"sanguine vita" Down through the ages our surname has had numerous variations in spelling. My grandfather told me one story that his grandfather decided there were more than one Cobb so the name should have an "s" added to make it plural. We will follow Mike Cobb's format:

• The early British born generations are spelled COBBES.
  
• The early American born generations are spelled COBBS.
  
• The modern international spelling is COBB unless otherwise noted, as several branches of the family, including ours, still spell the name COBBS.

We want to recognize the efforts of Mike Cobbs and all the File Managers of the Cobb and Cobbs site, without whose effort very little would be known about our family and its history. Mike connected with Alexander Robert Cobb, the grandson of Robert Stanley Cobb, who provided his grandfather's genealogical work on the Cobb history in Britain. We have borrowed much from these works to make our files here for you to use. We strongly recommend that you visit Cobb and Cobbs to see the whole story. The first Cobb from County Kent, England, to be recorded in the College of Heralds was the man known to genealogists as John Cobb of Kent (c1324). His American descendants are all from the line of Ambrose Cobb, who arrived in Virginia, in 1635. Researchers have been trying for generations to identify John’s father. Although the most likely answer has been known for almost a decade, a challenge has been presented within the last two years. On the one hand is the claim that John’s father was one Walter Cobbe. On the other hand we have a claim that John’s father was a man named Henry Cobb. Read more about The Hoax. We have the work done by Robert Stanley Cobbs, MC, FRIBA, who in the 1950's began to research the Cobbs in Kent, England. He published this work for his family, not intending it to be a source document for others but, it is a great reference for those descended from Ambrose Cobbs here in the United States. You can begin your search with the Cobbs of Kent or start with the Ambrose "the Emigrant". Chapter I

 

The Newchurch Cobbes

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The story, if it is worth telling, begins at the time of the Battle of Lewes in 1264 when Henry Cobbe was living near New Romney, just outside the liberties of the Cinque Port.

 

At Lewes, Henry III was defeated by the Barons, led by Simon de Montfort and he and his popular son, Prince Edward, afterwards Edward I, were taken prisoner. The following is an account of the Battle, written at the time:

"The king came from the Cinque Ports to Lewes with an army at nearly 60,000 fighting men; and on the better side (i.e. the baronial) there were 50,000 men, under vigorous leaders, but for the most part quite young. They were joined by the Londoners, who, however, had very little experience in fighting; for at the first sight of it they turned to flight. Now, the baronial party wrote to the king that they would gladly serve him: but the king wrote back, without the usual courtesies, and informed them that he was quite indifferent as to their service, but he reckoned them his enemies and defied them as public foes. Also Edward, the king’s eldest son, and his uncle, Richard, formerly called King of the Romans, informed them that they would destroy their property and lives and their friends’ as well. The baronial party were saddened at this, for they ware anxious for peace and made many offers to secure it; but they were all rejected with scorn by the king’s councillors, who threatened to ruin the barons utterly. Since, therefore, they could obtain peace neither by their offers nor by their emissaries, they prepared for war, and ascending the slope of a hill, they looked down on to the town in which their enemy lay, and would have taken them in their beds, but were prevented from doing so by the chivalry of some among them. For these said: ?Let us await them here and give them time to get up; for if we attacked them in their sleep, we should do ourselves dishonour.’ So while they awaited them, they made some new knights, and, drew up their men in position, till they saw the enemy approaching.

 

Right at the beginning of the fipple the Londoners took to flight, and were pursued by Edward with a numerous following of knights, by whom a great number of the fugitives were slain. Meanwhile, however, the king was captured; for while his followers were intend on booty - horses, armour, and so forth - the king was overpowered, along with some great nobles; but most of these took to flight and left their lord on the field. Gilbert, Earl of Gloucester, took the king

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captive, for the king then held him as a greater and more powerful noble than the others and gave him his sword in token of surrender; and this was because the Lord Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, was high in his displeasure. However, it was to this earl that the best men on that side surrendered. After this had taken place, Edward, ceasing his pursuit of the Londoners, returned, thinking that he and his followers had gained a victory; but he was met by the victors, who had now set fire to the town, and though at sight of them Edward's men tried to escape, yet most of them were slain and many knights got into the priory, changing their armour for cassocks. Edward also, followed by numbers of his man, threw himself into the church of the Franciscans. Some, too, in fleeing by a bridge hindered each other's flight, so that many crowded together and were drowned; those who did escape hastened overseen. The number of those slain in the battle amounted to nearly 3,000 gallant men, not counting those slain before the fight nor those drowned."

