Gervais Hendley was born around the time Richard Duke of Gloucester was granted the forfeited lands of the Richard Neville (Middleham, Sheriff Hutton and Penrith) and the time of talk of a marriage for Richard to the Kingmaker's daughter Anne. Gervais inherited a successful business and married into a local family, whose patriarch would place him in close association with those who were forced to flee when Gloucester became king. His birth, at his father's manor of Coursehorn in Kent was at a time of great upheaval when the balance of power within the kingdom was disrupted by changes of allegiances, of government and monarch. However, things were about to change for the better, when in March in 1471, in what history calls the Arrivall, Edward IV returned from exile landing at Ravenspur on the east coast of England and just a month later he entered London unopposed, supplying his troops with arms and then heading north. On the 14th of April the Battle of Barnet took place, it ended with the death of the aforementioned Richard Neville, the man who was said to be the second most powerful man in the country. Edward’s second reign was a time of peace and security, he used income from the Crown Estates to pay governmental costs he did not have to rely on parliamentary grants as his predecessors did, and under his rule commercial treaties, external peace and internal order paved the way for the revival of trade, benefiting customs duties and other revenues and of course, cloth making families like the Hendley’s.
Gervais's father died in 1495, he left his son the Manor of Coursehorn, his cottage and shop in Cranbrook, parcels of land in Kent as well as three tenements in three different parishes. He also left him a number of other pieces of land in other areas out of the county. Gervais would be the last in a long line of medieval clothiers, from the next generation onwards the Hendley’s would be classed as gentlemen, no more for them the day to day dealings in wool, their occupations would be in the field of law and in the offices of the government of the realm, but for now Gervais’s Hendley was still concerned with the manufacture of broadcloth.
Within this business of cloth making, Gervais, like his father, was skilled in the many and varied processes, he would have had an understanding of farming practices, a knowledge of the type of wool needed to produce good quality fabric, thus he would have had connections with those farmers whose sheep grazed on the Romney Marsh, or he might, like other wealthy Cranbrook clothiers, have taken the wool from flock that grazed on his own land. We also know from his father's Will that the family owned a dye house in Cranbrook that stood somewhere between ‘Cornecrosse’ and ‘Hertecrosse.’ After obtaining wool, it was in the dye house that Gervais would oversee the beginning of the lengthy process of cloth making.
On arriving at his dye house the wool was washed, oiled, sorted by a dyer, a skilled worker who would have been in Gervais’s employ. Once this whole process was complete, Gervais would send the raw material to outworkers and this began with the spinner. This was a job normally done by a woman who could spin about one pound of wool a day. Once spun Gervais would collect the wool and deliver it to the weavers, unlike spinning this job was done by men, 13th-century records for the Weald show that this process was anciently the occupation of a male giving rise to the common use of Weaver and Dyer as their surname. It took about two weeks to weave the wool into broadcloth, the weaver worked at a rate of two yards a day on a single loom. Gervais would then see to it that the cloth was collected and delivered to the person who completed the penultimate task in production, the fuller. Fulling, another job done solely by men, was the only stage in the making of broadcloth that was not done at home or in workshops, the work of the fuller was done in a fulling mill. These mills were commonly owned by the more wealthy clothier and leased to the master fuller. There is no mention of Gervais owning a fulling mill, however, by the mid 16th century Gervais’s sons Thomas and Walter owned three between them - a testament to the growth and success of Hendley’s business.
The job of fulling broadcloth, as just mentioned, took place in mills that were situated near fast-flowing rivers where the cloth was beaten with water-powered hammers which had previously been scored in fullers earth (clay) that was collected locally, this absorbed any greasy matter such as lanolin and oil. The usage of this clay can be traced to ancient Mesopotamia, texts mention ‘white earth,’ which was either gypsum or plaster, Pliny the Elder was writing of several types of ‘creta fullonia’ in the first century. The fabric was pounded for days at a time, cleaned and then stretched on tenters or wooden racks to dry, it was held at each end by iron hooks. It is from this process that we get the term ‘being on tenter-hooks.’
