KINGS CARPENTERS AND HERETICS BY SN HOLBOURN PART THREE: A STUDY OF THE ANCIENT ART OF THE SHIPWRIGHT

It is hence my supposition that a further connection to the Lawyer Nicholas Holborne of Chichester may yet link Richard Holborn associated with the Pett ‘Dynasty,’ and the Shipwright of Harwich Robert Holborn, working with Peter Pett to ‘inquire into the state of the Warships there’~ directly, to the Barons Dudley. Aside from this relationship to Phineas Pett, the proposition of a possible genealogical connection with the families of Nicholas of Chichester raises some daunting questions. Such has been the controversy I have discovered as apparent surrounding Richard, Sir Robert and Sir Alexander’s distinct branches of the ‘Holb(o/u)rn(e)’ family history it is my firm belief that they are kindred souls.

Nicholas Holborne is regarded as having been born in Middlesex, the most prominent and first of his sons was Robert, born in 1598, who on his admission at Lincoln’s Inn on the 9th of November 1615 is described as ‘of the City of Chichester, Sussex.’ By my reckoning Robert would also have been a nephew of William Holborne, also a Lawyer, who is described in the records of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple as from Kirby, Northants, who, it seems for a time at least, lived in Middlesex. He studied law at London’s Inner Temple, having been admitted to the Inn on the 31st of October 1607, but was never ‘called to the Bar’. William also appears to have lived or stayed in Kent, for he died in Canterbury in 1618, not so far from Chatham.

It is reasonable to assume that if a link exists between the Shipwright’s and the Lawyer’s families of Holborne it is either here, or otherwise to be found amidst the kin of the Harwich boatbuilder. This speculation does not of itself link the family of Lawyers to our family of ancient Shipwright’s, but given that one of the many Peter Pett’s also practised law, the possibility of an affiliation with the ancestors of Nicholas of Chichester is accentuated. Educational establishments however being scarce in these times, with only the two Universities in England, the practice of attending Law School was most common amongst the Gentry.

It is with this analysis freely implied, but not yet established as fact, I present my findings, insufficient as they currently are to the purposes of such learned institutions as the Collage of Arms. I nevertheless intend this text to represent the results of my research to date, which touches upon some of the most unexpected moments of general history. It is for want of the merest couple of facts that this genealogical index presently remains incomplete, a matter to be given the weightiest of thought! The dangerously romantic mystery deepens, and blends well under the lengthy shadows cast by the incredible circumstances of the known Dudley and Pett annals. With so much secrecy surrounding these legends, I seem not just to be looking for a proverbial needle in the haystack, but am also compelled to thread it. ~Arianhood, or Arachne being cited as the ‘astrological’ Goddess of the Shipwright, I should not be that surprised!

With regard to the hard facts available, in actually establishing the obvous link to this period, it is perhaps with the appearance of Solomon Holbourn that the mists of time begin to evaporate, and myth begins to assume the guise of fact. Returning briefly to Kent, a Nicholas Holbeane died at Cheriton near Folkestone, Kent in 1552 and is recorded along with John Holben/Holbeane who died at Folkestone in 1555, Jane Anne also of Folkestone (d.1554/5) and another John (Holbein/Holbeine) who is also recorded in the Index of Wills at Canterbury as having died at Folkestone in 1534, possibly the son of Joan who was married to Thomas Holberne of Hythe and who died in 1506/7. I have been inclined to accept this family were more probably closer to a known Thomas Howborne who married an Alice at Margate in 1570. No proof yet exists that this Thomas was a brother of the Harwich Boatbuilder assssociated with Peter Pett, but travel accross the Thames Estury even at this time would have been little problem for an inrtepid boatman. It is quite likely that this Thomas was the grandfather of Nathaniel Howborn who married Barbara Jordan at St Mary, Minster in Thanet in 1618, where is also recorded for 1638 the marriage of a Janna (Jane) Poulter to Nathaniel Holborn. A daughter Mary was born to them also in 1638. These may then be, if not altogether another ‘red herring’, none other than the ancestors of Thomas of Nonnington and his son Solomon, thus leading to my own earliest known forebears?

