Catalogue description ARCHIVE OF THE DYKE FAMILY OF FRANT, WALDRON AND KENT AND THE PENKHERST FAMILY OF MAYFIELD AND BUXTED

This record is held by East Sussex and Brighton and Hove Record Office (ESBHRO)

Details of DYK
Reference: DYK
Title: ARCHIVE OF THE DYKE FAMILY OF FRANT, WALDRON AND KENT AND THE PENKHERST FAMILY OF MAYFIELD AND BUXTED
Description:

The Dyke (Hutton) MSS

 

This collection is part of the family papers of the Huttons of Marske Hall, Yorkshire, and relates to the Kent and Sussex estates of the family. The major part of the family papers relate to the Yorkshire estates and are deposited in the North Riding County Record Office as the D'Arcy Hutton MSS. Before this deposit, at the request of the owner Mr. J. T. D'Arcy Hutton, Messrs. Christie Manson and Woods had removed the archives from Marske Hall and sold some items of obvious historical interest such as the letters of Archbishop Matthew Hutton, and other Yorkshire material. This explains the disorder in which the collection was returned to Yorkshire

 

The Dyke (Hutton) MSS have now been sorted into two groups of title deeds and papers concerning the Dyke and Penkherst families. Their estates cover the north part of Sussex and the Kent and Sussex border. The history of both families throws some light on the material in the collection and on how these Southern properties became part of the estates of the Yorkshire family of D'Arcy Hutton

 

Documents in the Collection

 

Not all the items in the collection can be sorted into the two family groups. The provenance of the three Court Rolls of the 7th and 8th Barons Bergavenny, 1586-1594, (DYK/1121-1123) is a mystery. The only clue is provided by the endorsement "These Rolls were given me by my Cosin Mr. Henery Shelley of Lwys Novbr the 8th 1671" [21]. The Court Rolls have been put in a separate section at the end of the calendar. Among the documents which deserve special mention are the articles of agreement, 1676 (DYK/613) whereby Prince Rupert, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, Sir Thomas Chichely, Master of the Ordnance, granted to John Browne of Horsmonden, Kent, gunfounder, a sole deputation for making "Iron ordnance" and shot according to a special invention, the monopoly of which was granted to Prince Rupert in 1671. There are several interesting deeds (DYK/610-614) in the section on Dyke ironworks and receipts for ordnance (DYK/1079-1083) relating to John Browne. DYK/603, 1573, an indenture between Christopher Darell and Thomas Dyke, gives details of the provision of wood for making iron and of payment made in iron bars. DYK/609, 1653, a lease from William Dyke I to Thomas Foley of London, esq, Alexander Courthope of Horsmonden, Kent, esq, Herbert Springate and Edward Herbert describes the forge at Frant and gives a list of tools [22]

 

The medieval deeds of Frant manor include DYK/14, 1408, which gives an account of the stock and implements on the farm and some interesting husbandry clauses for this early date. DYK/280, 1378, among the deeds of Sandhurst in Lamberhurst, contains husbandry clauses on thatching and on the manuring of lands. Several of the Mayfield deeds (DYK/706, 720, 727, 728, 735, 736, 738, 746) have some bearing on the history of enclosures in this area; they show that the common of Mayfield manor was being enclosed early in the Seventeenth Century after the sale of the waste lands in 1597 by Sir Henry Neville, Lord of the Manor of Mayfield, to Thomas Aynscombe, esq [23]

 

[1] T. W. Horsfield, History of Sussex, vol.1 (1835) p.407

 

[2] The third wife, who died without issue, was Anne Wood

 

[3] H. S. Eeles, Frant, a parish history (1947) p.40

 

[4] E. Straker, Wealden Iron (1931), pp.266-267

 

[5] C. Pullein, Rotherfield: The Story of some Wealden Manors (1928), p.431

 

[6] See pedigree opposite p.40 in Eeles, History of Frant

 

[7] Dictionary of National Biography

 

[8] Eeles, Frant, pedigree facing p.40 gives the date of Elizabeth's death as 28 March 1700, but there must be an error in the dating