The final stage in the production of broadcloth was carried out by a shearer whose job it was to turn the ‘unfinished’ cloth into ‘finished’ cloth. Not all the broadcloth was finished locally, some were finished in London, where one-sixth of the unfinished broadcloth was exported under licence. Both unfinished and finished cloth were saleable, the latter being the most expensive. We know that both Gervais and his father worked from their shop, which according to the latter’s Will, was situated in the heart of the village, probably in the area around High Street, Stone Street or Waterloo Road. With the finished product packed and stored it would be from his Cranbrook premises that Gervais would oversee its distribution delivering to local customers or sending it to London, either by carrier or transported along the Thames to the city to be sold or exported. The aforementioned shop would have been the centre of Gervais’s business, where he dealt with day to day tasks, it may well be that he was also a small scale merchant - a dealer in wool and dye, buying wholesale and selling to other smaller clothiers. However, the Hendley money was made in the selling of his cloth in the bigger market, that is to dealers in the City of London, the place where he most certainly would have had occasion to travel at some point. The business of selling cloth in London took place in Blackwell Hall, a building that had been purchased during the reign of Richard II by the City of London Corporation, a governing body headed by the Lord Mayor and a council elected from the merchant guilds. Blackwell Hall stood on the east side of Guildhall Yard in Basinghall Street, where Gervais would have had the opportunity to lease a small room in which he could sell his fabric to individual city buyers. The larger rooms in the hall he would discuss business with merchants whose role in the cloth industry was the import and export of cloth.
The aforementioned Blackwell Hall was the centre of the woollen cloth trade in London from the 14th century and founded in 1397 under the first mayoralty of Richard Whittington, who had, among other things, an interest in the wool. Whittington was the youngest son of a Gloucestershire landowner, who, expecting not to receive anything from his father’s estate, took himself to London to make his fortune in trade. He would go on to play a very important role, not only in the civic life of London where he gained considerable influence in the city but also in national affairs too. One of Whittington's many sources of income was from the custom gathered via the licences he held in the country's ports, these licences enabled him to export wool free of duty. He was also a moneylender, the only man in the city who would lend Richard II money in large amounts. These repayments were made in cash rather than through the Exchequer and enabled him to lend money to other individuals, such as John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset to whom he lent 1,000 marks to finance his military operations. Gervais, of course, would not have crossed paths with the famous ‘Dick Whittington - Lord Mayor of London because he died in 1423, but Gervais great grandfather may well have. I like to think that my ancestor encountered Whittington in Blackwell Hall, but I of course I don’t know that he did. One thing we know for sure is that both men would not have found London’s streets paved with gold, as the 19th-century story tells us.
In accordance with his fathers Will, the manor of Coursehorn passed to Gervais and not to his older brother John, it is certainly strange that John received nothing, the reason might be that there was some serious wrongdoing on John’s part, but what that was is lost to history. However, his three underage sons did receive monetary bequests and it may be that their grandfather also left a number of tenements and parcels of land in the care of their grandmother which he intended them to receive after her death, but this isn’t clear. Gervais received his inheritance on the 11th February 1496.
In 1495 Gervais Hendley was in his early twenties and betrothed to Elizabeth Roberts of the Manor of Glassenbury, the date for the wedding I believe, was arranged for the following year. Evidence that might point to the fact they were unmarried in 1495 comes from Gervais’s father's Will. In this Will Thomas Hendley does not refer to Elizabeth, yet he mentions his two sons in law. Gervais’s wife was, as mentioned, Elizabeth Roberts of Glassenbury, a manor just a few miles northwest of Coursehorn and the eldest child born to Walter Roberts and Margaret Penn. Walter Roberts, who had changed his name from the Scottish Rokehurst, had inherited Glassenbury in 1470. In 1480, when Elizabeth was seventeen, her mother, the daughter of a London Mercer died. Within a few months her father married Isabel Culpepper and then in 1492 he married Alice Naylor. Walter Roberts' interests may lay in cloth making, however Glassenbury was at the heart of the Wealden Iron Industry, therefore, it may be that his fortune was made there. Roberts was a Kentish rebel and an associate with Sir John and Richard Guildford, both played their part in the Buckingham Rebellion of October 1483. For his part Elizabeth’s father was attainted and his lands granted to Robert Brackenbury, Constable of the Tower of London. When Henry VII took the throne this attainder was reversed and his lands returned by at least 1503.
