472 NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. vi. DEC. u. 1912.
the customs in the reign of Elizabeth, by which he amassed considerable wealth."
An excellent description of the present appearance of the manor house is to be found in ' Murray's Handbook to Kent'; and in Ireland's 'Kent,' 1829, facing p. 452 (vol. ii.), there is a pleasant engraving by S. Lacey, after a drawing by Geo. Shepherd, of Fair Rosamond's Tower, which was one of the "nine immense towers " which once guarded this stately home.
The remains of the fortified fourteenth-century manor house of Westenhanger are situated about three miles north-west from Hythe. It is a quadrangle surrounded by a moat, and of the nine towers, square and round alternately, by which the walls were defended, three remain. Westenhanger, or Ostenhanger, was once a separate parish, but the church has long since been demolished and the parish united to Stanford. In the register of the monastery of St.
Augustine this place is known and described as "Le Hangre." Queen Elizabeth is said to have stayed "at her own house of Westenhanger" during her progress through Kent at the latter end of the summer in 1573. She afterwards granted the manor of Eastenhanger to "Thomas Smith, Esq.," who was succeeded on his death in 1591 by his eldest son, Sir John Smythe of Ostenhanger, knight. Sir John died in 1609, and was succeeded by his son, Sir Thomas Smythe, K.B., who was created Viscount Strangford (of Ireland) in 1628. His son Philip, Viscount Strangford, conveyed it to trustees for the payment of his debts, and an Act was passed, anno 16 and 17 Charles II., to enable "the trustees of Lord Strangford to sell lands for the payment of his debts." Similar Acts were passed 18 and 20 Charles II. The manor was alienated with its mansion, &c., and the greatest part of it was pulled down by 1701. It then passed to Justinian Champneis, Esq., who restored it and resided in it. There is a good account of this manor house in the third volume of Hasted's 'Kent,' 322-6, and a shorter one in the second volume of Ireland's 'History of Kent,' 454-6. Thomas Wm. Huck.
An account of Westenhanger will be found in 'Black's Guide to Kent.' This famous mansion was probably built by
Bertram de Criol, temp. Henry III. About the beginning of Henry VIII.'s reign it fell into the hands of Sir Edward Poynings. His son sold it to Henry VIII., who laid out a park around it, and fitted it apparently for a royal residence. Queen Elizabeth visited it in 1573.
According to 'Highways and Byways of Kent,' by W. Jerrold, "Here for a time, after the fighting at Maidstone in 1648, the Royalists kept some of their Parliamentarian prisoners." Is this statement correct, and is there any contemporary evidence to this effect? The Royalists were defeated and broken up by Fairfax at Maidstone, so it is hardly likely they could have taken any of the Parliament forces prisoners.
The remains of the moated house of Westenhanger may still be seen. There were originally nine towers, of which only three remain. The walls were high, massive, and embattled, the deep, broad moat spanned by a drawbridge, and the portal fortified by a portcullis. The central tower long bore the name of "Fair Rosamond," from a tradition that she was here concealed before her removal to Woodstock.
[G. F. R. B. and Col. R. J. Fynmore also thanked for replies.]
The Whitened Doorstep (11 S. vi. 389).—The only purpose for which women whiten doorsteps must be to efface footprints and dirt stains. Scouring repeatedly with white sandstone is destructive to the steps; at the same time it gives them the appearance of newly quarried stone. In some districts yellow clay, schist, and reddle are used. Formerly large quantities of the disused moulds of potters were sent to Cheshire and other counties for the purpose, which gave rise to a suspicion in the Potteries that they were used for adulterating flour.
The "whitening" on the doorstep is only a quick and easy way of defeating the penetrating grime of our large towns. I have heard a countrywoman call it "cover-muck."
In Manchester and district doorsteps and window-sills are "yellowed," and some industrious housewives cover all the stone-work in front of their houses with "yellow stone." Besides "yellow stone" and a natural rubbing stone, Lancashire women use two modern compositions "Jubilee stone" and "Donkey stone." Jubilee stone makes a creamy colour, while Donkey stone, which has a figure of a donkey stamped on it, is white. Both stones give a soft stone-like effect, which does not soil so easily as the staring whiteness of pipeclay.
