"On the south face of the eastern Outer Gate Tower, we see the
well-known inscription, which takes the form of a Charter, with Lord
Cobham's seal appended to it. This is formed of fourteen copper plates
exquisitely enamelled. The writing is in black, while the ground is of
white enamel; the seal and silk cords are of the proper colours. The
whole work is an exquisite example of enamel, which after five hundred
years' exposure to the weather remains nearly as good as when it was put
up. The inscription states very clearly why Lord Cobham erected a castle
here, viz. for the safety of the country. The French invasion had shewn
the need, and the inscription was perhaps intended to disarm the
suspicions and hostility of the serfs by reminding them of that need.
It runs thus, in four lines, each enamelled upon three plates of
copper:--

"'Knoweth that beth and schul be
That i am mad in help of the cuntre
In knowyng of whyche thyng
Thys is chartre and witnessyng.'"

"(Seal, 'gules', on a chevron 'or' three lions rampant 'sable'.)

"Inscriptions are rare on Gothic buildings, especially on castles. This
at Coulyng is remarkable from being in English, at a time when Latin was
employed in all charters; it contains that early form of the plural
'beth' instead of 'are.' The inscription measures thirty-two inches by
fourteen, and the diameter of the seal is no less than seven and a
quarter inches long."

After stopping a short time to admire the imposing entrance gate and the
remains of the ancient moat, we wend our way for two or three miles, by
lanes and "over the stubble-fields," to the straggling village of
Cliffe,[36] the houses of which are very old and mostly weather-boarded.
The approach to the church is by a rare example of a lich-gate, having a
room over it for muniments, and the church itself (which is very large,
and seems to be out of proportion to the size of the village) stands in
a commanding position on a ridge of chalk, overlooking the marshes, from
whence the views of the river in the distance are very fine. It is
supposed to be the place where the Saxon Church held its councils, and
there is a local tradition of a ferry having once existed near here.
Evidence of this seems to survive in the fact that all the roads both on
the Kent and Essex shores appear to converge to this point. The church
has some interesting _miserere_ stalls and brasses to the Faunce family
(