Our history of Northiam continues with a royal visit, a wartime meeting and some heavyweight scones. You can read the first part of Northiam’s history – including details of the village’s ancient industry – here.
August 11, 1573 seems to have been the high point of the history of Northiam. Queen Elizabeth I, on her way to Rye, stopped in the village and had lunch, served from the house of George Bishop close by, seated under an ancient oak tree. She seems to have been suffering in a way that many ladies, and I dare say, quite a few men, will be familiar with; uncomfortable shoes. Hers were of green silk damask, with a heel nearly three inches high and a sharply pointed toe. Fashion versus comfort is nothing new. She took the shoes from one of her maids of honour, presumably less fashionable. No one seems to know how the poor girl was shod after that.
The queen left her shoes behind, perhaps as a souvenir, and they were kept for many years at Brickwall House. When the house was given to the Frewen Educational Trust in 1972, the shoes were retained by the Frewen family. Kipling wrote a poem about the
queen, mentioning the shoe incident.
Queen Bess was Harry’s daughter.
Stand forward, partners all!
In ruff and stomacher and gown
She danced King Philip down-a-down.
And left her shoe to show twas true.
King Philip was her brother-in-law, King Philip II of Spain.
St Mary’s church was originally a Saxon foundation with, as usual, many later additions and restorations. Originally there was neither tower nor aisles. The former was added during the 12th century, the latter about a century later. The vault of the Frewen
family was moved in the 19th century, and in 1846 a new mausoleum was constructed for them on the northwest side. At one time, when the vault was easy to access, one of the ‘dares’ of the local children was to enter the vault and run around the coffins interred there.
Between 1583 and 1914, and except for a short time in the 17th century, either a member of the Frewen family, or their heirs, the Lord family, was rector of the parish. In the 19th century the living was worth about £800 a year. The Frewen family were well-known for Puritan sympathies. Indeed, we can see this from the names that the 16th century rector, John Frewen, gave his first two sons. Accepted, born in 1588 and Thankful, born in 1591.
East Sussex was a very Puritan-minded area, and such unconventional names were not uncommon. Accepted was a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford from 1612. Between 1617 – 21 he was chaplain to the ambassador to Spain, Sir John Digby. Whilst in Madrid he preached a sermon that found favour with Prince Charles, later King Charles I, who appointed him as a chaplain. After many appointments, both ecclesiastical and academic, he was appointed archbishop of York in 1660, when the monarchy was restored. He died at York in 1664.
The diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897 was the cause of a most singular gift from Mr H Kemp of Hawkhurst. He gave to the parish of Northiam, at the cost of £27, an ornate hearse, suitable for carriage by pony or hand. It has a border of black trefoil finials, looking like the clubs in a pack of cards, and engraved and frosted glass windows. No longer in use, it now rests peacefully at the workshop museum of J Perigoe and son, funeral directors in Northiam.
Northiam’s playing field must surely hold a world record of its own, for the number of prime ministers on it at one time. In May 1944, the troops of Southern Command, prepared for the invasion of Europe, D-Day, were visited by Winston Churchill, Mackenzie King of Canada, Sir Godfrey Huggins of what was then Southern Rhodesia and Field Marshall Jan Smuts of South Africa. This rare conjunction is recorded on the gates to the field.
Northiam is well-known to gardeners as it is where we find Great Dixter, the medieval beamed house, bought by Nathanial Lloyd in 1910, and fully restored by Sir Edwin Lutyens. To the original was added the 16th century, ‘The Old House at Home,’ found in Benenden, saved from destruction, taken apart and reassembled at Great Dixter. Nathanial’s son, Christopher, lived at Great Dixter for some 40 years, making the garden into what it is.
Christopher Lloyd turned the property over to a charitable trust in 2004, to ensure its continuity, dying in 2006. One of the popular features of the Great Dixter tearoom was the unique Sussex scone, brainchild and Mr & Mrs Cutler. They made them larger than is usual, and, amongst their additions to the standard recipe were cinnamon and honey. It has been said that they could sell more than 7,500 in a six-month period, most to Great Dixter customers.
Image Credits: CoolKeithUK CC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en, Wikimedia Commons CC .