Six years before the Battle of Lewes, Henry Cobbe had acquired land in the parish of Hope St. Mary, New Romney and Newchurch. ⁽¹⁾

 

Four years before this, Sir Richard Organistre or "Richard the Organist" built the Manor, afterwards known as Orgeners in the same neighbourhood, the land having been granted by the Archbishop of Canterbury. ⁽²⁾

 

It was in these years that New Romney was at the height of prosperity and fame, but the Portsmen, following the dissolution after the Battle of Lewes and supported by Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, joined with him in piracy, preying on ships of all nations and, throwing the mariners into the sea.

 

After the Battle of Lewes, Prince Edward was imprisoned in Dover Castle, but retribution followed his success at the Battle of Evesham in 1265, when landowners in the Romney Marshes, who had supported Simon de Montfort, were dispossessed of their land and property. It was at this time that Sir Richard Organistre's estate fell to Henry Cobbe, which he joined to his own property. ⁽³⁾ Cobbe's Place, the home of the family, was situated at Newchurch, about a quarter of a mile to the north of the Church, may have been built about 1320, during the lifetime of Henry's son, John

 

⁽¹⁾ Kent Feel of Fines 42 Henry III

 

⁽²⁾ Kent Feel of Fines 38 Henry III

 

⁽³⁾ Hasted. History of Kent. (see Appendix)

 

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who was the first of the Cobbe to be recorded by the College of Heralds. The land on which Cobbes Place stood is known, to this day, by the name of "Cobbe's Place", and was originally acquired from the Fitzbriand family in about 1305. The Manor remained in the Cobbe family until the death of Alice Cobbe, then Lady Cobham, in the reign of Elizabeth I, when it passed to the Cobhams and was sold and later demolished. ⁽¹⁾

 

Four years after the Battle of Lewes, in 1268, Henry Cobbe was appointed, with others, by the Constable of Dover Castle, Stephen Pencestre, "to enquire into the advisability of giving leave to the Master Brethren of the Domus Dei of Dover to turn the road, which leads through the Court of Honichurch, towards the port of Romney and, whether it is within the liberty of the five ports, so that the King is unable to give such leave, and how broad it is, and what advantage the Master and Brethren will gain by turning it."

 

The case was tested in Westminster in the 53rd year of the reign of Henry III, under a writ 'ad quod damnum'. The importance of the case was clearly one which involved the prerogative of the Crown.

 

Honichurch was stated to be a Manor in the parish of Hope All Saints in Romney Marsh, and was given to the Mason Dei, the Hospice of St. Mary by its founder, Hugo de Burgh, Earl of' Kent and chief justiciary in King John's reign. The finding of the court at Westminster, which was signed by Henry Cobbe, was that the proposal would be an improvement to everybody, "because the old road was so low, and would make it possible to close the courtyard?, and the judges agreed that it was outside the liberties of the five ports. ⁽²⁾

 

In the reign of Edward I, the prestige of the Ports was restored and the King's loyal Portsmen did great service for the Crown in the war against Wales and, Scotland, and later their ships travelled as far as the Mediterranean Sea.

 

In 1278 the first General Charter was granted, jointly, to the ports, by Edward I, the liberties having been enjoyed hitherto under individual grants to each of the Cirque Ports.

 

Henry Cobbe lived through the great disaster of the storm of 1258 of which Holinshed writes:

 

"On the first Day of October, 1250, the moon, upon her change appearing red and swelled, began to show tokens of the great tempest wind that followed,which was so

⁽¹⁾ Hasted. History of Kent.
⁽²⁾ Archaelogical Cantiana - Vol. V p. 298.

