NORTHIAM

Another village to explore further at a later date - specifically Great Dixter house and gardens. 

Domesday Book, A.D. 1087, Hiham ; 1 100, Iham, Ihamme, 
North Hiham ; 1262, Norgiam ; 1288, Northyamme ; 1538, 
Northyam; 1580, Nordiham ; 1653, Norsham ; 1695, 
Nordium, Norgem. 

It is one of the many churches in Sussex and Kent set on 
high places," and it is possible, and even probable, that it 
took the place of a wooden Saxon church built on the site of 
an earlier pagan shrine, a holy stone, or a holy well. 

The above is an excerpt from 'The Little Guide to Northiam' published in 1928.

'Smugglers Cottage' - reputed to be the smallest house in England. I've photographed my little 125cc motorcycle next to it for scale. 

It is a real house that someone once lived in, not a playhouse for a child.  It was built in the 18^th century and  it is said that a family of five once lived there and it was one of the hiding places for smugglers connected by a web of secret passages.

St. Mary's church. From 1583 to 1914 a member of the Frewen family or their heirs the Lord family, was rector, except for a brief period in the late C17.  Their Puritan sympathies are shown by the name of the most eminent member, Accepted Frewen.  However, like most of his relatives, he conformed and in 1660 became Archbishop of York.

There are few tales of ghosts in the village despite its great age, but former organist Mr Holdstock had two strange experiences while practising in the church. He heard men’s voices in the vestry though he knew no-one was there and the outer door was locked; and on another occasion when he was playing there came the strong fragrance of arum lilies, though there were no flowers to account for the heady scent.

The parish church of St Mary is notable primarily for the Frewen family chapel, with its variety of wall-mounted Victorian monuments. There are also a pair of early Tudor memorial brasses set into the chancel floor.

The first mention of a church at Northiam comes from the 11th century, though it seems almost certain that there was an earlier church on this ridge-top spot. It seems that the church was granted by Robert of Eu, brother of William the Conqueror, to St Mary-in-the-Castle at Hastings.

Smirke built the very large Frewen Chapel, which rises above the family mausoleum. The exterior of the chapel is lined with heraldic shields, and the interior with an intriguing collection of funeral hatchments and monuments to generations of the family, who still reside in Northiam.

the Frewen Mausoleum was built in 1846 against the north side of the church. The Frewen family’s association with Northiam goes back to the Elizabethan era when the family settled there having arrived from Worcestershire.

The mausoleum was built to the order of Thomas Frewen Turner in memory of his wife who died in 1844. Until 1978 the mausoleum remained separated from the church, the only entrance being by way of the west door.

There are nine carved stone shields and banners along the west and east walls and gargoyles along the parapet. Internally, the mausoleum roof has curved timbers and decorative bosses with heraldic designs. Around the walls are a wealth of monuments to members of the Frewen family, including Thomas Frewen (d.1870) and his wife Helen Louisa.

When Violet Helen Frewen was born on 22 December 1875, in Northiam, Sussex, England, United Kingdom, her father, Edward Frewen, was 25 and her mother, Anne Mary Byng, was 23. She lived in Bentworth, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom for about 10 years. She died on 4 August 1946, in Sussex, England, United Kingdom, at the age of 70.

Admiral Sir John Byng Frewen, GCB (28 March 1911 – 1 September 1975) Frewen joined the Royal Navy in 1924. He served in World War II in the Russian Convoys and as squadron navigating officer for aircraft carriers in the Pacific. He also served in the Korean War as commander of HMS Mounts Bay.

He was appointed chief of staff to the commander-in-chief, Home Fleet, in 1959 and then became Flag Officer Second in Command Far East Fleet in 1961. He went on to be Vice Chief of the Naval Staff in 1963 and commander-in-chief, Home Fleet, in 1965. He was then appointed Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, in 1967. Finally he was appointed the first Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command (following the merger of the Portsmouth and Plymouth Commands) in 1969. In that capacity he welcomed Sir Alec Rose back to Portsmouth after his single-handed trip around the world. Frewen was also First and Principal Naval Aide-de-Camp to the Queen from 1968 to 1970. He retired in 1970.