 

[9] Pullein, Rotherfield, pp.390, 398

 

[10] North Riding County Record Office, ZAZ.2

 

[11] North Riding County Record Office, ZAZ.2

 

[12] East Sussex Record Office, Mayfield parish register, PAR 422/1/1.2 fol.43

 

[13] East Sussex Record Office, Mayfield parish register, PAR 422/1/1.2 fol.43

 

[14] Eeles, Frant, p.41

 

[15] E. M. Bell-Irving, Mayfield: the story of an old Wealden village (1903), p.82

 

[16] Manuscript notebook 'A' of John Attree in Sussex Archaeological Society Library, Barbican House, Lewes

 

[17] Straker, Wealden Iron, p.288

 

[18] Inquisition Post Mortem. Public Record Office, C.470. DYK/46, quoted in Sussex Archaeological Collections, vol.52, p.124

 

[19] W. A. Shaw, The Knights of England

 

[20] Horsfield, History of Sussex, vol.1, p.366

 

[21] W. Berry, Pedigrees of the Families in the County of Sussex (1830), p.65

 

[22] Printed in Sussex Archaeological Collections, vol.32, p26

 

[23] E. M. Bell-Irving, Mayfield: the story of an old Wealden village, (1903), p.159

 

Table of contents

 

Dyke Property - Frant

 

Manor of Frant, 1382-1656, DYK/1 - 20

 

Manor of Derondale, 1437-1675, DYK/21 - 38

 

Gastock Mead, 1572, DYK/39 - 42

 

Palmers, Dodherst and Sunningleigh, 1581-1671, DYK/43 - 60

 

Leopards in Pembury, 1614, DYK/61 - 62

 

Syninglies, 1606-1626, DYK/63 - 66

 

Benhall, 1633-1634, DYK/67 - 68

 

Benhall Pond, 1574-1634, DYK/69 - 72

 

Freebench, 1576-1702, DYK/73 - 92

 

Frant Manor: Copies of Court Rolls, 1599-1702, DYK/93 - 106

 

Hothfield, Sharnefold, Smythcot, Brownegate & Oldfields, Little Reed, 1473-1637, DYK/107 - 115

 

Brownegate and Oldfields, 1601-1661, DYK/116 - 121

 

Cornehill, 1535-1627, DYK/122 - 162

 

Frenchfields and Brestfields, 1522-1624, DYK/163 - 172

 

Holmes, 1457-1645, DYK/173 - 187

 

Orgars, 1427-1642, DYK/188 - 196

 

Orgatts, part of, 1632, DYK/197 - 200

 

Faulkners, 1574-1633, DYK/201 - 215

 

Highfield, 1622-1664, DYK/216 - 221

 

Upper Wood, Ellyes, the Clayes, 1623-1699, DYK/222 - 231

 

Clayes, 1659-1660, DYK/232 - 236

 

Marriotts Croft, Breechers Forge, 1589-1668, DYK/237 - 246

 

Stockland and Goodwynscroft, 1602-1650, DYK/247 - 258

 

Miscellaneous leases in Frant and Rotherfield, 1659-1675, DYK/259 - 263

 

Dyke Property - Lamberhurst, Kent

 

Sandhurst, 1314-1490, 1572-1671, DYK/264 - 309

 

Dungates and Kyngewodes, 1421-1583, DYK/310 - 323

 

Lands of John Pawley, 1640-1696, DYK/324 - 327

 

Whitelands and Mowsell Field, 1662-1673, DYK/328 - 338

 

Dyke Property - Brenchley & Pembury, Kent

 

Sinderheld and Chitecroste lands, 1344-1398, DYK/339 - 340

 

Slower, Gedgis and Spyrches, 1461-1667, DYK/341 - 357

 

Miscellaneous Pembury deeds, 1550-1669, DYK/358 - 360

 

Dyke Property - Rotherfield (Maynards Lands)

 

Falkelegh, 1422-1614, DYK/361 - 365

 

