Wye (St. Martin and St. Gregory)

WYE (St. Martin and St. Gregory), a parish, and formerly a market-town, in the union of East Ashford, hundred of Wye, lathe of Shepway, E. division of Kent, 56 miles (E. S. E.) from London; containing 1648 inhabitants. This place is of great antiquity, and was once of considerable importance. It was the head of a royal manor having extensive jurisdiction, and formed part of the demesne lands of the Saxon kings prior to the Conquest, when, with all its appendages, liberties, and royal customs, it was granted to the abbey of Battle, in Sussex, with which it continued till the Dissolution. The parish comprises 7282 acres, whereof 202 are in wood. The town, which at present is little more than a considerable village, is pleasantly situated near the right or eastern bank of the river Stour, over which is a stone bridge of five arches, built in 1638. The houses are neatly built, principally round a green, and in two parallel and two cross streets: a little above the bridge is a corn-mill. Here is a station of the Ashford and Canterbury portion of the South-Eastern railway, 5 miles distant from Ashford, and 9 from Canterbury. Fairs are held on May 29th and October 11th.

The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £101; patron, the Earl of Winchilsea: the tithes have been commuted for £639 payable to the earl, and £680 to the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church was rebuilt by John Kemp, a native of the parish, who was first preferred to the bishopric of Rochester, and, having successively presided over several other sees, was lastly translated to the archbishopric of Canterbury and made cardinal. In 1447, he founded a college here for a master, or provost, and Secular canons, dedicated to St. Gregory and St. Martin, and the revenue of which, at the Dissolution, was valued at £93. 2. The church was a beautiful cruciform structure, with a central tower surmounted by a spire, and had all the usual parts of a large collegiate church. The spire was injured by lightning in 1572, and, having been restored, fell in 1686, and destroyed a portion of the east end of the church, together with all the monuments in the chancel, among which was the tomb of the father and mother of the founder: the east end was partly rebuilt in 1701. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans. The free grammar school, which is endowed with £10 a year, was founded by grant from Charles I. of the rectories of Boughton-Aluph, Beuset, and Newington, and other premises; and, having fallen into decay, was revived in 1832. An exhibition of £10 per annum to Lincoln College, Oxford, was attached to the establishment by Sir George Wheeler, in 1723, which was augmented to £20, in 1759, by his son, the Rev. Granville Wheeler. A free school for children of both sexes was founded in 1708 by Lady Joanna Thornhill, who assigned to it an endowment now worth £193. 10. a year. In 1723, Sir George Wheeler devised the ancient collegiate buildings for the respective residences and schools of the master of the grammar school and the master and mistress under Lady Thornhill's charity; these establishments, therefore, now occupy the college green, the former the south, and the latter the north, side. Dr. Plot, the celebrated antiquary and naturalist, received his early education at Wye College. An almshouse for six persons was founded by Sir Thomas Kemp.

Olantigh, in the parish, was formerly the seat of the family of Kemp, and is supposed to have been the birth-place of Archbishop Kemp, and also of his nephew, Thomas Kemp, Bishop of London. It passed from the Kemps to the Thornhills, and from them to the family of Sawbridge. Alderman Sawbridge, who was buried in the church, and his sister, Mrs. Catherine Macauley Graham, author of a History of England, were born here. Several years since, in making a sunk fence on the grounds of Olantigh, two human skeletons were discovered on the side of a large tumulus, together with several small pieces of iron, two of which appear to have been spear-heads. Withersdane, a hamlet in the parish, was anciently celebrated on account of a holy well, consecrated by St. Eustace.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.