Leslie Morgan would like to wish everyone a very happy new year.
He has kindly provided us with a list of the tombstones in the churchyard which may prove useful.
This has been copied and is on the noticeboard at the back of church.
Another article by Leslie follows:
THE PARISH OF KEMSING WITHOUT
Over the past three months we have been discussing the findings of two Rochester Consistory Courts held on 11th April and 26th July 1564 and amongst the muniments of South Ash Manor is a certified description of the Parish of Kemsing as set out in an award of J.M. Herbert in 1840 and the parish of Kemsing Without remained up to the Kent Boundary revision of 1934 when it was incorporated into the Parish of Ash.
COPY CERTIFIED DESCRIPTION OF THE BOUNDARY OF THE PARISH OF KEMSING AS SET OUT IN THE AWARD OF J.M. HERBERT, ESQUIRE ASSISTANT TITHE COMMISSIONER 1840.
THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT I JOHN MAURICE HERBERT, Esquire an Assistant Tithe Commissioner have on the day of the date hereof made and published my Award concerning the Boundaries of the Parish of Kemsing in the County of Kent and particularly concerning the Boundaries of the Parish of Kemsing , particularly concerning that portion of the Boundary of the said Parish which circumscribes a certain detached or isolated portion of the said Parish lying at a considerable distance from the residue of the said Parish and being entirely surrounded by lands in the Parishes of Ash and Stanstead in the same county and that I have thereby adjudged and determined that the said Boundary of the said detached or isolated portion of the said Parish of Kemsing commences at a certain Boundary Post marked “KS” and standing within and near the south east angle of a piece of land belonging to Messrs. John Wild and William Wild and now in the occupation of Mr. William Hodsoll called Long Hook Fields the said Boundary Post being distant Sixteen and a half yards or thereabouts from the eastern fence and Twenty eight and a half yards or thereabouts from the southern fence of Long Hook Field and proceeds thence in a straight line in a north westerly direction to the north east angle of a piece of land called Little Carthouse Field then in the same last mentioned direction along the southern fence of Long Hook Field aforesaid to the extremity thereof thence in the same last mentioned direction along the southern fence of a piece of land called Bottom Hook Field also belonging to the said John Wild and William Wild and in the occupation of the said William Hodsoll to a certain other Boundary Post marked with the letters “AK” standing in or near to the said last mentioned fence and distant Sixty nine yards from the South west angle of Bottom Hook Field aforesaid thence in a straight line in a North easterly direction across Bottom Hook Field aforesaid to the Gate post standing near the South west angle of a piece of land called Upper Hook Field thence in a North easterly direction along the Western Fence of Upper Hook Field aforesaid to the extremity thereof thence in the same last mentioned direction along the Western fence of a certain Wood or Shaw called Upper Hook Shaw to a Yew Post standing at or near to the North west angle of the same Shaw thence in a South easterly direction along the Northern fence of the said Shaw to the extremity thereof All which two said last mentioned pieces of land called Upper Hook Fields and Upper Hook Shaw belong to the said John Wild and William Wild and are now in the occupation of Mr. Richard Rogers thence in a North easterly direction along the Western fence of a piece of land called Seven Acres Field belonging to and in the occupation of Richard Rogers to a Yew Post standing in or near to the said fence distant One hundred and Fifty five yards or thereabouts from its South western extremity thence in a straight line in a South easterly direction across Seven Acres Field aforesaid to a certain other Yew Post standing in or near the Eastern fence of the same field and distant One hundred and Sixty yards or thereabouts from the South east angle thereof thence in a South easterly direction along the Eastern fence of Long Hook Field aforesaid to a certain other Yew Post standing in or near to the said fence and distant One hundred and Sixty six yards or thereabouts from the North east angle thereof thence in a straight line in the same last mentioned direction across Long Hook Field aforesaid to the said point where the same Boundary Line now under discription commences.
AND IN HAVE THEREBY DECLARED that all the lands included within and circumscribed by the Boundary Line which I have hereinbefore described amounting in the whole to Forty Seven Acres three roods and twelve perches statute measure or thereabouts lies and is wholly within the said Parish of Kemsing and that no other portion of the said Parish of Kemsing lies detached from the residue of the said Parish and interspersed among the lands of the said Parish of Stanstead.
AND FURTHER I HAVE THEREBY DECLARED that the several fields or pieces of land respectively called Six Acres Field South Ash Farm Homestead and Garden with the two Orchards thereunto adjoining Garden Field Great South Field Little South Field and Great Bouts Hole or such parts thereof as are not within the said Parish of Ash all which last mentioned lands and premises also belong to the said John Wild and William Wild and are in the occupation of the said William Hodsoll together with the residue of Long Hook Field aforesaid and not included within the Boundary line hereuntobefore described are within the said Parish of Stanstead.
WITNESS MY HAND THIS Fourteenth day of January in the year of our Lord One thousand Eight hundred and Forty.
J.M. Herbert (signed)