Gervais and Elizabeth were married in the first half of 1495. Elizabeth became pregnant very quickly and gave birth to a daughter, whom she named Margery. Six more children followed, three sons named Walter, Thomas and William, and three more daughters Elizabeth, Mercy and Mary. The lives of these children can be found in another chapter. Of William however, there is no mention except one and that is in his father's Will some thirty years later.
Once again it is Thomas Hendley’s Will that supplies us with information as to where the family were living at the end of the 15th century. Thomas begins this will
In 1495 Gervais Hendley was in his early twenties and betrothed to Elizabeth Roberts of the Manor of Glassenbury, the date for the wedding I believe, was arranged for the following year. Evidence that might point to the fact they were unmarried in 1495 comes from Gervais’s father's Will. In this Will Thomas Hendley does not refer to Elizabeth, yet he mentions his two sons in law. Gervais’s wife was, as mentioned, Elizabeth Roberts of Glassenbury, a manor just a few miles northwest of Coursehorn and the eldest child born to Walter Roberts and Margaret Penn. Walter Roberts, who had changed his name from the Scottish Rokehurst, had inherited Glassenbury in 1470. In 1480, when Elizabeth was seventeen, her mother, the daughter of a London Mercer died. Within a few months her father married Isabel Culpepper and then in 1492 he married Alice Naylor. Walter Roberts' interests may lay in cloth making, however Glassenbury was at the heart of the Wealden Iron Industry, therefore, it may be that his fortune was made there. Roberts was a Kentish rebel and an associate with Sir John and Richard Guildford, both played their part in the Buckingham Rebellion of October 1483. For his part Elizabeth’s father was attainted and his lands granted to Robert Brackenbury, Constable of the Tower of London. When Henry VII took the throne this attainder was reversed and his lands returned by at least 1503.
Gervais and Elizabeth were married in the first half of 1495. Elizabeth became pregnant very quickly and gave birth to a daughter, whom she named Margery. Six more children followed, three sons named Walter, Thomas and William, and three more daughters Elizabeth, Mercy and Mary. The lives of these children can be found in another chapter. Of William however, there is no mention except one and that is in his father's Will some thirty years later.
Once again it is Thomas Hendley’s Will that supplies us with information as to where the family were living at the end of the 15th century. Thomas begins this will
‘The year 1495 Thomas Henle of Cranbrook, Clothemake the Elder…’ he goes on to write ‘my feoffees to delyuer to Gerves Henley, my son, the tenement called Cushorne, and all my ther lands, the which the said Gerves nowe occupieth…’
Thomas's will shows that Gervais was already living at the manor of Coursehorn and that his parents were living in Cranbrook, I wonder if Thomas anticipated a problem with his older son John? By installing Gervais on the property whilst he still owned it avoided any serious issues over the estate once he was gone. We do not know if it was Thomas who built the house, or whether it was a project begun by Gervise as his family grew in number, but by 1495, Gervais and Elizabeth were living in a brand new house on the family manor at Coursehorn. As mentioned in a previous chapter, the houses that stood on the manor numbered two, a weavers cottage called Weavers End and house called Little Coursehorn, this new build, just a few hundred yards from the others was situated at the centre of the estate. Gervais’s new home would have been a medieval timber framed hall house, a new type of house that had moved on in design from the old with its four end bays and a central hall in which burned an open fire. In this new property would be similar to the one pictured below where the open hearth was moved to form a fireplace with a chimney that crossed the passage forming new rooms - a buttery and pantry with the parlour and at the other end of the house there was an upper floor and a solar. The exterior would have had brick infilling between timbers. This house is known to have had a moat.