 

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huge and mightie, both by land and sea, that the like had not been lightlie known, and seldome, or rather never, heard of by men then alive. The sea, forced contrarie to his natural course, flowed twice without ebbing, yielding such a roaring that the same was heard (not without great wonder) at far distance from the shore. Moreover the same sea appeared in the dark of the night to burne as it had been on fire, and the waves to strive and fight together after a marvellous sort, so that the mariners could not devise how to save their ships where they laid at anchor by no cunning or shift which they could devise. At Hert-burne three tall ships perished without recoverie, besides other smaller vessels. At Winchelsey, besides other hurte that was doone, in bridges, milles, breaks and banks, there were three hundred houses and some churches drowned with the high rising of the water course."

 

In this storm it is said that 700 houses and 50 inns were destroyed but this does not appear to compare with the havoc of the tempest which fell on New Romney in 1287, when Old Winchelsea was finally destroyed. In this storm waves broke over the harbour, burying the houses with many feet of debris. The accumulation of debris has never been cleared and the floor of the Church of St. Nicholas, at New Romney is, to-day, some five steps below the road level and marks have been left on the pillars after the muck was taken away from the inside of the church. This great storm ended Romney's history as a harbour, when the course of the River Rother was diverted from Romney to Rye and the Great Bay of Romney rapidly silted up in spite of the efforts of the people to bring back the river by digging out its old course. Today the Church of St. Nicholas, to which boats had tied to the walls of, the Church is one and a half miles from the sea and the great Cinque Port of New Romney has become an inland town.

 

Henry's son, John Cobbe was living in 1324 in the reign of Edward II, 37 years after the storm and two years before the King was murdered at Berkerley Castle, and it seems that his lands and property, inland at Newchurch, situated just outside the liberties of the port, did not share the disaster which befell the people of the town. Although little is known about John, there is a reference to a John Cobbe in 1375 in 'Stow's Survey of London', reading:

 

"John Cobbe was admitted "Custos" of the Posterne and all the habitations there of for tenure for life 'by William Wolworth, the Mayor of London."

 

This refers to the gate and gatehouse near the Tower of London. The post was probably an honorary one given in recognition of services. There is however, no evidence that this John Cobbe is the one of Newchurch.

 

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John's son, Richard, was living in 1338 and survived the Black Death in 1348 which took heavy toll of the population of New Romney and also through part of the long war with the French, which caused great economic distress in the town, when it was under constant threat of invasion.

 

Winchelsea, ten miles away, was sacked by the French in 1359 and 1360 and again in 1380, and Rye was burnt in 1377 when 66 of the inhabitants were massacred and others taken hostage.

 

In 1387, Richard II issued a licence to Sir Edward Dalyngrigge to fortify Bodiam Castle, the river there being navigable as far as Bodiam Bridge.

 

In about 137O, Edward III took the Manor and the lands of Bilsington, almost adjoining the Cobbe's Estates, under wardship, when the heir, Geoffrey Steelegate waa a minor, and sold the benefits to Geoffrey Chaucer for £140. The purchase carried with it the appointment of Chief Butler to the King, and as such he served the King with wine on official occasions, and received honours, fees, and a knighthood for the service, together with the income derived from the estate.

 

Richerd Cobbe was followed, first by his son Edward, who must have known Chaucer, and then by his grandsons Edmond and Richard. It applears Richard Cobbe, brother to Edmond, held an official position in the Corporation of Romney, probably that of Justice of the Peace or Chamberlain.

 

In the records of the Corporation of Romney of 1403, the following entry is made:

 

"Received 17/6d from Richard Cobbe for rent of the Common House at Snargate from the feast of Nativity of St. John the Baptist to this day, also 5/- received for the occupation of the Common House at the Keye, also 19/8d received as a fourth part of wax found by certain men, not freemen, near the sea."

