‘O rare Norgem! Though dost far exceed Beckley, Udimore and Brede.’ So the old verse (with some old spelling,) says about Northiam. What do the locals of those villages say now? Is there still that rivalry?
We know that the Romans were living and working in the area around Northiam, with the remains of ironworking having been found just a few miles away in Beckley, and, of course, a number of other places locally. There was at least one villa just close by towards Bodiam. Excavations have found some Roman coins and the terracotta coloured Samian pottery. No doubt Roman feet trod where the people of Northiam now walk.
The 1086 Domesday Book tells us that before the Norman Conquest in 1066, the owner of the estate including Northiam was Earl Godwin. This was Godwin, Earl of Wessex, who was given the title by King Cnut in about 1020. Godwin was the father of King Harold, the last of the Saxon kings. Godwin already had a Sussex connection as his father, probably Wulfnoth Cild, was a thegn, or landholder, in Sussex. Godwin died in 1053. There is some question of actual ownership of the Northiam area, because there is an indication that it was part of what was called a minster estate; this was around the 8th century Saxon minster established in Peasmarsh. Northiam was never a manor in its own right.
After 1066, Northiam and four other parishes around it, including the churches and their associated glebe lands, were passed as a prebend – a form of ecclesiastical revenue associated with important churches like cathedrals or minsters – to a canon of the collegiate church of St Mary in the Castle, Hastings. The priests claimed that King Edward the Confessor founded their college, and certainly the earliest parts of the remaining building date from the right time. However, it was most likely founded in 1090 by Robert, Count of Eu, who was awarded large estates for his loyalty and service at the time of the conquest.
During the 16th century, Northiam became one of the few centres of English glass production. Although production, on a fairly limited scale, had been established by the 13th century, the arrival of Jean Carré, a Huguenot from Arras in the Low Countries,
together with Anthony Becku, really set production in motion. They were granted an exclusive monopoly on making window glass, with a time limit of 21 years. Carré brought other glassmakers over from Lorraine, and they settled in many parts of England. In total there were something like 80 glasshouses established, including Northiam (and Rye). Northiam seems to have produced pale green window glass in addition to beads and ornaments. During the 1930s, an excavation in the area known as Glasshouse Field uncovered the remains of the building floor and small pieces of typical 16th century glass.
Another important local industry was the stripping of bark, for use in tanning leather. This produces a very durable leather, because of the tannin from the bark. Historically it was used in the production of saddles, helmets, shields, gun holsters, travelling trunks and the bellows used to kindle a fire. The best barks were from oaks, firs, willows, chestnuts, birch and alder. Common at one time, there is now but one UK tannery producing leather in this way, using oak bark, at Colyton in Devon. Oak was the usual supply wood in Northiam, with the bark being carted to a tannery in Tenterden. There were some small tanneries in Northiam. The owner of one, John Robinson, with two other men, was prosecuted for selling tanned leather from his home in 1562; this was illegal.
Recent research tells us that water leaks in the Southern Water region are losing us almost 100 million litres a day. We certainly know about water issues in this part of the world! From at least the 16th century, and undoubtedly before then, water has been a prime concern in Northiam. There is a property called Farthings, dating from the end of the 16th century, which boasted, so it is said, that it was the first local property to have that wonderful facility, a bath. It is called Farthings because, local legend says, the owner of the property allowed villagers to collect a bucketful of water from his pond on payment of that long-lost coin, the farthing. Early maps do bear this out, as they show a Farthing Pond.
In 1876, there were 69 houses with wells, nine with access to natural springs, six relied on local ponds and 44 with water pumps. By the end of the 19th century some houses still had no water supply, and were reduced to collecting drinking water from Strawberry Hole at Mill Corner. Water for the weekly wash was fetched from Workhouse Pond. The going rate for someone to do this chore was six old pence for a bodge. Bodge is an old word for a large vessel, first noted in the records of the Belvoir estate of the Duke of Rutland in 1541. A piped water supply for Northiam first arrived in 1932, with all the houses final ‘on tap’ in 1958.
There’s more from Michael Montagu on the history of Northiam next week in Rye News, with details of a royal visit, a famous family – and some heavyweight stones.
Image Credits: Geograph CC .