t induced the Flemings to settle in Kent
and some other parts of England, and from his reign until the last
century the broadcloth manufacture concentrated at Cranbrook. When Queen
Elizabeth once visited the town she was entertained at a manor about a
mile from Cranbrook, and walked thence into the town upon a carpet, laid
down the whole way, made of the same cloth that her loyal men of Kent
wore on their backs. In Cranbrook Church were held the fierce
theological disputes of Queen Mary's reign which resulted in the
imprisonment of the Anabaptists and other dissenters by Chancellor
Baker. Over the south porch is the chamber with grated windows known as
"Bloody Baker's Prison." Among the old customs surviving at Cranbrook is
that which strews the path of the newly-wedded couple as they leave the
church with emblems of the bridegroom's trade. The blacksmith walks upon
scraps of iron, the shoemaker on leather parings, the carpenter on
shavings, and the butcher on sheepskins. In an adjacent glen almost
surrounded by woods are the ruins of Sissinghurst, where Chancellor
Baker lived and built the stately mansion of Saxenhurst, from which the
present name of its ruins is derived. The artists Horsley and Webster
lived at Sissinghurst and Cranbrook for many years, and found there
frequent subjects of rustic study. The Sissinghurst ruins are
fragmentary, excepting the grand entrance, which is well preserved.
Baker's Cross survives to mark the spot where the Anabaptists had a
skirmish with their great enemy; and the legend is that he was killed
there, though history asserts that this theological warrior died in his
bed peaceably some time afterwards in London.

[Illustration: RUINS OF SISSINGHURST.]

Near Lamberhurst, on the Surrey border and on the margin of the Teise,
is the Marquis of Camden's seat at Bayham Abbey. Its ruins include a
church, a gateway, and some of the smaller buildings. It was once highly
attractive, though small, and its ruined beauty is now enhanced by the
care with which the ivy is trained over the walls and the greensward
floor is smoothed. Ralph de Dene founded this abbey about the year 1200,
and after the dissolution Queen Elizabeth granted it to Viscount
Montague. It was bought in the last century by Chief-Justice Pratt,
whose son, the chancellor, became Marquis of Camden. The modern mansion
is a fine one, and from it a five-mile walk through the woods leads to
Tunbridge on the Medway. Chief among the