In retirement Frewen transferred Brickwall House School, a specialist school for boys with dyslexia, into an educational trust, which, after his death, was renamed by his cousin and godson Jonathan Frewen as Frewen College. In 1972 he was Chairman of the Royal Navy Club of 1765 & 1785 (United 1889).

Thomas and Anne Frewen

Anne Frewen (d1844).  The most elaborate Frewen monument

Sir Edward Frewen (d1723). Correctly Major Sir Edward, M.P., of Brickwall and Bonby Hall, Lincs., (born Northiam, Sussex, 1661, died 8 Oct. 1723). He was the son of Thomas and Judith (Wolverstone) Frewen. He married abt,1684 Selina, daughter of John Godsehall of East Sheen, Surrey.

The north window of the mausoleum has glass contemporary with construction of the building. The design is of heraldic shields with banners below the cinquefoil heads of the two rows of four lights.

Behind the altar is a very nice set of 17th-century wooden panels, the gift of Thankful Frewen. There are two Tudor brasses in the chancel floor, one to Robert Beuford (d. 1518), the other to a member of the Tufton family (d 1538). These brasses are not easily accessible, but rubbings made from the brasses are displayed on the rear wall along with small fragments of other surviving brasses.

Communion table: (Formerly) 1638, with bulbous legs and bearing the initials of Thankful Frewen.  It was stolen in the 1990s.

Royal Arms: (West wall). Painted panel, of Queen Anne, dated 1713.

The internal war memorial.

Elizabeth Clarke, one of whose daughters married into the Frewen family.

The war memorial, which was refurbished for the centennial of the end of World War I in 2018

Elizabeth I stopped here years ago, on one of her royal progresses. On 11 August 1573, she had a picnic on the village green, under the shade of the time-battered oak. The oak tree still stands on the green, now held upright with supports.

Northiam has a wide variety of old buildings.

The centre of Northiam is built around a green with weather-boarded houses, which are reminiscent of nearby Kent.   

The village’s water supply was always a headache. Farthings, a late 16th century home reputed to be the first house in the village to have a bath, was where the locals were allowed to take a bucket of water from the pond next to the house by the owner, on payment of a farthing. The name Farthing Pond appears on some of the early maps.

A survey in 1876 revealed that 69 dwellings relied on wells for their water, 44 on pumps, nine on spring water and six on ponds. Twenty years later it was reported that several houses were without any water supply at all. Some had to bring their drinking water from Stawberry Hole while water for washing was fetched in ‘bodges’ from the pond at Higham at a rate of 6d a bodge. In 1932 piped water arrived in Northiam but it was not until 1958 that it was supplied throughout the village.

This is the building on the village green that houses the old village pump, which supplied water to the village until 1907.

At the lower end of the village, stands Frewen College,  private Junior school which specialises in helping those with dyslexia.

Frewen College is based at Brickwall House, a 17th century country house and estate, which was home to the Frewen family, for over three hundred years. Brickwall House, really? Well, look at it! Actually, it is a Jacobean house that takes its name from the high walls that enclose its grounds.

John Frewen, a sturdy puritan who became rector in 1558, baptised his first two sons Accepted and Thankful, perhaps in recognition of his appointment. Accepted pursued a glittering academic career and was made Archbishop of York in 1660.

Not even the Frewen family vaults at the church were sacred when it came to storing contraband and it was also established that children were daring each other to run down among the coffins. The entrance was bricked up to put an end to these affronts.

John Frewen, a sturdy puritan who became rector in 1558, baptised his first two sons Accepted and Thankful, perhaps in recognition of his appointment. 

At the other end of the village, just outside the bounds, the Kent and East Sussex Heritage Railway which runs between Tenterden and Bodiam, crosses the main road, and if you're lucky, you my just catch a glimpse of something special leaving the station.......