 

The charge of 19/8d. on a quarter of the total quantity of wax indicates that the value would be about £400 in present-day values of money. There was, at the time, a purchase tax knowm as a "maletolt" which was levied on all goods sold in the town of Romney and the charge on wax was 4d. for each 108 lbs., or about 4d. per lb. in today's money.

 

The following explanation is given by Miss K.M. Elizabeth Murray, and is taken from her transcription of Daniel Rough's Register:

 

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"The laws of wreck, prize and salvage are frecpiontly refered to in the Register. According to the table of Maletolts the town claimed a quarter of all wrecks between Dungeness and Hythe, but the law was that if man or beast escaped from a vessel alive it was no wreck. The Warden needed vigilant officers to see that piratical portsmen on lonely stretches of the coast did not murder the survivors of a crew in order to establish their right to the cargo. A contemporary record describes how "it chaunceth that sometyme in many places there are inhuman felons more cruel than dogs or wolves enraged, which murder and slaye the poor sufferers to obtain theyr money or clothes or other goodes." In 1361 merchants of La Rochelle complained how, when wrecked at Romney, although the masters and sailors were saved, evildoers of those parts came and forcibly carried away the cargo and tackle of the ship, and cut the boat herself in small pieces, which they transported on horses and boats, whither-soever they would without making any restitution to the owners. As the boat could be salved the owners should have been able to make bargain with the local inhabitants to rescue what they could in return for a reasonable share for their trouble. Here again there was work for the Warden in holding inquests and seeing that everything rescued was duly accounted for.

 

In later years the Warden was 'ex officio' Admiral, with an Admiral's jurisdiction and a court at Dover. In the period covered by Rough's records, 'by constant intervention in coastal are maritime affairs, in matters concerning the placing of fishing nets, and in disputes about prizes, salvage and wreck, he was building up the tradition which made his recognition as admiral inevitable when admiralty law was estab1ished. An important stage in this development was marked by an agreement between the portsmen and Mortimer about prizes, which is given by Rough. In the thirteenth century all boats and cargoes captured at sea in time of war were claimed by the king, vwho rewarded sailors engaged in licenced piracy under his authority with half shares, but by the fourteenth century the king took a quarter only, the owner of the ship was entitled to another quarter, and the rerminder was shared between the sailors responsible for the capture, the Admiral taking as much as two sailors if he were present, or one share per ship if he where not. Accorling to the agreement with Mortimer, the ports allowed him the admiral's share, in return for his guarantee that the claims of the other admirals sboud thereby bc excluded."

 

There can be little doubt that the presert holder of the post of Warden ⁽¹⁾ would have given a similar guarantee.

⁽¹⁾ Sir Winston Churchill.

 

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It will be seen later that the Cobbe family aquired lands in Reculver and Host at about this time, and the reason has been a matter for conjecture. It is a matter of interest, however, that in 1351, when the first Richard was living at Cobbe's Place, the rector of Aldington, a place only a mile or two from Cobbe's Place, was also vicar of Reculver.

 

The following is taken from Archealogia Cantiana Vol. XII, page 25:

 

"In 1351, a Thomas Nyewe de Wottom, being a vicar of Reculver, for the perpetua1 discharge of himself and successors from officiating in the care of Hoat and for furnishing the burgers with a constant and resident priest, founded, in Hoat Chapel, a perpetual chantry to be served by a resident priest and likewise founded one at Reculver in honour of the Holy Trinity."

 

The Cobbe family owned land in Aldington at the time and Richard must have known Thomas Nyewe de Wottam; perhaps the family acquired property in Reculver from the rector either by marriage or purchase.

 

By the end of the Plantagenet period, the Cobbe family were substantial land-owners on the Romney marshes and in the north at Herne and Reculver, with John Cobbe, the eon of Edmond at Newchurch and his brother Thomas Cobbe at Reculver.

 

There are many references to John Combe, the advocante, in the records of the Corporation of New Romney. He was a young man at the time when Joan d'Arc was burnt in 1431, and judging by his own unhealthy fear of purgatory, which he exposes in his will, he would have found no alternative to death by burning for the good of her soul and for his own conscience.