The earliest date yet available for the record of a Solomon Holbourn is that of a marriage, of the same to a Margaret (nee) Martin of Wickhambreaux, again near Canterbury in Kent which is dated 1685. It is therefore reasonable to assume that this Solomon was born around 1655~60. It is known he died in 1701/2 and so may have been born earlier. He died at Wingham. Solomon and Margaret were blessed with four known children their eldest, Peter, born in Wickhambreaux in 1685 was followed shortly by Solomon in 1688. This Solomon was to become a Tailor and lived in Margate on the Isle of Thanet. The eldest son, Peter of Wickhambreaux, born in 1685 married an Elizabeth (nee) Lawrence on the 1st of May 1709 at Wingham. It was his children who were to establish themselves in Herne, Kent ; principally being Solomon (b1711/2), who also became a Tailor, Thomas born in 1719, a Husbandsman, and Peter (b1716) of Wingham, whose trade eludes me, but whose sons were both Shipwrights. It is thus an educated guess that Peter Holbourn was a Shipwright. His brother Thomas the Herne Farmer and Solomon the Tailor most probably worked together, given the sentiment of cooperation noted in the Last Will of Solomon, the Shipwright. Thomas of Herne, Freehold Husbandman held land from a local Manor or perhaps the Cathedral at nearby Canterbury. It is likely he raised sheep, although orchards were often places of pasture for such livestock. This would certainly be of some benefit to his brother Solomon and their uncle Solomon, who were both as Tailors and Costumiers therefore to some extent involved in the Wool trade.

The first problem to be resolved in any study such as this is in overcoming the problems of such inconsistencies as recorded in the various spellings of a given name. My own name is spelt in several different ways even within a known family structure and in many cases these variations are clearly explained in terms of the common illiteracy of the day. Examples of clerical errors and omissions are regularly found the further back one looks and have even followed over into the Cencus Returns where the job has not been done properly. In addition to these complications, members of the same families are often inclined to spell their names differently, either for similar reasons or on the basis of colloquialism and local dialectic variation, thus errors are certain to occur without some care being taken. However variations may sometimes be useful, (or even deliberate), if for example, the intention is to differentiate the relationships between cousins.

Given that it is often also the case that very many people of widely differing origins may also have an adopted name, already in use by existing families. Consideration must be given to the fact that the possession of a name alone does not specifically refer an individual automatically to a place within a considered family structure. It is known, for example that very many baptisms of orphans in the London Parish of St. Andrews at Holborn have led to such adopted children being given the name ‘Andrew Holborn’. Curiously however no such name appears on the family tree of Holb(o/u)rn(e) from which I derive my ancestry, and this to date covers upward of several thousand individual names.

Nicholas ‘of Chichester’ seems to have married an Anne (nee) Lane, and studied law at Lincoln’s Inne. Nicholas Holborne was ‘specially’ admitted to Lincoln’s Inne in 1592, his Proposer and sponsor being the Bencher Anthony Death, and was first called to the Bar in 1600. So deep did these Holborne’s fall into the well of political intrigue that I feel here is the opportunity, at least to throw a line to their lost cause and attempt to reveal a little of their otherwise unknown origins.

It may not be anything other than coincidental but the ‘Knights Bachelors’ cites Richard Lane as Attorney General to the Prince for 1643/4, immediately preceding Robert Holborne. Anne Lane, Holborne’s mother perhaps also being the sister of Richard, is also said to have been the sister of John Lane, although I have no certain evidence of a connection to Richard Lane he does look likely to be Holborne’s uncle.

Greys Inne was the largest of the Elizabethan Inne’s of Court, in 1574 having 220 Fellows, The Middle Temple following with 190, The Inner Temple holding 189 and Lincoln’s Inne with 160. With something under a thousand young Gentry in all, studying law and resident in London those aspiring to become professional Lawyers would be first expected to remain in their studies for between six to nine years to then become Barristers for a further five years, before they were ready to practice law at the Courts of Westminster. A further ten years at the Bar was considered normal before these were admitted ‘Ancients’ of their given Society. During the time of the Bill for confirmation of Raleigh’s letters Patent for the colonisation of America, which went to a committee dominated by M.P.’s with a personal interest in voyages of discovery only about 40~70 practising Lawyers sat in the Commons.