Falkeleys, 1461-1597, DYK/366 - 370

 

Clayland, 1439-1576, DYK/371 - 379

 

Hartes, 1625-1630, DYK/380 - 385

 

Ferlings of French and Stuttiars, 1621-1628, DYK/386 - 397

 

Westfield, Perryfield, 1650-1651, DYK/398 - 399

 

Brickoast Mead, Marleberie Wood in Brenchley & Pembury, 1580-1676, DYK/400 - 414

 

The Pyke, 1461-1596, DYK/415 - 418

 

Rotherfield Manor, 1357-1608, DYK/419 - 461

 

Dyke Property - Wadhurst

 

Freakland, Courthopp Field, 1561-1641, 1651-1684, DYK/462 - 514

 

Carters, 1622-1653, DYK/515 - 537

 

Forgemead, Scalemead, 1640-1692, DYK/538 - 543

 

Dyke Property - Miscellaneous Kent Lands

 

Tonbridge, 1448-1682, DYK/544 - 563

 

Newchurch, 1487-1647, DYK/564 - 581

 

Tudeley, Hadlow and Capel, 1618-1676, DYK/582 - 586

 

Speldhurst, 1527-1650, DYK/587 - 597

 

Dyke (Hutton) Property

 

1720-1777, DYK/598 - 601

 

1809, DYK/1126

 

Dyke - Ironworks

 

Derondale forge, Veredge forge, Chingley furnace, Horsmonden and Brenchley furnaces, Hawkhurst furnace, Bayham forge, Hamsell furnace, 1573-1677, DYK/602 - 614

 

Penkherst Property - Buxted & Waldron

 

Manor of Buxted, 1354-1684, DYK/615 - 628

 

Leppards and Cunnings in Waldron, 1624-1687, DYK/629 - 644

 

Penkherst Property - Wadhurst & Rotherfield

 

Bondland in Agotts Yard, 1641-1652, DYK/645 - 648

 

The Combe, 1501-1598, DYK/649 - 653

 

Bedfield Hill, 1616-1682, DYK/654 - 662

 

Miscellaneous Wadhurst lands, 1610-1678, DYK/663 - 676

 

Land in Rotherfield, 1682, DYK/677

 

Penkherst Property - Mayfield

 

Sharenden Manor, 1570-1681, DYK/678 - 686

 

Frenches, 1497-1642, DYK/687 - 692

 

Trodgers, 1594-1676, DYK/693 - 695

 

Sunt, 1608-1651, DYK/696 - 699

 

Longeham, 1628-1651, DYK/700 - 707

 

Spode, 1615-1656, DYK/708 - 711

 

Miscellaneous Mayfield lands, 1599-1613, 1637-1678, DYK/712 - 749

 

Penkherst Property - Various Parishes

 

Cotyngs in Lamberhurst, Kent, 1651, DYK/750

 

Chailey, 1473-1604, DYK/751 - 761

 

Wartling, Bexhill, and Pevensey, 1651-1653, DYK/762 - 764

 

Miscellaneous Kent lands, 1429-1655, DYK/765 - 779

 

Penkherst - Ironworks

 

Freshfield forge, Coushopley furnace, Brookland forge, 1603-1656, DYK/780 - 784

 

Penkherst - Sales

 

Sales, 1653-1678, DYK/785 - 792

 

Receipts, 1677, DYK/793 - 796

 

Penkherst: Mortgages & Debts

 

Debts and proposed sales, 1656-1677, DYK/797 - 810

 

Mortgages to Cooke, 1652-1681, DYK/811 - 817

 

Mortgages, 1654-1684, DYK/818 - 835

 

Trust deeds of the Marsham family, 1684-1696, DYK/836 - 843

 

Penkherst: Litigation

 

Sandford v Penkherst, 1642-1683, DYK/844 - 850

 

Westall v Penkherst, 1650-1662, DYK/851 - 872

 

Cooke v Penkherst, 1651-1678, DYK/873 - 877

 

Penkherst v Yarway, 1653-1661, DYK/878 - 881

 