 

Having been born outside the liberties of the Port he became an 'advocante', taking a vow to uphold the liberties of the Port but not being resident within the boundaries, and John Forcett, the Common Clark, described him in 1457 as follows:

 

"John Cobbe is now the first on the list of advocantes (persons claiming to be free, but residing without the precincts)."

 

and again in 1466:

 

"To wine given to Caxtone of Lyde bringing a message from John Cobbes.
Expenses of John Cobbes and five others viewing the harbour here 2/8d. This John Cobbes or Cobb was the most influential of the 'advocantes'."

 

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It seems from the "Custumal" of New Romney,  written by Forsett in 1564, that the admittance to the status of freeman or baron was hereditary, if the privileges were gained under the original charters  to the Cinque Ports.  John, having taken the vow, enjoyed these privilages.  The Records of the Corporation of the activities of John Cobbe extend back to 1456 and the following may be of interest:

 

1456 - 5d paid for the expenses of juriats on interview with John Cobbe as to certain dam ordered to be made at Stonebridge by the Juriats of the Marsh, to the neusance of the Towne.

 

1457 - Paid Thomas Hextel and John Cobbe, for having their friendship for delivery of' a prisoner 13d.

 

1466 - Paid a man bringing news about French ships at sea. Paid. John Cobbe and certain other persons of the Marsh for levelling and taking the wrater of the said Marsh by the Fowelanesse 12/2d. Paid to William Selver of Appledore for the labour upon the tree at Bilington given by John Cobbe for the work on the gutte. (jetty).

 

It appears that John Cobbe was granted a licence by Henry VI in 1442 to practise as an alchemist; but it is uncertain if this is the same John Cobbe referred to here. ⁽¹⁾

 

John the 'advocante' married Denyse (Dionisa) daughter and heir of Bonnington and widow of Roger Brigland and by his marriage he brought the Bonnington lands to the Cobbes.  Hasted, in his "Histort of Kent? refers to the Briglands in Vol 3, page 462, as follows:

 

"Roger Brgland or Bresland:-

 

The Manor of Bonnington, alias Singleton, originally belonged to the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem and later became the property of Roger Bregland or Brasland as the name is sometimes spelt, who had good estates in East Kent. "They bore the arms sable 3, Cocks argent, which coat is probably the Cobbes, who were descended from the female line of this family and in some measure, took the arms they bore from viz. argent, a chevron between three cocks gules." Roger Bregland had married Dionisia, daughter and heir of Bonnington, of this parish, by whom she had one son, Roger. She survived him and afterwards married John Cobbes of Nevmburcb and entitled him to the lands of her inheritance in the parish, of which the Manor does not seem to have been a part, but to have been purchased by him before - most probably of her former husband. He died possessed of it in the 13th year of King Edward IV, 1472 and by his will, divided it to Edward, his second son, remainder to his eldest son

 

⁽¹⁾ Ashmole Collection in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.

 

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William successively in tail male, the former who dying without issue, the latter succeeding to it and left three sons, Gervase, Edward and George, the eldest of whom was of Newchurch, and on his fathers death became possessed of it, and dying without issue in 1512 gave all his estates to his two brothers of whom Edward, the eldest, held the manor, of which he died seized in 11 Henry VIIIth, then holding it in ?capite" which Anne or Alice, for she is called by both names, only daughter and heir of his son Edward. Alice married, first Sir Thomas Norton and afterwards John Cobham, alias Brooke, third son of George, Lord Cobhmn, died 1580 buried at Newington Church, with Alice who is also buried there where there is a brass memorial to her. The estate was carried in marriage to Sir John Norton of Northwood Kent, by whom he had a son Thomas, whose grandson Sir Thomas Norton of Northwood Kent, in the beginning of King James I reign, alienated; and to White whose son seems to have sold it to Valentine Knight of Sellinge."

