in Upchurch.
Overall, Upchurch did not experience a good social or economic period
during the 18th century. Life expectancy was low, disease rife, work
periodic and life generally hard with most parishioners living out their entire
lives in the village.
About David:
David Wood was born and raised in Upchurch and is able to write from personal experience about many people and aspects of the village and of changes that have taken place over the years making ‘Memories of Upchurch’ a very readable book and a detailed historical study of the village. David's book ‘Memories of Upchurch’ is available direct from David on: david3702001@yahoo.co.uk or from us here at Upchurch Matters.
price £12 + p+p £2.
David Wood
space