Hythe, much like Shoreham and Chatham were all small settlements, and commonly suited to the boatman’s need’s, Shoreham however was in decline and Chatham under development. Nearby the site of modern Chatham’s Town Library their once stood an ancient watermill, which had existed there even before the Norman conquest of 1066. The old mill was powered by a stream that flowed down the valley to the river ‘Medway’ from it's source at what is now Luton. Over time the small brook was known as ‘Old Borne’, the River Borne or ‘the Brooke’ and may even be an origin of my own name of Holbourn. Unfortunately as the town grew with the development of the Dockyard so the stream became silted with domestic waist and slowly over the centuries deteriorated into what was no more than an open sewer and was eventually capped in 1824, to later become the basis for the towns drainage system. 2

On the South Coast, and also outside the Confederation of the ‘Cinque Ports’, along with Arundel and Chichester, Shoreham was nevertheless a thriving centre for commerce even before the ‘Middle Ages’. Shoreham had fallen into considerable decline by 1586. Camden wrote that year, ‘The commodiousness of the haven by reason of banks of sand cast up at the rivers mouth has quite gone : whereas in foregoing times it was wont to carry ships with full sail as far as Bramber, which is a good way from the sea . . .’ Before the expansion of the Iron Industry of the Weald by far the most important industry of Sussex was that of Shipbuilding. The Shipwrights were able to rely on the Oak of the Weald which was generally regarded as the finest timber in all Europe. Chichester, not so far from Shoreham was from its earliest days, with its extensive recorded history also a place of some importance with reference as a harbour of continuous Shipbuilding. 3

Although what then remained of the still busy quays and warehouses of nearby Smallhythe burnt down in 1514, it was the port and harbour of that town, handling the extensive trade in wool and iron from the Weald, it’s location two miles south of Tenderten marked by Tenterden Tower with it’s beacon flare at night4 was still a major Shipbuilding Port in the 1540’s. A Royal Dockyard existed at Smallhythe even as early as 1400. It is thought to have been capable of providing access for the building of ships of up to 1000 tons. Such a ship as this was the ‘Jesus’ built, at Smallhythe on the command of Henry Vth. This undertaking may have been the reason the New Romney town ship was built hard by, in 1401. Aside from a number of barges, also recorded the 40 ton Royal Balinger ‘Gabriel Harfleur’ came in for repairs sometime during 1410~20. The King’s accounts verify that many ships were constructed at this site, employing the methods of the time ; that is short plank clinker built hulls strengthened by roves and nails, erected on slipways facing the shoreline which extended along the banks of a wide estuary, now silted up. Smallhythe was situated on the north bank of the ‘Reding Creek’ with easy access to the sea, and with the riverside’s shelter, so that, as in the 1480’s it was still possible for Henry VIIths ‘Regent’ of 1000 tons to be built at Reding.

Smallhythe estuary gradually disappeared much like the surrounding areas so affected from Winchealsea to Chichester and further round, along the Kent coast at Sandwich and the Isle of Thanet. A happy conjunction of plentiful supplies of wood and the then suitable coastline married with the traditional occupation of ironworking made this an ideal sight for such operations. Ironworking even then being integral to the process of Shipbuilding, as has been demonstrated by the many thousands of ‘roves’ or mediaeval rivets used to hold firm the nails used in the construction of these ships, found at excavations in the area of the ancient Dockyard. The sheer diversity of types of ships nails and roves, of which more have been uncovered here by archaeologists5 than at any other comparative English site demonstrate that many different types of ships were constructed here and other evidence indicates that ships were also dismantled on the site.

Brickmaking was also carried out around the medieval bay providing the brick that was to be used as ballast, which had a diversity of purpose on ships of the period. Although popular elsewhere, even in the later Elizabethan period bricks never really ‘caught on’ in the Weald, as can be seen from an architectural study of the houses of the area which were nearly all made of wood as represented by the recorded and surviving medieval structures of the area. The road from Tenterten to the Smallhythe Bay itself developed into a busy town supporting a large migratory workforce of Caulkers and Ships Carpenters, who would not be resident in any one place long enough to be required to pay any taxes. Shipbuilding continued entirely by hand, crafted in the mind of the Shipwright, with his skill and learning, which as such was an esoteric art.

The tools of an Elizabethan Shipwright included the ‘Adze’, which might be used to level off the wooden planks of the construction, yet so skilled at this technique, had the craftsmen become that it was practice to produce as smooth and level a surface with this tool, as a Carpenter would come to know by the use of the plane. The methods of securing the planking and other timbers had evolved, to then be secured by ‘trenails’ ; the wooden pegs, that might be anything up to three feet long replacing the nails and roves seen in the reign of Henry Vth. The trenails were fastened into place with the aid of a tool named an ‘auger’, one of the Shipwright’s essential tools, so valuable in fact that one Shipwright is recorded as declaring that it’s inventor should have been deified!