In the late medieval and early Tudor period country properties like Gervais’s were often found to have moats, but they were not of the kind that surrounded England's great castles, they were more like large ditches, possibly with free flowing water and often prestigious residences were known to have fishponds and a swannary, however this does not seem to be the case with Coursehorn. The main motivation for the building was not for defence, but to show status and prestige. It is likely that the house was elevated, not visible from Cranbrook, but it most certainly could be seen from the farms that surrounded the manor. The interior of the manor house is described as having ‘heavy framing with heavy ribbed and moulded ceiling beams over the first floor, and a very large fireplace at the east end of the hall with a wide Tudor arched fireplace and decorated spandrels set in a shallow Tudor arched recess.' The house that Gervais lived with his family is still in existence but much changed, it is incorporated in the modern building that forms part of Dulwich Pre School. All that remains from the interior is a Tudor fireplace in its entrance hall.
We know from Gervais’s own Will that the downstairs rooms were decorated with wall hangings, had carpets and his dark oak chairs were covered with cushions. I imagine it was here among all this luxury that Gervais and Elizabeth entertained friends, talked of business, of local matters, maybe they spoke of national issues too like the costly foreign wars or the marriage of the king's son to the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. However, once their guests had departed Gervais and Elizabeth would retire to their bedroom which was furnished with a tester bed and adorned with bolsters and expensive coverlets and blankets.
By the time of Henry VII’s death in 1509 Gervais’s family was complete, sadly three of his children Catherine, Richard and Frances are unaccounted for. In the early years of the 15th century sweating sickness arrived in England, and it may be that these three children succumbed to this illness in the epidemics of 1502 and 1517, however, in 1528 the Kent countryside was deemed safe enough for Henry VIII to send Anne Boleyn to her home at Hever to avoid that outbreak, so maybe that Kent was free of the disease and they too, like Anne, survived and events of their lives went unrecorded. We know that seven of the Gervais’s children were not carried off by the illness, but the royal family were not to be that lucky. In 1502 the aforementioned Prince Arthur, heir to the throne, did become ill and his death is attributed to the sweating sickness, and as everybody knows his death changed the course of history. The king’s younger son would become King Henry VIII on his father's death in 1509 and it was during his reign that the offspring of not only the Hendleys, but their neighbours the Bakers, the Hales and Culpeppers, would come to prominence.
Gervais had family ties with three of the most wealthy families in the area, the Roberts, the Bakers and the aforementioned Culpepper’s and we know that he had business ties with local cloth making families too, his contacts with the latter enabled him to arrange the marriages of his daughters. Margery, his eldest, married Richard Taylor, Mercy married Richard Courthop and Elizabeth married John Sheafe. However, for the marriages of his sons, Gervais set his sights a little higher.
With Walter and Thomas, Gervais was, no doubt, hoping to make a match within the Kentish gentry and the only family with real social standing were the Guildfords at Hamsted a large manor just outside Benenden. In Gervais’s time it was Richard Guildford who held Hamsted, he had made good marriages for all his seven children, a number whose members had positions in court and all but two had married out of the county. I think it is reasonable to assume that it was Gervais’s father-in-law Walter Roberts who originally approached Guildford for help in finding suitable marriage partners for his grandsons, if he didn't he should have done, after all Guildford owed him his life! However, Richard Guildford was dead by 1506 so if the conversation did take place it never came to fruition in his lifetime. By 1530 both Walter and Thomas were married, and only Thomas’s marriage had links to the Guilfords, Walters marriage it would seem was a result of his father's business dealings in the capital and/or the connections he’d made in Sussex. Thomas's wife was Eliza, the widow of Thomas Ellys, of Burton in the parish of Kennington, by whom he had Walter. It is through this Walter the the Hendley's manor a Coursehorn descends.