Morgan v Penkherst, 1656-1677, DYK/882 - 891

 

Penkherst v Lindsey, 1661, DYK/892 - 896

 

Penkherst v Cambell, 1661-1678, DYK/897 - 906

 

Hammond v Pettitt, 1663, DYK/907 - 909

 

Penkherst v Woodgate, 1676, DYK/910 - 913

 

Dawson v Penkherst, 1677-1685, DYK/914 - 947

 

Miscellaneous legal papers, 1654-1662, DYK/948 - 954

 

Copies of deeds, 1652-?1677, DYK/955 - 960

 

Dyke (Hutton): Personal & Family

 

Levinz family trusts and mortgages, 1678-1694, DYK/961 - 980

 

Dyke family settlements, 1613-1617, DYK/981 - 985

 

Marriage settlements, 1626-1675, DYK/986 - 1001

 

Wills, 1513-1705, DYK/1002 - 1032

 

Dykes as debtors and trustees, 1567-1683, DYK/1033 - 1041

 

Dyke: public offices, 1609-1677, DYK/1042 - 1047

 

Miscellanea

 

Fines, 1594-1695, DYK/1048 - 1058

 

Dyke bonds, 1605-1638, DYK/1059 - 1063

 

Penkherst bonds, 1653-1688, DYK/1064 - 1071

 

Miscellaneous bonds, 1572-1658, DYK/1072 - 1075

 

Miscellaneous documents, 1526-1608, DYK/1076 - 1078

 

Receipts for iron, 1677-1680, DYK/1079 - 1083

 

Miscellaneous receipts, c.1618-1731, DYK/1084 - 1112

 

List of evidences, 1741, DYK/1113

 

List of deeds, 1677-1694, DYK/1114 - 1120

 

Abergavenny Court Rolls, DYK/1121 - 1125

Date: 1314 - 1809
Held by: East Sussex and Brighton and Hove Record Office (ESBHRO), not available at The National Archives
Language: English
Creator:

Dyke family of Frant, East Sussex and Waldron, East Sussex, and Kent

Penkherst family of Mayfield, East Sussex and Buxted, East Sussex

Physical description: 18 Series
Access conditions:

Open to consultation, unless otherwise stated

Immediate source of acquisition:

Transferred from the North Riding of Yorkshire County Record Office in December 1951

Subjects:
  • East Sussex
  • Kent
  • Land tenure
Administrative / biographical background:

The Dyke Family

 

The Dyke family built their fortune on ironfounding in the Sussex Weald. The first prominent member of the family was Thomas Dyke, described variously as of Horsmonden or Pembury, Kent. Several deeds (DYK/602-607) show him buying the hammer forge at Derondale, Frant, and leasing Serenden furnace in Horsmonden and Brenchley, Kent, from the Darells, another famous family of ironfounders. The family had rights in the woodland of the Manor of Frant from 1596 (DYK/17), and in 1656 Thomas Baker of Frant sold the manor to William Dyke 2. With this sale medieval title deeds of the manor dating from 1382 (DYK/1-20) came into possession of the family. The Dykes lived at Newhouse in Frant [1]. Thomas Dyke bought various properties, among them a messuage called Sandhurst in Lamberhurst in 1606; this has a series of medieval title deeds from 1314 to 1490 (DYK/264-296). In 1609 this Thomas Dyke acted as collector for the third subsidy of James I in part of Kent: his subsidy roll is DYK/1043

 

Thomas Dyke married three times, but the names of his first two wives are unknown [2]. By his first wife he had two sons, Thomas Dyke of Horam, from whom the Horam branch of the family descended, and Robert Dyke of Westwick, Yorkshire. By his second marriage Thomas had three sons, William Dyke 1, Richard Dyke, citizen and grocer of London, and John Dyke 1. Little is known of John Dyke 1 for he does not appear in the printed family pedigrees, but he is included in a settlement made by Thomas Dyke on his sons in 1613 (DYK/981). William Dyke 1 became the head of the Frant branch of the family on his father's death in 1615. He was inducted vicar of Frant in 1603, and in 1604 he married Sarah Newman [3]. Robert Newman of Tudeley, Kent, clerk, who is a party to several deeds with William Dyke may well have been a relative of Sarah Newman

