William Jarrett, senr., and his wife lived through the very stirring times of the Civil War in the reign of Charles I., about twenty miles only from Edgehill, where, in 1642, twelve hundred men are reported to have fallen.  It is said that on the night of the anniversary of the battle, October 23, in each succeeding year the uneasy ghosts of the combatants resume the unfinished struggle, and that the clash of arms is still to be heard rising and falling between hill and vale.  The worthy couple must have almost heard the echoes of the Battle of Worcester in 1651, only eighteen miles distant, and have been well acquainted with the details of the flight of Charles II., who, after he left Boscobel, passed very near Aldington on his way to the old house at Long Marston, where he spent a night, and, to complete his disguise, turned the kitchen spit.  This old house is still standing, and is regarded with reverence.

The cherub on the Jarrett tablet bears a strong resemblance to two similar cherubs which support a royal crown carved on the back of an old walnut chair which I bought in the village in a cottage near the Manor House.  The design is well known as commemorating the restoration of Charles II. in 1660, and I like to think that in bringing it back I restored it to its old home, and that William Jarrett, senr., who was doubtless a Royalist, enjoyed a peaceful pipe on many a winter’s night therein enthroned.  I noticed, lately, in a description of a similar chair in the Connoisseur, that the cherubs are spoken of as amorini; I have always understood that they are angelic beings supporting or guarding the sacred crown of the martyred King, though possibly the appellation is not unsuitable if they are to be regarded in connection with Charles II. alone.

There is a story of a hosiery factory established by refugee Huguenots at the date of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, 1685, and the Jacobean building adjoining the east end of the Manor House is probably the place referred to.  Later it became a malthouse, and later still was converted into hop-kilns by me.  Being of Huguenot descent myself, I take a special interest in this tradition.

In 1715 Aldington took its part in preparing to resist the Jacobites, and the following record is copied from an old manuscript: 

A BILL FOR Y^e CONSTABLE OF ANTON DUN BY ME WM. PHIPPS.

L  s. d.
1 musket and bayonet..................................       0  0
1 cartridg box at.....................................    0  3  6
1 belt at.............................................    0  5  0
for 1 scabard and cleaning y^e blad and
blaking y^e hilt....................................    0  3  6
-------
1 12  0
(On the back.)
Three days pay........................................    0  7  6
half A pound of pouder................................    0  0  8
for y^e muster master ................................    0  0  6
for listing money.....................................    0  1  0