Walter’s wife was Ellen, daughter of Thomas Ashburham of Asburnham, a small village just five miles west of Battle in East Sussex, and Elizabeth Dudley, the daughter of Sir John Dudley of Atherington in West Sussex. The Ashburnhams were small landowners in the 12th century and had steadily moved up the social ladder until they held the office of Sheriffs of Surrey and Sussex.
Despite a suggestion in a book on the history of Cranbrook that Gervais Hendly was a solicitor, I have found no other evidence to prove that he was anything else but a wealth clothmaker who would, however, live to see his son become a solicitor and a Justice of the Peace. As Gervais moved into his sixtieth year, the cloth making industry saw a major downturn in sales of woollen cloth due to the cessation of trade with Flanders and London merchants not purchasing cloth. This, quite naturally led to unrest among the local weavers, but the issue was soon resolved by the timely intervention of Henry Guilford, another son of the aforementioned Richard, and the production of broadcloth would continue to remain a major source of employment in Cranbrook and keep Gervais and Elizabeth in the style of living they had become accustomed. Within a few years many of the old cloth making families had all but disappeared, lack of sons meant that businesses merged, or others families, like the Hendleys went on to greater things. By the end of the 16th century there would be no Hendley’s working in this industry. The main employers in the wool trade in the area would be the Courtrops, Sheafes, Sharpes and Bigges, but all four of these families had Hendley blood in the veins.
Testament to the wealth Gervais had accrued lies in his Will which he signed on the 25th November 1534 which gives us an insight into the man himself, a man proud of his achievements and not afraid to show off his wealth. As we have seen he had built himself a new house that could be seen from afar, he surrounded it with a moat, he filled his home with luxury items and wore fine clothes, a reward maybe, after all his own father had seen something in him that was not apparent in his older son John.
By the time of Henry VII’s death in 1509 Gervais’s family was complete, sadly three of his children Catherine, Richard and Frances are unaccounted for. In the early years of the 15th century sweating sickness arrived in England, and it may be that these three children succumbed to this illness in the epidemics of 1502 and 1517, however, in 1528 the Kent countryside was deemed safe enough for Henry VIII to send Anne Boleyn to her home at Hever to avoid that outbreak, so maybe that Kent was free of the disease and they too, like Anne, survived and events of their lives went unrecorded. We know that seven of the Gervais’s children were not carried off by the illness, but the royal family were not to be that lucky. In 1502 the aforementioned Prince Arthur, heir to the throne, did become ill and his death is attributed to the sweating sickness, and as everybody knows his death changed the course of history. The king’s younger son would become King Henry VIII on his father's death in 1509 and it was during his reign that the offspring of not only the Hendleys, but their neighbours the Bakers, the Hales and Culpeppers, would come to prominence.
Gervais had family ties with three of the most wealthy families in the area, the Roberts, the Bakers and the aforementioned Culpepper’s and we know that he had business ties with local cloth making families too, his contacts with the latter enabled him to arrange the marriages of his daughters. Margery, his eldest, married Richard Taylor, Mercy married Richard Courthop and Elizabeth married John Sheafe. However, for the marriages of his sons, Gervais set his sights a little higher.
With Walter and Thomas, Gervais was, no doubt, hoping to make a match within the Kentish gentry and the only family with real social standing were the Guildfords at Hamsted a large manor just outside Benenden. In Gervais’s time it was Richard Guildford who held Hamsted, he had made good marriages for all his seven children, a number whose members had positions in court and all but two had married out of the county. I think it is reasonable to assume that it was Gervais’s father-in-law Walter Roberts who originally approached Guildford for help in finding suitable marriage partners for his grandsons, if he didn't he should have done, after all Guildford owed him his life! However, Richard Guildford was dead by 1506 so if the conversation did take place it never came to fruition in his lifetime. By 1530 both Walter and Thomas were married, and only Thomas’s marriage had links to the Guilfords, Walters marriage it would seem was a result of his father's business dealings in the capital and/or the connections he’d made in Sussex. Thomas's wife was Eliza, the widow of Thomas Ellys, of Burton in the parish of Kennington, by whom he had Walter. It is through this Walter the the Hendley's manor a Coursehorn descends.
