[A very old man, in our younger days, whose informant lived temp.
Jac. II., used to explain it thus:--When the Conqueror marched
from Dover towards London, he was stopped at Swansconope, by
Stigand, at the head of the "Men of Kent," with oak boughs "all on
their brawny shoulders," as emblems of peace, on condition of his
preserving inviolate the Saxon laws and customs of Kent; else they
were ready to fight unto the death for them. The Conqueror chose
the first alternative: hence we retain our Law of Gavelkind, &c.,
and hence the inhabitants of the part of Kent lying between
Rochester and London, being "invicti," have ever since been
designated as "Men of Kent," while those to the eastward, through
whose district the Conqueror marched unopposed, are only "Kentish
Men." This is hardly a satisfactory account; but we give it as we
had it.
We suspect the _real_ origin of the terms to have been, a mode of
distinguishing any man whose family had been long settled in the
county (from time immemorial, it may be), from new settlers; the
former being genuine "Men of Kent," the latter only "Kentish." The
monosyllabic name of the county probably led to this play upon the
word, which could not have been achieved in the "shires."]
_Bee-Park._--This term is used in Cornish title-deeds. What species of
inclosure does it express? Do any such exist now?