| Description | Chartham manor lies just a few miles south west of Canterbury in the Stour valley. Until the end of the fourteenth century, it is accounted for by a serjeant, apart from the initial appearance of a reeve in 1261. This first account lists his receipts and expenses, with petitions for allowance and chicken rents, on the recto, with an account of the crops produced on the dorse. The petitions and chicken rents soon disappear, and an account of livestock is added to the dorse. Occasionally, an inventory of the manor's effects is attached, especially on a change of serjeant. By 1399, a farmer leasing the manor has replaced the serjeant. His accounts are much less informative, concerning only his farm, building maintenance and payments to the priory. |