Walter’s wife was Ellen, daughter of Thomas Ashburham of Asburnham, a small village just five miles west of Battle in East Sussex, and Elizabeth Dudley, the daughter of Sir John Dudley of Atherington in West Sussex. The Ashburnhams were small landowners in the 12th century and had steadily moved up the social ladder until they held the office of Sheriffs of Surrey and Sussex.
Despite a suggestion in a book on the history of Cranbrook that Gervais Hendly was a solicitor, I have found no other evidence to prove that he was anything else but a wealth clothmaker who would, however, live to see his son become a solicitor and a Justice of the Peace. As Gervais moved into his sixtieth year, the cloth making industry saw a major downturn in sales of woollen cloth due to the cessation of trade with Flanders and London merchants not purchasing cloth. This, quite naturally led to unrest among the local weavers, but the issue was soon resolved by the timely intervention of Henry Guilford, another son of the aforementioned Richard, and the production of broadcloth would continue to remain a major source of employment in Cranbrook and keep Gervais and Elizabeth in the style of living they had become accustomed. Within a few years many of the old cloth making families had all but disappeared, lack of sons meant that businesses merged, or others families, like the Hendleys went on to greater things. By the end of the 16th century there would be no Hendley’s working in this industry. The main employers in the wool trade in the area would be the Courtrops, Sheafes, Sharpes and Bigges, but all four of these families had Hendley blood in the veins.
Testament to the wealth Gervais had accrued lies in his Will which he signed on the 25th November 1534 which gives us an insight into the man himself, a man proud of his achievements and not afraid to show off his wealth. As we have seen he had built himself a new house that could be seen from afar, he surrounded it with a moat, he filled his home with luxury items and wore fine clothes, a reward maybe, after all his own father had seen something in him that was not apparent in his older son John.
Gervais Hendley died a widower in his sixtieth year, the bulk of his estate, including Coursehorn passed to his eldest son Walter, he left two parcels of land to Thomas and one to the aforementioned William. In accordance with his wishes he was buried in the chancel of St Thomas at St Dunstan’s Church Cranbrook. He asked for seven candles to be lit every twelve days and he paid for ‘one honest English priest’ to sing for his soul, his wife, father and mother’s souls and ‘all other souls at the altar of St Thomas'. He also asked that his executor's wife sing at his manor house in Coursehorn every two years for which he paid her twenty marks.
On the sixth May in 1534 the Hendley’s manor at Coursehorn became the property of Walter Hendley.
Walter Hendley's early years were dominated by violence and lawlessness, the result of one of Kent's leading family's moon waning while another was rising. In his adult life he would be active in local govenment at the time of Anne Boleyn’s arrival in the court of Henry VIII, and the time of the ‘King's Great Matter’ - that is, his abandonment of his queen Catherine of Aragon. What Walter and everybody else in the country didn’t know then was that this affair was so far reaching that it would lead to a split from Rome and that England would fall into an abyss that it would take centuries to climb out.
Walter Hendley's early years were dominated by violence and lawlessness, the result of one of Kent's leading family's moon waning while another was rising. In his adult life he would be active in local govenment at the time of Anne Boleyn’s arrival in the court of Henry VIII, and the time of the ‘King's Great Matter’ - that is, his abandonment of his queen Catherine of Aragon. What Walter and everybody else in the country didn’t know then was that this affair was so far reaching that it would lead to a split from Rome and that England would fall into an abyss that it would take centuries to climb out.