The Polhills
The Polhill (or Polley) family is supposed to have originally been from Cornwall, but at least by the reign of Edward III their seat was Detling, in Hollingbourne, Kent, which was anciently named Polley Street. During the reign of Henry VI, they acquired the manors of Great Buckland, in Luddesdon, Kent and Preston, in Shoreham, Kent, when John Polhill married Alice de Buckland. Alice was the daughter and heir of Thomas de Buckland, whose family had held this manor for many years. Great Buckland, Preston, and Frenches in Burwash, Sussex served as the principal seats of the family for several centuries.
John and Alice Buckland Polhill's grandson, Thomas, married Margaret Chapman, daughter of Thomas Chapman of Tutsham Hall, West Farleigh, Kent, one of the Grooms of the King's Chamber, to Henry VIII.
Thomas and Margaret Chapman Polhill's son, John, married Elizabeth Fowle, daughter of Nicholas Fowle of Riverhall, Wadhurst, Kent. Nicholas owned an ironworks (as did his father-in-law, Richard Isted, and Richard's wife, Joane, after his death), and built Riverhall with the (obviously considerable) profits from his business.
“At Riverhall, in Faircrouch quarter, there were a furnace i and a forge worked by the Fowles, a family of considerable note, whose prosperity rose and fell with the iron manufacture. Nicholas Fowle, who carried on these works, built in 1591 the fine mansion of Riverhall, which still exhibits traces of its former grandeur. His son, William Fowle, had a grant of free warren from King James, over his numerous manors and lands in Wadhurst, Frant, Rotherfield, and Mayfield. 1 The fourth in descent, and heir male of this personage, left Riverhall, and kept the turnpike-gate in Wadhurst. His grandson, Nicholas Fowle, a day-labourer, emigrated to America in 1839, with his son John Fowle, a wheelwright, and a numerous young family, carrying with them as a family relic the royal grant of free-warren given to their ancestor.” (Sussex archeological Collections Vol. 2)
John and Elizabeth Fowle Polhill's son, Robert, married Katherine Crumpe of Etchingham, Sussex. It is not proven, but Katherine Crumpe's father may quite possibly be the John Crumpe whose grandfather, Nicholas married Barbara Clarke, sister of William Clarke of East Farleigh,Kent and aunt of Jeremiah Clarke of Rhode Island.1
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1 Crumpe family tree in The Visitations of the County of Sussex, 1530 and 1634
