Harbledown, Kent
Historical Description
Harbledown, a village and a parish in Kent. The village stands about 1½ mile from Canterbury station on the S.E.R., and has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Canterbury. It grew around a lazar-honse, founded in 1084 by Archbishop Lanfranc; and it is " the little town " of Chaucer, " which that ycleped is Bob up and down, Under the Blee, in Canterbury way." The parish includes also the hamlet of Bough Common. Acreage, 1620; population of the civil parish, 842; of the ecclesiastical, 734. The lazar-house adjacent to the village was for lepers, and consisted originally of several wooden structures; was re-founded by Edward VI. for the residence and maintenance of 26 poor men and women; was rebuilt, with the exception of its church, in the time of James I.; consists now of a range of cottages and gardens, with central large common hall; bears the name of St Nicholas' hospital, and has an endowed income of £223. An excellent spring adjacent to it bears the name of the Black Prince's well, from a tradition that the water of it was sent to the Black Prince during a severe illness, and it may have occasioned the selection of the site for the hospital on account of its reputed virtues. The upper leather of a shoe of Thomas a Becket with a crystal set in it was possessed by the hospital before the Eeformation, and when pilgrims to Canterbury were passing by this was usually brought forth by one 'of the inmates to the steps leading down to the road, and presented with much reverence to the better class of pilgrims to be devoutly loosed as a sacred relic. A ludicrous account of the performance is given by Erasmus in his " Peregrinatio." A maple bowl, figured with Gay of Warwick's killing the dragon, and set with a large crystal, is preserved in a chest in the common hall, and the crystal on it is supposed to be that which was formerly on Becket's shoe. The church of the hospital is partly Nonnan, partly Early English, consists of nave, aides, and chancel, with western ivy-clad tower, and contains a curious ancient stone font and some remains of ancient frescoes. A farm on which the hospital stands, together with the hospital itself, is exempt from the jurisdiction of the parish, and belongs to Canterbury. The parochial living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury; value, £330 with residence. Patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church of St Michael was almost wholly rebuilt in 1881, and is in the Early English style. Hall Place is a very fine seat in the neighbourhood.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Kent | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Harbledown St. Michael | |
Hundred | Westgate | |
Lathe | St. Augustine | |
Poor Law union | Bridge |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
Findmypast have the following online for Harbledown, St Michael & All Angels: burials 1813-1841
Findmypast have the following online for Harbledown, St Nicholas's Hospital: burials 1814-1841
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Harbledown from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Harbledown (St. Michael))
Maps
Online maps of Harbledown are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Kent newspapers online:
- Kent & Sussex Courier
- Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald
- Dover Express
- Kentish Gazette
- Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald
- Kentish Chronicle
- Maidstone Telegraph
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitation of Kent, 1619 is available on the Heraldry page, as is also The Visitation of Kent, 1663-68.