 

At the time of John's death in 1472, he held considerable property and land on the Marshes and owned not only Cobbes Place in Newchurch, but the Manor and lands at Bonnington, the Manor of Camerston, the Manor of Organers and Goddy Hall, which according to the records of All Souls, Oxford, lies between Millebergh and Bensqukescroche, and a house called Breggis in Wheystreet. His will, which was written a month before his death, was proved on 17th November, 1472. A translation is quoted in the appendix.

 

He was survived by Dionisia, his wife and three sons, William, Edward and Thomas, and a daughter, Crystin. The first part of his will is written in Latin and the second in English and he was clearly a well-educated man with ability and an astute man of business. In his long will he makes generous provision for the safety of his soul by making bequests for priests to sing for him in the chapel of St. Michael, at Newchurch for seven years, and it seems he was ready to pay a good price for his passport to heaven. However, he shows a kindly disposition when he makes conditional provision for "needy poor people, to foul ways and to marriages of poor maidens". Finally he provides that "24 of the worshipfullest, trustiest and most wisest men of Newchurch and of the County ajoining should set up and operate a trust to provide for the poor and to repair the church?, and says, "and if it be that this will do not stand according to law" then the money be spent for a priest to sing for his soul for 30 years. He also makes provisional bequests to the Hospice of Maison Dei, at Dover, which, as previously stated, was founded by Hubert de Burgh and was used as a resting place for continental pilgrims visiting the tomb of Thomas a Becket. The

 

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Hospice is still in a good state of repair, having survived both Nazi shells and tourists.

 

His son, William of Newchurch was born in 1442 and lived at Cobbes Place. He was thirty years old on the death of his father. In 1480 (three years before the murder of the young princes in the Tower of London) at the age of 38, he was appointed Bailiff of New Romney. The Bailiff, in the right of the Archbishop of Canterbury, was the official head of the town of New Romney, and mandates, such as the summons for the Course of Shipway, were therefore, addressed to him. He had, in the Archbishop's right, the sole authority in the exercise of criminal jurisdiction in the St. Martin's Hundreds where royal functions were enjoyed by the Archbishop by special privilege.⁽¹⁾

 

William married Alice Cutts of Harrelsham and Barban, from whom he acquired property. His name is given in a list of gentlemen residing in Kent during the reign of Henry VII.⁽²⁾

His will, which is given in the appendix, was made on 2nd March, 1500 ⁽³⁾ and he died six years later at the age of 64 years. William, the Bailiff, left a widow and three sons, Gervase, Edward and George. The eldest, Gervase inherited >Cobbes Place at Nevrchurch but died without issue in 1512 and gave his estates to his two brothers. Edward held the Manor until his death in 1520 ⁽⁴⁾. His younger brother George was Comman Clerk of New Romney and it is recorded in the Historical Manuscripts of Corporation of New Romney that he received payment, as such, of 12/6d. a quarter.

 

As Common Clerk he would be required to write in Latin and Norman French and have a knowledge of the laws, and the appointment might be worth £1,000 a year, to-day. It is probable, however, that the post carried with it perquisites and the salary may not reflect the present value of money.

 

George died at Ivychurch in 1515 and his will is now at Maidstone. On Edward's death his son encl heir, also called Edward, lived at Cobbe's Place until 1579 when the property passed to his only daughter Alice who was born in about 1524.

 

She married, first Sir John Norton and after his death, Lord John Cobham. Her marriage to Norton is recorded in these words:

 

"Joh'es Norton de Northwood Miles = Alicie Veica filia Ed. Cob. de Cobs Place."

 

It will be noted that the name is sometimes spelt Cobbes, Cobb or even Cob.

 

⁽¹⁾ From K,M. Elizabeth Murray's "Register of Daniel Rough".
⁽²⁾ Archaelogia Cantana Vol XI
⁽³⁾ Will No, 2
⁽⁴⁾ Hasted. History of Kent. Vol. 5 p, 462.

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Sir John Norton owned an estate near Northwood and it is recorded that he was called upon, with many others, to make a contribution to the King Henry VIII Exchequer in 1542. Alice carried some of the Cobbe's Estates, including Cobbe's Court, to the Norton family and her grandson, by this marriage, Sir Thomas Norton of Northwood, sold it to Valentine White of Selling.

