| Description | Court proceedings [following on from visitations], relating to the churches and parishes of Burmarsh, Dymchurch and Snave. Not dated. A reference to the archdeacon of Canterbury, as rector of the church of Lympne,usurping tithes of land in Burmarsh, suggests the roll may be from the sede vacante years 1292-4: visitation was normally, during sede vacante periods, carried out by the archdeacon; but the fact that this roll contains allegations against him suggest he is not the visiting authority here. It is better to suppose that the visitor is Richard de Clyve, commissary general appointed by the prior and chapter, whose exercise of sede vacante jurisdiction is known to have been fiercely opposed by the archdeacon of Canterbury. An endorsement by Bunce states that this and `the three following strips [i.e. VR 14-16] probably formed one roll (possibly an archdeacon's visit)'. Certainly all four rolls VR 13-16 have original stitch holes along the top, in roughly the same places, and their text is very similar in style. None contain headings, titles or date, so dating and identification is difficult in each case. |