 

William Dyke 1 did not find ironfounding incompatible with his clerical duties, and he seems to have used the income from his ironworks in buying up lands in the Frant area. He bought various properties including the forge at Benhall in Frant from Whittingham Fogge, son of Richard Fogge, an ironfounder (DYK/43-72) [4]

 

Another group of lands was brought temporarily into the Dyke family by the marriage of Mary, daughter of William Dyke 1, with Richard Maynard of Rotherfield in 1626 (their marriage settlement is DYK/986). There were several branches of the Maynard family in the Rotherfield District. This Richard Maynard was the second son of Richard Maynard of Copyhold Farm in Rotherfield. He died in 1631, aged 29, leaving considerable property in Rotherfield (DYK/361-399) [5]. He left a son William who died some time after 1637 and before 1650 (see DYK/988, 991), and a daughter Elizabeth. Mary Maynard, Richard's widow, married secondly Samuel Bridge of Great Bursted, Essex, clerk, son of Samuel Bridge, the elder, and they had several children. The later history of the Maynard lands is obscure, but it would appear from DYK/398 and 399 that some of them returned to other members of the Maynard family. The lands, which Mary Maynard purchased as a widow in her own right, remained with the Bridge family according to the settlement of 1650 (DYK/991)

 

Three of the sons of William Dyke 1, died in their early manhood, Thomas in 1627, John 2 in 1637, and Robert in 1644 [6]. William Dyke 2 was the only surviving son and he married Elizabeth, daughter of John Cooper Penkherst, in 1651; this match provided the link that was later to bring the Penkherst lands to the Dykes. William Dyke 1 died in 1659, and his son William 2 was a justice of the peace in 1657 and 1677 (see DYK/1046, 1047) but few of the family papers touch on his other activities. He evidently carried on the ironfounding business, for in 1668 he entered into a partnership with George Browne, Alexander Courthope and John Browne of Horsmonden, Kent, (DYK/611). However the Dykes lost some of their prosperity during the lifetimes of William Dyke 2, and his son John, but recovered by means of a good match between John Dyke 3 and Judith Levinz. Judith Levinz, daughter of Humphrey Levinz of London, was a member of a rich and prominent family. Baptist Levinz, a party to their marriage settlement (DYK/961) was then White's Professor of Moral Philosophy at Oxford and later became Bishop of Sodor and Man. His brother Cresswell Levinz was knighted in 1678 and appointed Attorney General in 1679 [7]. Humphrey, the father, and Cresswell: Levinz assisted John Dyke 3 by buying up many of the mortgages on the lands which he had settled on his wife Judith on their marriage (DYK/961-980). There were three children of the marriage who all died young; Humphrey in 1685, Elizabeth in 1700, and Dorothy Dyke in 1705 (DYK/1031, 1032) [8], so it was the two sisters of John Dyke 3 who became co-heiresses to the estate after his death in 1709. The eldest, Sarah Dyke, married Humphrey Fowle of Rotherfield [9]. The pedigrees given in Berry, County Genealogies...Sussex, 1830, p.196, and in Eeles, Frant, facing p.40, are incorrect in their statement that Elizabeth married Humphrey Fowle. Further proof is provided by legal papers now in the North Riding County Record Office of a case in 1711 between John Hutton and his wife Dorothy, v Humphrey Fowle of Rotherfield, only son of Sarah Fowle, née Dyke, deceased, eldest sister of John Dyke [10]

 

The younger sister, Dorothy, married John Hutton of Marske, Yorkshire. The Huttons were a distinguished family. Their founder was Matthew Hutton (1529-1606), Archbishop of York. John and Dorothy had a son Matthew, who in his turn became Archbishop of York and was translated to Canterbury a few months before his death

 