 

The loss of the estates and home at Newchurch must have been grievous to the family after having held it for 200 years, but it can be said that Alice, by her second marriage, brought her cousins at Chilham and Reculver into the limelight of the Court of Westminster.

 

Lord John Cobham (alias Brooke) was the son of George Lord Cobham, K.G., Warden of the Cinque Ports and brother of William Lord Cobham, K.G., also Warden of the Cinque Ports and a Privy Councillor whose daughter, Elizabeth, married Robert Cecil, the hunchback Secretary to Queen Elizabeth, in 1589. William died in 1597. He was a great friend of Sir Walter Raleigh. John Cobham, Alice's husband, was a Member of Parliament and a favourite at Court. In Cobham Church there is an effigy of him bearing his arms impailed with the Cobbe arms, viz: argent, a chevron between three cocks. He was buried with Alice at Newington Church. The following is taken from Archaelogia Contiana. Vol. 12, page 139:

 

"Lord John Cobham (alias Brooke) was born 22nd April 1534, his education was under the care of Martin Bucer who, in a letter from Strasburg in May 1548 speaks highly of his abilities and attainments. He distinguished himself as a soldier in the wars of the Low Countries in a struggle for civil and religious liberty. But we have complaints of him, William Prince of Orange writes to Elizabeth March in 1560/7 concerning his elopement from the island of Walcheron with one Lucretia de Affelate, a lady under the special probation of the Queen, who was therefore much offended by this affair. Later we hear that John Brocke Captain in Her Majesty's service keeps the whole pa.y of her soldiers from them and that Brocke has gotten Mr. Norton Green, a Roman Catholic, guilty of no other crime than disobedience to her majesty in not going to Church, from whom he means to squeese 2,000 marks before he shall be at liberty. Afterwards we find him in his own country aiding in the preparations against the Armada and a possible landing of the Duke of Parma.

In May 1584 John Cobham is named amongst the commoners as the Master in the County of Kent, He married Alice, daughter and heir of Edward Cobbe Esq., widow of Sir John Norton or Northwood, Knight. He died in September 25th 1594 - buried at Newington Church where there is a, fine monument in alabaster

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erected to his memory by his nephews William and George representing him in armour, kneeling within a niche. Lady Norton was also buried here where still remains a brass representing her sons by her side and a rhyming which speaks of her as John Cobham's late and loving wife."

 

Alice's marriage into the Cobham family brought her into association with the famous and influential family of Foggs, as Lord. John Cobham's sister Margaret had married John Fogge.

The Fogg family were at Ashford, Chilham and Limminge.

In 1490 Sir John Fogge, Margaret's great-grandfather, had been privy councillor, chancellor, treasurer and controller of the house-hold of Edward VI and built the tower of Ashford church in 1499. Margaret's father, Sir Thomas Fogge, was Sergeant Porter to Henry VII and Henry VIII, for which service he was knighted by Henry VIII, and the family had much influence at Court.

Alice, or her father, purchased the Manor of East Leigh from Sir Thomas Fogge. The Manor had been owned by John Leigh in Henry VI reign and Hasted in his History of Kent, Vol. 3 page 330, gives an account of the subsequent transactions:

 

"Lyghe Court is a manor on the north corner of the parish near the stone streetway. It was, in Edward II's reign, held by Stephen Gerard. Nicholas Leigh who, in consequence of a bargain made by his father, John Leign with Henry VIII in his 36th year, sold to that King, this manor in exchange for other premises. After which the Manor was granted by the Crown to Allen of the family of that name seated in Bordon in this county, whence it was soon alienated to Fogge and shortly afterwards to Cobb of Cobbe's Court."

 

At the time Henry VIII had bought Westenhanger Castle at Lyminge from the son of Sir Edward Poynings, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and the king who laid out the park and turned it into a residence worthy of kings. Queen Elizabeth I stayed there during her reign.