The Parish register of St.Mary’s Maritime Church, Chatham in Kent, documents a Sarah as the daughter of John Holborn, who was born in 1626, confirming the existence of another John Holborn who died in 1667, the same year in fact as Richard’s widow Margaret, and Elizabeth Holborn who had been acting as a servant to a Mrs. Loorens. Richard’s nephew also named Richard mentions in his will of 1588 a Samuel and a William as children of his uncle but Richard is not cited as having a brother named John, whom I suspect to have been the father of the Shipwright John Q. Holbourn, and the son of that other Richard. By reference to the Chatham parish Churchwarden accounts it is clear that our cousin of Phineas Pett named Richard (Hoborn) was to to hold the post of Churchwarden from 1634 to 1643, curiously as was his son in law Joseph Pett. Richard was to die in 1654, a year after, and possibly as a result of the stress caused by the ‘Adderley Inquest’ at Chatham, (a matter covered below).

So if John of Shoreham did move, as may be suggested, from Sussex to Chatham in Kent in the 1580’s~90’s, he clearly already had ‘kinsmen’ living nearby. The parish records show the birth of a Samuel, the son of Waltare Holborn, baptised in 1592. His father was buried in Chatham in 1594. In 1588 Watare had wed to Susan (nee) Bromman and in the following year they had a Daughter Marye Holborn. Watare was born in 1564, that he died at the young age of thirty it is natural to assume at least two of his children may have been born as twins, simply because he had five known children in this short period, but this is not exceptional. It is curious however that both he and his unnamed brother, whom I am content to think of as Robert (of Harwich), or more probably his son appear to have died unseasonably young. Chatham parish records of this period are in such poor condition that little more can be determined from them as to the relationships of these people. The current estimated cost of restoration to the earliest of the Chatham Parish records being, I am told currently around £14,000/~. In taking this aspect of the family geneology further I have studied a number of wills of the period relating to Chatham and Erith, where it appears the decendants of Robert of Harwich may have settled. Erith was a small rural town near the dockyards, and therefore a suitable place for a Shipwright to live. From these wills it is clear that an Edward Howborne worked as a shipwright, his mother was widdowed in or before 1562, but no reference to his father is here found, although an uncle named Walter had migrated to nearby Chatham, he, it appears was the father of the Shipwright Richard, whose life we know a little more about and is covered below.

From the will of Richard, the above mentioned Shipwright, a quaint and intriguing description of that area of Chatham then part of the Dockyard, where he and his family clearly lived survives. it reads ; ‘Item, I give and bequeath unto Margaret Holborne my said deare and loving wife during the terme of her natural life or continuing my widdow all the leases that I shall possess at the day of my death with the appurtenences belonging unto them and keeping them in good repayre and paying the duties and rents belonging to them and after the death or marriage of my said wife I give the said leases and tenure of yeares of the said ould house I now dwell in as it is now fenced with the brewing house and garden joyning it with the belle now standing unto Sarah Marsh during her natural life, keeping it and the fence thereunto belonging in good repayre maintaining halfe the wharfe in the millponde from the middle of it eastwards unto the fence of James Marsh her husband, she her heirs and assigns to have ingresse, egresse, and regresse through that way unto the waterside or water gate at all times when they shall have occasion paying unto Master Robinson of Rochester twelve pounds yearly if it be demanded and after the death of my said daughter Sarah Marsh I give the remainder of the tenure of yeares in that lease which shall be unexpired unto my said grandchild Bethiah Marsh, the daughter of James Marsh of Chatham.

He continues, referring to his grandson Thomas Gardiner, to bequeath part of his house ‘as it shall then be found at my wives death and mine’ built upon Master Robinsons lease and as it is passed over to him and his by writing after my wives death and mine as he shall then finde it he maintaining halfe the wharfe to the Millponde from the middle of that wharfe to the greate Gate Westward and the ould house I now dwell in to maintain the other pair of that wharfe for theire ingresse, egresse and regresse as aforesaid maintaining the fences as it is now situate and halfe the charge of the pumpe at all times when occasion is and paying him or her yearly four pence if it be lawfully demanded. Concerning his grandson Peter Pett, the son of Joseph Pett he leaves ‘all that ground which I hold by lease by Master Robinson of Rochester’ ~ requiring ‘them that shall hold the lease of the said ould house which I now dwell in’ to maintain ‘that part of the house and garden thereunto belonging, likewise the fence from the lane to the well and so a bound (of) his garden to the way leading to the waterside with halfe the expense of the pumpe being given before to his brother Thomas Gardner. concluding to Berthia Marsh, daughter of James Marsh ‘all my messuage in Chatham with the appurtenences which I hold of the Bretheren of St. Bartholomew.’