John Dyke 3 died, as mentioned above, in 1709, and in his will, dated 29 May 1708 [11] he left the residue of his personal estate and all his real estate to his daughter Dorothy Hutton. According to the legal papers cited above [11]. Humphrey Fowle tried to contest the will claiming that if it were proved invalid then he should be entitled to half the property. The papers relating to the management by the Huttons of their Kent and Sussex estates are in the North Riding County Record Office, and there are only four Hutton deeds in the collection in the East Sussex Record Office (DYK/598-601). By an Act of 1809 (49 Geo.III, c.164) (DYK/1126), the Hutton lands in Kent and Sussex were to be sold off because, as the Act relates, the estates "lie detached and separate from each other, and are all at a great and inconvenient distance from the family seat of Marske aforesaid". The Manor of Frant and other lands in the parish were sold to John Jeffreys Pratt, 2nd Earl and 1st Marquess Camden in 1810

 

The Penkherst Family

 

The Penkherst family were connected with the Dykes by the marriage of William Dyke 2 to Elizabeth, daughter of John Cooper Penkherst in 1651. On the death of Ferdinando Penkherst, the last surviving male of the family in 1708 [13], several of the Penkherst estates including Earls and Bassetts in Wadhurst and Little Trodgers in Mayfield, were devised to Mrs. Dorothy Hutton [14]. This explains the presence of the Penkherst title deeds in the collection

 

The Penkhersts of Mayfield were an old Sussex yeoman family [15], there was another branch at Lindfield [16]. There is a reference to a John Penkherst in 1461 (DYK/366) and the pedigree can be traced back to John Penkherst of Mayfield, whose will dated 1513 is DYK/1002. The Penkhersts, like the Dykes, were ironfounders and in 1603 Stephen Penkherst 1 owned Freshfield forge in Horsted Keynes and Lindfield. Another Penkherst forge was at Coushopley on the borders of Mayfield and Wadhurst [17]

 

The principal estates lay in Buxted, Waldron, Mayfield and Wadhurst. Stephen Penkherst 1 who died in 1646, probably bought most of these lands in his lifetime. He married Mary, daughter of John Cooper, and they had a son John Cooper Penkherst and a daughter Elizabeth, who married Henry Sandford of Bobbing, Kent. John Cooper Penkherst predeceased his father in 1631, leaving a son Stephen as his heir, aged only 2 years and 4 days [18]. Stephen Penkherst 1 must have left his affairs in a bad state, for his young heir was burdened by debt from the moment he came of age. Stephen Penkherst 1 left many generous bequests in his will, including a legacy of £1,000 to his daughter Elizabeth (DYK/844). His daughter Elizabeth Sandford and her husband were to act as guardians to the young Stephen 2. There was ill feeling between Stephen Penkherst 2, his son John, and the Sandfords, to judge by the case in Chancery between them (DYK/847-850) so possibly the latter had made a profit out of their guardianship of Stephen

 

By the age of 25 Stephen Penkherst 2 was in debt to the tune of £12,493 according to the schedule of his debts attached to an agreement with his creditors (DYK/825). In 1655 his goods and chattels were seized to pay these debts. Another agreement with his creditors (DYK/827) states that his lands were to be sold "and the said Stephen set at liberty, beinge nowe in prison at the suit of one Garrett". Fortunately Stephen married Elizabeth, daughter of the wealthy John Marsham of Cuxton, Kent. The Marshams, among them Ferdinando Marsham who was esquire of the body to Charles II, and Sir Robert Marsham of Bush Hall, Hertfordshire, supported the Penkhersts in their litigation with their creditors, and helped to buy off several mortgages

 

Stephen Penkherst 2 died in 1657 and his eldest son John died unmarried before 1681. The second son Ferdinando is described as Sir Ferdinando Penkherst in Horsfield, History of Sussex, vol.1, p.366, but the Penkhersts never achieved this honour [19]. For his bequests to Dorothy Hutton on his death in 1708 see above. He left the Manor of Buxted to Humphrey Fowle of Rotherfield [20]

Link to NRA Record:

Have you found an error with this catalogue description?

Help with your research